A+Room+With+a+View

// A Room with a View // by E. M. Forster  

Plot Synopsis

 All her life, well-bred Lucy Honeychurch was used to conventions controlling her thoughts, actions, and views.

But that was all about to change.

When on a trip to Florence with her domineering cousin, Ms. Charlotte Bartlett, Lucy met the Emersons, an old father and his son George. The men were a quirky pair, outcasts from the social boundaries that everyone else lay within. While spending time with them, Lucy began to have her own views, thoughts, and controlled her own actions. But once Ms. Bartlett was nearby, Lucy reverted to the cage of conventions.

In Florence, Lucy and George developed a relationship, but she was unsure about her feelings for him. Lucy and her cousin then left Florence for Rome, where she met the haughty, well educated Cecil Vyse. He proposed to her twice, and she declined both times. However, once back to her neighborhood, Windy Corner, Cecil found her and proposed once again, this time getting the answer he wanted to hear. Cecil enjoyed Lucy's company, but disliked her family and friends. Shortly after the proposal, Lucy was surprised to find the Emersons renting a home nearby. George and Lucy spent more time together, and they fell in love. He told her that Cecil is not right for her: Cecil is materialistic and won't let Lucy be free. Will Lucy follow her heart and break off her engagement to be with George?

A heartfelt story about a girl struggling to find her true self and break away from the social norms of her upper-class Edwardian society, //A Room with a View// is Forster's most cherished novel and a twentieth-century classic.

 media type="youtube" key="0IQW_vuw7Aw" height="381" width="480" align="left" ([|Youtube]). A Room with a View premiered on television April 13, 2008. It starred Elaine Cassidy as Lucy, and Rafe Spall as George ([|IMDb.com, Inc.]).

 About E.M. Forster

 Born New Year's day, 1879, Edward Morgan Forster grew up in London. Because of his father's death as a baby, he was raised by his mother and paternal aunts. They were very influential over him for most of his life, which is why Forster includes strong female characters in many of his novels. As a boy, he attended Tonbridge School, Kent, and then attended King's College, Cambridge. It was at King's College where he learned the uniqueness of being an individual, and was free to go where his intellect led him. Upon graduating, he traveled with his mother to Italy and Greece, where he wrote short stories. //A Room with a View// was published three years later, based on the material he wrote, and experiences in Italy with his mother. Following the publication of //A Room with a View//, during World War I, E.M. Forster spent three wartime years doing civilian war work in Alexandria, Egypt. Between 1912 and 1921, he traveled to India twice, where he pieced together scenes for his last book //A Passage To India.// For the next 46 years of his life, E.M. Forster devoted himself to other activities. Shockingly, writing was not his top priority in life. He said, "Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence. Inside its cocoon of work or social obligation, the human spirit slumbers for the most part, registering the distinction between pleasure and pain, but not nearly as alert as we pretend." For more information about E.M. Forster, [|click here.]

Literary Information

//A Room with a View// is a 222 paged social comedy and a romance focusing on the social life and customs of the upper-middle-class Edwardian society. It is written in a third person omniscient point of view, recognized through the information given to the reader that the characters do not know. An example of this is when Lucy spots two Italians across the street. The narrator tells the reader that the Italians are "bickering about debt" (46), but Lucy does not know this. Also, E.M. Forster's style in //A Room with a View// is very similar to a playwright's. When a character is speaking, it is as if Forster expects us to know what the other characters' actions are. "No, you can only see it if you stand-no, do not stand; you will fall" (66). He also uses aside-like comments to the reader, such as when he says, "Appearing thus late in the story, Cecil must be at once described" (94), and "Sir Harry Otway-who need not be described" (108). The diction is a formal, Edwardian style, because of the time and setting of the story.

Literary Analysis

In Edwardian society, it was difficult to overcome conventions. //A Room with a View// by E.M. Forster is about finding yourself, being strong and achieving gender equality. Lucy and the Emersons are the main sources of these elements that make a person original.

At first, Lucy was a confused girl, following the conventions but not knowing why. She always had someone around to protect her, and to speak for her. When Lucy and Miss Bartlett were approached by the Emersons at the Bertolini pension for the first time, Miss Bartlett would not let Lucy speak. "'Ah,' said Miss Bartlett, repressing Lucy, who was about to speak" (8). Also, while touring a church with the Emersons, she was unsure of herself, not knowing what would be the right thing to do. "... here was a very foolish old man, as well as a very irreligious one. She also felt that her mother might not like her talking to that kind of person, and that Charlotte would object most strongly" (31). Mr. Emerson suggested that Lucy and George date and get to know each other, but Lucy was fearful of that idea. When Miss Bartlett suddenly appeared in the church, Lucy immediately reverted to how she behaved when other ladies were around. Mr. Emerson had just started to release Lucy's true self, but then Miss Bartlett came around and Lucy again saw the whole of life from the perspective of a "proper lady" (33). Throughout the story, the Emersons were the ones who gave Lucy the direction to finding herself. The Emersons were outsiders; they did not care to follow social norms. When Lucy acted the way she felt Miss Bartlett would approve of, Mr. Emerson said "My dear, I think that you are repeating what you have heard older people say. You are pretending to be touchy; but you are not really" (27). "I am not touchy, I hope" was Lucy's reply, speaking her own words, and being herself.

Forster also incorporates being a strong female as a trait of Lucy. Although she did not seem like it from the start, her strength was shown through her intense piano playing. During the time period, women were inferior to men. Lucy pondered why most big things were unladylike, and Miss Bartlett's answer was that "[A woman's] mission is to inspire men to achieve rather than achieve themselves" (44). Miss Bartlett also mentioned that if a lady were to try and change the mission of women, they would be "first censured, then despised, and finally ignored" (44). The idea that women are less than men is also emphasized when George kissed Lucy unexpectedly. Miss Bartlett saw this incident, and said to Lucy, "You are so young and inexperienced... you cannot realize what men can be - how they can take a brutal pleasure in insulting a woman whom her sex does not protect" (80). However, Lucy surmounted this generalization at the end of the book. She was engaged to Cecil Vyse, but decided for herself that she wanted to break off the engagement. In an argument with Cecil, Lucy gained confidence and spoke her mind, saying "When we were only acquaintances, you let me be myself, but now you're always protecting me... I won't be protected. I will choose for myself what is ladylike and right" (184). Cecil agreed with Lucy, loving her passion and the new view she had given him. He concluded their discussion with "...this evening you are a different person: new thoughts - even a new voice... a new person seems speaking through you" (185).

At the end of it all, Lucy was a new person, she had found her true self, triumphed over conventions, and achieved the gender equality she wanted.

Criticism

//A Room with a View// took a while for me to settle into. My first exposure to //A Room with a View// was during the ACT in April. I found the excerpt amusing, and particularly liked that part of the test. Then, when I was looking at the AP reading list, I thought //A Room with a View// sounded interesting (I had forgotten that this was the title that the excerpt came from), so I Googled it. While reading the summary, I thought it sounded oddly familiar; I remembered that it was in the ACT. Since I liked the excerpt from the first chapter, I decided to read this book. Unfortunately, the next few chapters were not as interesting as the first. It was a drag to read, and complex. //A Room with a View// is written in two parts: it is the second part where I feel the rising action. If you read this book, I strongly recommend using post-it notes to annotate, which will make the story easier to comprehend. Even though //A Room with a View// is supposed to be a social comedy that "satires the English notion of respectability" (book jacket), I did not find this book very humorous. Based on personal opinion, I give this book a 7 out of 10, because to me, it was boring. However, based on how well it is written, I give it a 10 out of 10. The imagery and vivid descriptions of the characters helped me better understand the scenery, the time, and the events that were occurring. <span style="background-color: #a1e2e2; color: #408c8c; display: block; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">★★★★★★★ <span style="background-color: #a1e2e2; color: #408c8c; display: block; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;">

If //A Room with a View// sounds interesting, check out these wiki pages:

The Great Gatsby Pride and Prejudice The Catcher in the Rye Daisy Miller Little Women Or Book Index To see all the wiki pages!

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Works Cited:

Forster, E. M., and David Leavitt. //A Room with a View// book jacket. New York: Signet Classics, 2009. Print.

Forster, E. M., and David Leavitt. //A Room with a View//. New York: Signet Classics, 2009. Print.