journal13

Two years after Mrs. Wilcox’s death, Tibby—Margaret’s younger brother—goes to college at Oxford. A strange woman (Leonard’s wife) demands to see her husband. Leonard later comes to the house and explains why his wife was looking for him. Leonard is eventually invited by the Schlegels to tea where he accuses them of trying to make a profit off of him. The Schlegels are desperately trying to find a new house to live in but are unable to find one. The Schlegels go to visit their aunt. Mr. Wilcox offers to rent Howards end to Margaret, but when Margaret returns, Mr. Wilcox proposes to her. They end up getting engaged, but members of both the Wilcox and Schlegel families have doubts. Charles is especially upset, thinking that Margaret only married to obtain Howards End. Later, Leonard and his wife are brought by Helen—who blames Mr. Wilcox for making Leonard quit his job by giving him bad advice—to see Mr. Wilcox about a job. But when Mr. Wilcox sees Jacky, he accuses Margaret of trying to expose his secret and breaks off the engagement. Margaret then finds out that Jacky had an affair with Mr. Wilcox many years ago. 

Among all the minor characters in this book, I believe Jacky to be of special importance. The affair she had with Mr. Wilcox caused an uproar of confusion and problems for most characters in the book. Her actions keep Leonard from getting a new job from Mr. Wilcox and cause problems for Margaret’s and Mr. Wilcox’s marriage.

journal 12

The Schlegel family is a British family living in London. One day, Helen Schlegel goes to visit the Wilcox family in the British countryside and writes back to her family that she has fallen in love with the youngest Wilcox son, Paul. Helen’s sister, Margaret, is shocked by the news and is convinced by Juley, her aunt, that she should allow Juley to visit Howards End and break-off the engagement. After a large amount of confusion, Mrs. Wilcox explains that Helen and Paul had simply kissed, and Paul was not ready to be married because he was poor and soon to leave for Nigeria. Later, the Schlegels attend a playing of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony with some family. Before they leave, Helen accidentally steals the umbrella of a man named Leonard Bast. Later, the Wilcoxes move close by to the Schlegels home. This seems like a problem at first, but Margaret and Mrs.Wilcox become close friends. Soon after this, Mrs. Wilcox dies.

There are several characters in Howards End that I don’t care for, but Charles is one I particularly don’t care for. He seems to act very arrogant and is easily upset. Charles also has an issue with his anger and has a problem with easily jumping to conclusions. For example, when he hears about his brother and Helens supposed marriage, Charles immediately jumps to conclusions without thinking about the situation.

journal 11

                Aziz awoke covered in sweat. The strange dream had passed, but what did it mean? The hot Indian weather had made his stay rather uncomfortable, and the prison guard’s foolish babbling made the stay even worse.

 “This heat is terrible! I haven’t felt heat this bad since my tour in Africa. Have I ever told you about my tour in Africa?”

“No and I could care less about your pointless story.”

 “Ha, you wouldn’t believe the heroic deeds I preformed in the service of the queen. In fact, I have an entire room devoted to my military exploits.”

Aziz doubted that the guard had done anything of importance in his entire life, let alone anything in Africa. However, sheer boredom drove Aziz to encourage the guards rant.

“Ah! I see you’ve found an interest in my military career. Hmm, where to start…”

The guard paused a few moments in order to gather his thoughts.

“Well, I should probably start from the beginning. When my father died, I was forced to find a way to provide for my seven younger sisters…”

Normally Aziz would be annoyed by such obvious embellishment, but today he found strange enjoyment in the guard’s tall tale. He found what some might consider an advanced literary style in the guard’s storytelling, like that of John Smith and his tales of the new world, or like the long standing oral traditions found across the globe. Maybe his opinion was distorted because of the amount of time he had spent alone in a cell, but the story was grand none the less.

“…and after I saved my squad from a pack of lions, I was Invited to be knighted by the Queen herself, but I declined because I didn’t feel worthy of such recognition.”

“You seem to have done many great deeds in your life.”

“Indeed I have, and maybe you’ll do great things one day too.”

Aziz was surprised at this comment.  

journal10

Aziz woke that morning, his feet touching the ground. He had been thrown in prison not just a few nights before, the bitter feelings still lingering. He felt little more than spite for Miss Quested, accusing him falsely and destroying his life. In fact, all Englishmen (save Fielding) had earned his hate. He could see the malice filled emotions manifest in his hands. “Why bother?” said malice. “Why bother with England? Why bother with life? Why bother living for the entertainment of some half-witted reader who won’t even realize the significance of your story?” The voice began creeping in. It was a strange voice, one that felt as poison seeping into Aziz’s very existence. “Why Bother? Why bother!? I’ll bother as much as I wish!” said Aziz with much rage. “The English treat us Indians as dirt, always accusing us of acts unfitting our character. I have not the slightest thought of giving up on life, there’s too much to be done.” “Much to be done? What good is a lowly Indian trapped in a cage? And even if you could escape your chains, you would simply inherit another set. Your influence is limited, and your resources few.” Aziz sat back a moment, pondering his life. Should he just give up? Is his life meaning or even worth living? As his thoughts continued, the malice began to grow, engulfing Aziz’s surroundings. “Just surrender” said the abyss, “surrender to pity, to hate, to spite. It shall all end soon.” Aziz felt his malice well up inside him. The bitter feelings began consuming all of his being. Aziz tried to resist, but to no avail. His thoughts were fading, the abysmal darkness consuming everything. At that moment, his breathing stopped, hearing nothing more than a faint noise in the distance. But wait. The noise was growing, and suddenly Aziz fell flat on his face. The dream had ended.   

Journal9

After Mrs. Moore enters the mosque, Aziz begins to talk with her. He starts to vent about the many wrongs that the British have done towards him. Mrs. Moore sympathizes with him and agrees that many of her fellow countrymen are snobby. Mrs. Moore later goes to the English club to meet with her friends. She later tells her son, Ronny, that she met a doctor at a mosque on the way to the club. Ronny is surprised to hear this and begins to question his mother in order to figure out who this man was. Eventually, he finds out that this man was the Indian doctor Aziz and tells his mother not to be friendly with him.

The strange meeting between Mrs. Moore and Aziz illustrates what seems to be the start of a good friendship. However, the views of society, not only challenge, but attempt to destroy this friendship. The     Majority of both Indians and englishmen think it is impossible for the two to mix, causing a barrior between Mrs. Moore and Aziz. Even Mrs. Moore's son tries to stop the friendship. This instance is only proof of the tensions between the Indians and the English.

Journal 8

Dr. Aziz is a respectable India who decides to visit a few of his friends. He is then quite suddenly summand by his English boss, Major Callendar. Aziz rides his bike to Callendar’s compound, but his bike crashes, forcing him to hire a tonga. When Aziz arrives, he finds that the Major has left, leaving no message. As Aziz talks to an Indian servant, two British women take Aziz’s tonga, forcing Aziz to walk home. Aziz becomes tired on his way home, so he decides to rest a mosque. He soon sees an older Englishwomen enter the mosque, and, assuming that she had not taken off her shoes out of respect, Aziz yells at her. However, Aziz sees that she has taken her shoes off and allows her to enter.

I believe that Sean Connery would be perfectly casted as Cecil Fielding. Sean Connery is a very talented and versatile actor who excels at playing slightly eccentric intellectuals. This makes him an ideal Fielding because Fielding is an intelligent man who comes off slightly strange. Also, Denzel Washington would be an Ideal Aziz. Washington often plays an individual plagued by racial and social biases, making him an ideal actor for the roll of Aziz.

journal6

                Lucy is surprised to find that Cecil has met the Emersons before and invited them to live nearby. This causes Lucy to worry about George interfering with her marriage. Later, George is invited to Windy Corner to play tennis. After playing a game, George and Lucy get separated from the party and, inevitably, end up kissing. This causes Lucy to lie to George by saying she doesn’t love him. After her talk with George, Lucy brakes off her engagement with Cecil. Lucy then decides go to Greece to try and leave everything behind. Before she leaves, Lucy ends up stopping at Mr. Beebe’s church, where she sees Mr. Emerson extremely sick. Mr. Emerson convinces Lucy to runaway with George to Italy. This, however, causes Mr. Beebe and Lucy’s family to turn their backs on her. Lucy and George end up happily married in Italy.

                While A Room with a View may seem just a witty romantic-comedy on its surface, the novel delves deep into an assortment of social biases and issues. The very premise of A Room with a View is a man and woman love each other, but are unable to marry because of a difference in social class. It also makes apparent the shallowness of upper class British society in the early 20^th century, yet still retains its value as an entertaining read. Forster’s ability to blend profound underlining themes and witty, comical humor are, in my opinion, what make A Room with a View a classic novel.