Early feminists, the sisters tear apart sexual double standards, support one another through difficulties and illuminate Forster’s feminist agenda. Not only do these moments of internal rhapsody acknowledge the rampant sexual/moral hypocrisy, imperialism, sexism, and anti-intellectualism of British society, but allows Forster the opportunity to balance out his criticism by writing female characters who act with insight.įorster captures the female voices of the Schlegel sisters, who create a vision of a female-oriented world and work to fulfil that vision. Prone to getting swept away on what may seem like daydreaming digressions, Forster’s waves of whimsy are rooted in hefty philosophical insights. Writing the lives of three English families – the Wilcoxes (empire-building), Basts (working-class) and Schlegels (artistic and literary), Forster examines the future of society, asking who will ‘inherit England?’ Yet his writing sparkles with the understanding of how society works.
Unlike his contemporaries Virginia Woolf, Samuel Beckett or James Joyce, Forster broke no literary boundaries with Howards End. Forster encourages readers to ‘battle against sameness.’ Forster’s 1910 novel Howard’s End this week, I recalled the professorly advice to rejoice in our individual differences as a way to, as Forster puts it, ‘battle against sameness.’ E.M. Rejoice in differences, cherish what makes you unique, what makes you, you. In your lifetime, hold on to anything that makes you different, don’t hide it under a façade, or try to conform to the lifestyles of the Instagram-addicted masses. I cannot recall which literary theme we discussed that day or the name of the professor – just her single piece of encouragement, a slither of advice for life post MA. I’d caught the 6:30 am train from Derry to Belfast to attend an English Literature tutorial at Queen’s University. Disembarking the train at Botanic train station, I had just enough time to visit McClay library and return some books borrowed the previous month. It is part of the battle against sameness – Howards End.
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