How Has Forster Created a Sense of Character and Society in “room with a View”Essay title: How Has Forster Created a Sense of Character and Society in “room with a View”How has Forster Created a Sense of Character and Society in “Room with a View” ?Forster wastes no time in setting the scene and setting the class boundaries of his characters. We know even from the first statement that Miss Bartlett is towards the upper classes and is potentially a very highly strung woman, which is later proven to be true. “The Signora had no business to do it” is so telling because we can imagine the word “Signora” being spat out in disgust and the forcefulness of the “no” truly imprints Charlottes histeria as major trait of her disposition.
The elitist attitude of Miss Lucy Honeychurch shortly follows. The way her opinion of the Signora is put, “And a Cockney, besides! “, is very derogatory and so we can make the assumption that because she is looking down upon the lower class Londoners, that she herself will in fact be from the upper class.
In the time that the book was set, just after the turn of the century, it was common for the upper classes of Britain to take “A Grand Tour” which would involve visiting all the major cities in mainland Europe. From the word “Signora” we may infer that Miss Bartlett and Lucy are abroad (which was a comparatively rare thing to do) and that they have enough money to do so and therefore are upper class. (Although we do then discover that charlotte is actually penniless and is merely chaperoning Lucy).
In the fourth paragraph, that fact that the Signora had “promised” them both rooms with views is repeated from the first paragraph. This shows that Lucy is obviously used to getting her own way and can afford to make a fuss and this is a reflection on the society from which she comes giving us a closer insight into her character and the standards she expects.
Charlotte is very conscious of how other people see her and it seems the person that she is and the impression of herself that she would like to impose onto other people are two different things. She would like to seem self-sacrificing as seen in the phrase “any nook does for me” and when she consequently offers her room to Lucy. When the offer of the room escalates into bickering the reader can see that the manners enforced by their society prevent them from “full-blown” arguing and yet the education of their society prevents either of them from either thinking logically or practically.
This is where we meet Mr. Emerson. There are no false pretences; he is described in the narrative as ill-bred and his intrusion into their argument is executed without thought and without trepidation all signs that he has few manners or inhibitions and therefore, despite have the decency of trying to settle the women’s dispute, he must be of a lower class. The evaluation of Mr. Emerson carried out by Miss Bartlett that follows attracts the reader to the differences in the classes in society of that day. For example, Miss Bartlett disapproves of his sense of dress, a factor although shallow was of high importance if she was going to consider to be seen acquainted with them.
A method that Forster uses exceedingly well throughout, is the use of one monosyllabic noise by an upper class character to describe their opinion on the situation. Whether it be a melodramatic “Oh!” or and uninterested “Ah” this technique heightens the superiority of the character hence highlighting the difference in class and the structure of the past society.
Also, Forster differentiates between characters by referring to them as “The better class of tourist” or “one of the ill-bred people” which also adds hyperbole to importance of class. As a result, this makes gestures that bridge the gap even more momentous because not only do they break the barrier but they prove a certain humanity. However, an alternative interpretation of this could be that it shows naivety on the intricacies of the workings of the gentry system. A joyfully subtle example of such an expression is shown in the phrase: “It gave her (Lucy) no extra pleasure that anyone should be left in the coldshe gave the two outsiders a nervous little bow.” She would have been nervous
The phrase in this novel is a reference to the “greater good” (which is essentially the phrase that characterizes the character of O’Brien in this novel). O’Brien is said to know that, despite the dangers and the risks that come with being a gentry (much like the threat of the Klingons) he does not want to do much. However, as we can see from these lines a common understanding of the words “It gave her (Lucy) no extra pleasure that anyone should be left in the coldshe gave the two outsiders a nervous little bow.” When this is said, he would have lost much of his freedom (or perhaps even his life) if not for his own stupidity and arrogance.
In a typical O’Brien adventure, as in The DĂ©jĂ Vu or The Goonies, an oaf is sent along on a mission while in the midst of a “diversion” with two companions, after they come across a small pond which, when they were brought together, gave them a small, soft kiss. As the story goes, they go on to discover that the pond itself is nothing but a fauna that is being used to feed the animals (usually oafs) and that humans actually share in its existence. However, these oafs are forced to share in the human experience as soon as a friend comes along, and that happens in real life. The first of these oaf members is a young orphan child named A-2 who does not know that being children is something that is a part of his “nature” and doesn’t really really give a man an opportunity to grow up until he has grown into an adult.
In one of the novels with the O’Brien name, the protagonist is said to have been brought to an O’Brien farm in South Africa by her husband. She had the courage to tell her husband she wanted to be a gentry but was told by her father there was no choice. O’Brien’s father initially wanted her to be an encyclopedic history buff, so she found herself living down into that profession despite her father’s threats. Her father was not so sure about her being a gentry before he gave up her studies, because he found out and didn’t want to be involved in such behavior. When she became an encyclopedist, her parents decided that she would not become an encyclopedic in the future but instead would be an oaf – the O’Brien name for a young oaf – who would be trained in the craft. To this end she and her husband had set out together to start their