If I had to answer the question ‘ Is Forster´s treatment of the landscape useful for his purpose , as I have described in my essay ’ I would say yes. Fantastic descriptions of the landscape involve the reader and make her/ his longing for a society surrounded by such a fantastic environment, and the landscape as described by Forster, as well as detest for the cities, as an opposition to the quietness of the countryside. I have chosen this extract of the chapter XL of the novel because, from my point of view, it reflects the message that the novel encompasses:

    ‘ Leonard noticed the contrast when he stepped out of it into the country. Here men had been up since down. Their hours were ruled, not by a London office, but by the movements of the crops and the sun. That they were men of the finest type only the sentimentalist can declare. But they kept to the life of daylight. They are England´s hope. Clumsily they carry forward the torch of the sun, Until such time as the nation sees fit to take it up.’

    It is also useful for his purpose, that the characters the reader sympasize with love the land. The novel is a critique of society and progress, but it leaves a door open to hope, to the coming of a possible wonderful future. It is at this point significant that even when Mrs. Wilcox represents are still alive in Margaret, who at the end becomes Mrs. Wilcox.

    This hope is also observed in the possible reconciliation of the two opposites : the countryside and the city; Helen, the old glorious England, and Henry, the new cities and economical power, get married and their relationship, which is not related in mutual love but instead on Margaret´s search for owning land, a real home and her desire for stability, survives all the obstacles. As a result of this survival the opposites poles, Margaret and Helen on one side and Mr. Wilcox on the other, can live together, in Howards End, far away from the impersonal cities. Even Helen’s perception, and she is the most criticising character in the novel, of Henry has changed to a most optimistic one at the end of the book: ‘ Meg, may I tell you something? I like Henry.’

    I perhaps also find Forester’s use of the landscape useful because the image of England we have abroad is that of a family living in the countryside, far away from big cities and with wonderful green landscapes. The image that we have of England is therefore, that of Howards End.

Created 12/05/99  Updated 12/05/99