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Title From Opposition to Proportion : An essay on Howards End
Author(s) Kimura, Hidetoshi
Citation 沖縄短大論叢 = OKINAWA TANDAI RONSO, 5(1): 35-46
Issue Date 1991-03-31
URL http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12001/10630
Rights 沖縄大学短期大学部
NOTE From Opposition to Proportion :
An essay on Howards End
Hidetoshi Kimura
At the first glance of Howards End, we may easily perceive that
it consists of various binary opposites : culture and materialism, or
the practical mind ; the earth and the mechanical civilization, or
country life and urban life; the rich and the poor ; the tradition and
modernity ; death and (re) birth; love and money ; the unseen and
the seen, and so forth.
These binary opposites develop in a complicated way through
the relations amongst the three families : the Schlegels, the Wilcoxes,
and the Basts. In this paper I intend to examine how E. M. Forster
describes the various aspects of modern civilization and human
relations through the development of these opposites.
1. Culture and Materialism
It goes without saying that most of the personages in the novel
are characteriz~d, firstly, by their attitudes towards "culture".
The charcters who embody culture in the novel are the Schlegel
sisters, Margaret and Helen. They are liberal consumers of culture,
thanks to their great property. But as they are not satisfied with
merely collecting fragments of culture, they are not caught in a trap
of snobbism. They feel their ultimate aim is to fulfil their inner
lives and personal relations. One of the victories of culture is
described impressively in the scene in which Helen meets Margaret
at Howards End after Helen's long absence from England :
-35-
Explanations and appeals had failed ; they had tried for
common meeting-ground, and had only made each other
unhappy. And all the time their salvation was lying round
them - the past sanctifying the present; the present, with
wild heart-throb, declaring that there would after all be a
future, with laughter and voices of children. Helen, still
smiling, came up to her sister. She said : 'It is always
Meg. ' They looked into each other's eyes. The inner
life had paid. 1
On the other hand, they have an admiration for a great outer life
"in which telegrams and anger count." ( ch. 4 ) This is inevitably
to connect them with the Wilcoxes.
The Wilcoxes are the embodiment of "the real world"; they are,
so to speak, pillars of society, and full of the practical mind ; and
they are not bothered by complicated problems of culture. The
ultimate criterion of value judgements for them is utility and profit.
The episode that they turn the paddock at Howards End, which Mrs
Wilcox has loved very much, into a garage is an example. Forster
shows us some important connections between culture and materi
alism, by depicting the contrast and relations between the Schlegel
sisters and the Wilcoxes. And this is where the "only connect"
theme is clearly expressed.
Margaret, on the one hand, admits the importance of the practical
mind ; she recognizes the fact that not only art and literature but also
her way of life in which she can appreciate them depends funda
mentally upon material progress and prosperity. Thus she respects
Henry Wilcox's practical genius for management of his trading com-
-36-
pany, which is one of the reasons she accepts his proposal after
Mrs Wilcox's death. On the other, she knows that this practical
mind lacks some essential human virtues. Hence her task is
defined :
Only connect! That was the whole of her C Margaret's )
sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and
both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its
highest. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and
the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life
to either, will die. ( ch. 22)
But this not an easy task. In Helen's eyes, Henry is one of those
who lack the "I ". She says :
·• Had you thought it, then, that there are two kinds of
people- our kind, who live straight from the middle of
their heads, and the other kind who can't, because their
heads have no middle? They can't say " I ". They
aren't in fact, and so they're supermen.' ( ch. 27 )
Here, the "I " means personal responsibility and the identity of an
individual, which Henry Wilcox has lacked all through his life. This
is clearly shown in the scene in which his past relationship with
Jacky Bast is revealed. When Margaret forgives his past, he thinks
that "the great thing now was to forget his failure, and to send it
the way of other unsuccessful investments." ( ch. 29) To him, his
immoral act in his past equals to the loss of money in his business.
It is only when his son Charles has been sentenced to three years'
-37-
imprisonment for the manslaughter of Leonard Bast that his
"fortress" finally collapses.
Another important figure is Leonard Bast, who is a poor clerk.
He regards culture as a sort of social ladder which may help him
out of his miserable life ; he thinks that he can improve himself
"by means of Literature and Art" ( ch. 6 ) ; and his remark, " I
rather want to get this chapter done, " shows that he treats reading
a book as a kind of task or job. ( ch. 6 ) To him culture is not
something that enables him to connect the inner life and the outer,
or the unseen and the seen, but is rather a means to achieve his
superficial cultivation. The scene of his death, in this sense, is
symbolical when he dies, "Books fell over him in a shower."(ch.41)
One can take this scene either as an ironical tragedy of a man
who seeks culture but is finally killed by it, or as a death celebrated
by the books which are to him more precious than a garland.
The contrastive character to Leonard is Tibby Schlegel, who
IS a brilliant Oxford student and studies and appreciates culture
for its own sake. He has little concern about human relations or
society ; he does not intend to connect things, or has nothing to do
with creation. Thus he is a sort of social parasite. As John Colmer
points out, "Tibby exhibits the limit of culture when not infused
with human passion. " 2
2. Love and Money
All the love relations in Howards End have, more or less, the
tinge of sterility and disconnection. And to them money matters
are deeply related. This is another important sphere where Forster
. develops the " only connect " theme.
-38-
The most miserable relatioship is that of Leonard and Jacky.
It is a relationship totally empty and disconnected. Their repetitious
conversation exhibits this :
' Anyone been round to our place? ' asked Jacky.
'Not that I've seen. I've met Mr Cunningham outside,
and we passed a few remarks. '
'What, not Mr Cunningham ? '
'Yes.'
'Oh, you mean Mr Cunningham. '
' Yes. Mr Cunningham. '
'I've been out to tea at a lady- friend's. ' ( ch. 6 )
This is the relation Margaret calls "the lowest abyss", which "is
not the absence of love, but the absence of coin." ( ch. 7 )
In this we can see the idea that lack of money deprives people of
conversational ability,or their voices, hence the true human relationship.
Although Margaret marries Henry with full knowledge of his
essential human defects, her endeavor to enrich his internal life
does not easily succeed, as we have seen in chapter 1; on the contrary,
their relation almost goes to "the precipice" ; she goes to the length
of saying to him: "'Not any more of this ! You shall see the
connection if it kills you, Henry! .... No one has ever told you what
you are - muddled, criminally muddled.' " (ch. 38 ) It is not until
Charles has been imprisoned that his fortress finally collapses and
he really begins to realize the emptiness of his inner life. Then he
retires from his business and decides to donate all his property to
his children according to Margaret's wish. And with her plan to
diminish her income by half, their income becomes proportionate
-39-
to their life at Howards End. The more proportioned their income
becomes, the more harmonious their life becomes ; or, they cannot
achieve their true relationship until they abondon greedy materialism.
Here again, we can see Forster's idea of proportion.
One more important love relation is that of Helen and Leonard.
One may have the impression that Helen's way of falling love with
him is rather curious and unconvincing. Or, one may doubt whether
or not she loves him out of pity. If it may be true, we cannot
disregard that they have shared the idealism. Therefore, we can
surmise that Helen's decision to bear his child is her sacrifice for
her ideal. The following comment of the narrator may prove this :
Helen forgot people. They were husks that had enclosed
her emotion. She could pity, or sacrifice herself, or have
instincts, but had she ever loved in the noblest way, where
man and woman, having lost themselves in sex, desire to
lose sex itself in comradeship ? ( ch. 40 )
And yet there is another question : Why does Helen offer Leonard
£ 5000 ; does this mean that to Helen "love and money become
intermixed and interchangeable," as Colmer suggests3 ; or, does she
intend to save his inner life by giving him a means of a stable life?
The latter, I think, more plausible, to think of her heroic decision.
To Leonard, his relationship with Helen causes him an immense
weight of guilt, because to him she is the embodiment of "Romance",
or rather a goddess. Therefore, he refuses her offer of money, and
never takes "the anodyne of muddledom ". ( ch. 41 ) And after
suffering from the extremely heavy weight of remorse, he finally
gets a ray of hope. The narrator tells us the awakening of his soul,
-40-
which reading a Ruskin did not give him m former times :
To Leonard, intent on his private sin, there came the
conviction of innate goodness elsewhere. It was not the
optimism which he had been taught at school. Again and
again must the drums tap and the goblins stalk over the
universe before joy can be purged of the superficial. It
was rather paradoxical, and arouse from his sorrow. Death
destroys a man, but the idea of death saves him - that
is the best account of it that, has yet been given. Squalor and
tragedy can beckon to all that is great in us, and strengthen
the wings of love. They can beckon; it is not certain
that they will, for they are not love's servants. But they
can beckon, and the knowledge of this incredible truth
comforted him. ( ch. 41 )
Thus his death might be regarded as amatyrdom for true love. In light of
this it can be said that Helen and Leonard are never to be connected
physically again, but firmly connected spiritually by his or her
supreme sacrifice. In this we see Forster's ascetic view of love ; and
it is, at the same time, an expression of the difficulty of love among
modern people.
3. The Earth and Modern Civilization
An opposition of the earth to modern civilization is vividly
described through a contrast between country life at Howards End
and city life in London in the novel.
In modern civilization even a life filled with culture cannot save
-41-
all the inconsistencies surrounding a human being. Margaret feels
acutely" the sense of flux ", which is nothing but another expression
of alienation of man in the capitalist society. She feels it all the
more as the expiration of the lease of Wickham Place, where she
has lived for nearly thirty years, is drawing near; and even after her
marriage to Henry she does not get rid of "the sense of flux". (ch.
31) The narrator recurrently criticizes the trend of modern civili
zation :
London was but a foretaste of this normadic civilization
which is altering human nature so profoundly, and throws
upon personal relations a stress greater than they have
ever borne before. Under cosmopolitanism, if it comes,
we shall receive no help from the earth. Trees and meadows
and mountains will only be a spectacle, and the binding
force that they once exercises on character must be entrust
ed Love alone. May Love be equal to the task ! ( ch. 31)
Nomads have been the target both of persecution and romantic adora
tion for long, because they enjoy free life, neglecting borders and
indifferent to a settled and stable life. To Forster, "normadic" means
"atomistic" or "disconnected" ; therefore, man's life must be firmly
established on the earth.
Forster also casts a doubt upon the mechanical progress and
science; the narrator simply says : "Science explained people, but
could not understand them." (ch. 13) The symbol of the mechanical
civilization in the novel is a car ; the Wilcoxes loves to drive, but
a drive on a car always makes Margaret uncomfortable. A symbolical
incident occurs when the attendants at Henry's daughter Evie's
-42-
nupitals go to Oniton by cars ; one of the cars runs over a cat.
( ch. 25) Here a car 1s depicted as a horrible machine that is essen
tially hostile to life. Moreover, as the stage of the novel is 1900's
British society, a car is associated with imperialism. The narrator
describes a car when LeonQ.rd walks to Howards End :
At the chalk-pit a motor passed him [ Leonard]. In it
was another type whom Nature favors -the Imperial.
Healthy, ever in motion, it hopes to inherit the earth
Hut the Imperialist is not what he thinks or seems. He
IS a destroyer. He prepares the way for cosmopolitanism,
and though his ambitions may be fulfilled the earth that
he inherits will be gray. ( ch. 41 )
On the contrary, country life is described as a hopeful substitute
for the I ife of "telegram and anger " :
In these English farms, if anywhere, one might see life
steadily and see it whole, group in one vision its transito
riness and its eternal youth, connect-- connect without
bitterness until all men are brothers. ( ch. 33 )
And yet this does not mean that Forster denies the mechanical
civilization altogether; he is never an advocate of "Return to
Nature". His fundamental viewpoint is proportioned progress of
civilization. What is more, his idea of proportion has a tinge of
dialectics ; he does not seek proportion for its own sake ; proportion
is, as it were, a result of a conflict between opposites. The following
comment of the narrator may prove this :
-43-
... truth, being alive, was not halfway between anything.
It was only to be found by continuous excursions into
either realm, and though proportion is the final secret, to
espouse it at the outset is to ensure sterility. ( ch. 23 )
Here, we can see that "proportion" does not mean merely an equi
librium but something created or found by a continuous endeavor
to connect opposites.
4. Tradition
An opposition of the earth to modern civilization is overlapped
on the problem of tradition. In terms of this Mrs Wilcox is the
most important figure in the novel.
In the opening chapter, she is described m Helen's letter :
Trail, trail, went her [ Mrs Wilcox's] long dress over the
sopping grass, and she came back with her hands full of
the hay that was cut yesterday-- I suppose for rabbits
or something, as she kept on smelling it.
This depiction rouses the image of her graceful and supple touch
on the earth. We may take her as an Earth Mother figure.
Although Mrs Wilcox has little concern about culture like the
other members of the family, she has instinctive w:isdom which the
narrator calls "aristocracy". ( ch. 3) The word "aristocracy" means
the essential virtues of the English tradition, which flows continuously
beneath modern society. If we can regard Mrs Wilcox as the symbol
-44-
of tradition, then it is no wonder that one see her shadow all through
the novel just like Mrs Moore in A Passage to India. Margaret
perceives her shadow, and says to Helen :
' I feel that you and I and Henry are only fragments of
that woman's [Mrs Wilcox's ] mind She knows everything.
She is everything. She is the house, and the tree that leans
over it ' ( ch. 40 )
When Mrs Wilcox is alive, Howards End is a spirit to her ; after
her death, she turns to be a spirit living in it Helen also notices
this great spirit, and says to Margaret : " ' Yes, the house
has a surer life than we, even if it was empty .... After all,
Wickham Place was a grave. ' " ( ch. 37 )
Margaret is to inherit Howards End in the end, which is Mrs
Wilcox's dying wish. She chooses Margaret as a "spiritual heir"
for it, because tradition inevitably needs its heir. To think of this
plot, we can take this novel as a modern drama of rebirth:
the harmonious life under the Earth Mother, the chaos after
her death, and the rebirth of her, who brings forth harmony. But
this heir is "sterile" of her own will: Margaret has decided not to
bear any children. In the future Howards End is to be left to
Helen's son. This is the finale of the novel, in which we may see
two meanings Forster leaves open to us. One is that the modern
Earth Mother is not prolific and so it is doubtful that she can save
modern civilization completely. The other is that if we regard Howards
End as the English tradition, those who inherit it would be the
children born as a result of the connection between the rich and the
poor. If this is true, it follows that Forster's pessimistic view of
-45-
modern civilization IS proportioned by his optimistic view of class
reconciliation.
NOTES
E. M. Forster, Howards End, ed. Oliver Stallybrass, (Hammonds
wurth: Penguin Books, 1984), p. 292. All further references to
this work are indicated in parenthesis by the chapter in which
they appear.
2 John Colmer, E. M. Forster : The Personal Voice. (London &
Boston : Routledge & Kegan Paul. 1975), p. 158.
3 Colmer, p. 162.
REFERENCES
Calvaliero, Glen. A Reading of E. M. Forster. London & Basingstoke:
The Macmillan Press, 1979.
Colmer, John. E. M. Forster: The Personal Voice. London & Boston:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1975.
Forster, E. M. A passage to India. Ed. Oliver Stallybrass. Hammonds
wurth: Penguin Books, 1983.
Howards End. Ed. Oliver Stallybrass. Hammondsworth:
Penguin Books, 1984.
Aspects of the No·vel. Hammondsworth: Penguin Books,
1974.
Rosecrance, Barbara. Forster's Narrative ~'ision. Ithaca & London:
Cornell University Press, 1982.
Stone, Wilfred. The Cave and the Mountain: A Study of E. M.
Forster. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1966.
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