How does E.M. Forster represent the English Character?

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How does E.M. Forster represent the English Character?

        E. M. Forster started writing novels around 1901 and his sought after goal was to identify specific truths and the relationship between those truths. He was truly English at heart and wanted to explore the English character. He was interested in ancient literature; this was his reason for travelling abroad to such places like Italy. While travelling he came to know a certain type of English person, these were who he based his novels on. He was also interested in Art and he liked to question the conventional English views on art, beauty and truth.

        In ‘A Room with a View’, there are two types of English character: the conventional, Miss Bartlett, and the unconventional, George Emerson and his father. Miss Bartlett represents all that is bad in English behaviour both home and abroad. Whereas George Emerson and his father are more free thinking and open to what is deemed real beauty which is expressed through George Emerson declaring his creed.

        In ‘The Story of a Panic’, Eustace is not so much unorthodox, but instead he challenges the conventions of English behaviour. Eustace does not want to conform to what he is told and therefore appears peculiar in the eyes of the writer and those around him, ‘Then I asked him to come and bathe-No he could not swim…Every English boy should be able to swim’. There are certain qualities expected of the English. This extenuates the stiffness of the English as a whole and their inability to think for themselves.

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        Eustace develops a strong relationship with Gennaro. This is because they are both outsiders. Eustace feels isolated from his fellow Englishmen and Gennaro is an Italian in an English community in Italy. They both find comfort in this connection they have, ‘Eustace sprung to meet him…leapt into his arms.’ This union is deemed unacceptable as Gennaro is a ‘social inferior’ to Eustace.

        When the English go on holiday in both stories they leave England to experience the beauty that Italy contains. The main scenes of the two stories are set in a similar landscape, rolling hills with a view. This ...

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