London in Howards Ends

London in Howards Ends

To speak against London is no longer fashionable. The Earth as an artistic cult has had its day, and the literature of the near future will probably ignore the country and seek inspiration from the town. One can understand the reaction. Of Pan and the elemental forces, the public has heard a 'little too much--they seem Victorian, while London is Georgian--and those who care for the earth with sincerity may wait long ere the pendulum swings back to her again. Certainly London fascinates. One visualises it as a tract of quivering grey, intelligent without purpose, and excitable without love; as a spirit that has altered before it can be chronicled; as a heart that certainly beats, but with no pulsation of humanity.                                                

 — E. M. Forster, Howards End

        When E. M. Forster wrote Howards End in 1910, London has already been one of the most important cities in the world.  Although London was no longer the biggest industrial city in England, London’s role as the capital of global finance became increasingly important as a facilitator of domestic and international investments. (Martian 451) There were so many opportunities in the continuously developing city. Moreover, as the imperial capital, London was still the cultural and political center of England. From 1900 to 1910, there were around 4.5 million residents working and living just in the Inner London area. London was so attractive. Upper class people, middle class people, working class people, country people, foreign people all came to London looking for a better and more honorable life. People fluxed into London and fought for one step closer to the elite class. However, their paths to the better a life were very different, because they had different social backgrounds. The same London could be so different for people from different social classes.

        All the readings we have read this semester, created from English Renaissance to the end of World War I, indicting the social hierarchy system was ingrained in the English society and very hard to break. No matter how fast London was developing at that time, like any other time and any other place in England, the social hierarchy system was also ingrained in London. Because the openness of London, connections and conflicts between people from different social classes were inevitable. E. M. Forster’s work Howards End shows how different people’ life can be with different social background in London. More importantly, E. M. Forster tells about the connections and conflicts between people from different social class, and finally how they all compromise to the system that exists in England for hundreds of years.

        Basically, the upper class, the middle class and the working class are the three main components of English social hierarchy system. Since the manufacturing begin to falter in London, at that time London has it population with majority of middle and minority of upper class. (Martian 451) However, within the middle classes there are lower middle class, middle middle class and, upper middle class and there is huge distance between lower middle class and upper middle class.

        First, the main characters on Howards End the Schlegels are the typical London upper middle class. The upper middle class in England often born in a high income family. Most of them are well educated. The readers can see that the Schlegel sisters are pretty rich and very well educated from their appearances. Their younger brother Tibby is attending the Oxford University, one of the best universities in England. The Schlegels’ father is a German immigrant and their parents have some money so they can settle in London. The Schlegel sisters do not need to go to work. They can have a prosperous life in London with the inheritance from their parents and some investments. E. M. Forster depicts a typical image of the Schlegel sisters in chapter four “They talked to each other and to other people, they filed the thin house at Wickham Place with those whom they liked or could befriend. They even attended public meetings. In their own fashion they cared deeply about politics, though not as politicians would have us care; they desired that public life should mirror whatever is good in the life within.” (Forster, 19) Additionally, the Wickham Place where the Schlegel sisters live before leaving is a very special place.  “They were able to swim ‘gracefully’ on ‘the grey tides’ of London’s flux because of their fortunate place in the city: their home, an ‘older house,’ was shielded from the ‘beating’ waves of the city by ‘a lofty promontory’ of newly built, luxury flats.” (Martian, 449) The Schlegel sisters have very profound views toward the society and where they live also gives them more chance to connect with different people. E. M. Forster indicates the Schlegel sisters are very liberal and where they live is special in early chapters. This foreshadows their simultaneous connection with both lower-middle class man Mr. Leonard Bast and the Wilcox family from the upper class. It is the Schlegel sisters that connect the two extreme classes. As a result, reader would not feel surprise to see conflicts break out between Mr. Bast and the Wilcox family in the end of the Howards End.