ktm5124
07-08-2010, 03:35 PM
What a delightful read! A few months ago I picked up this book, read seventy or so pages, and then put it down because I was bored with it. I don't know, back then I must have been impatient! But I picked it up again this past week, read it in a few days, and was delighted. It is especially interesting to read this book after having read A Passage to India. There are endless similarities between the two... both in theme, and in conception of character. I notice that Mr. Beebe is much like the schoolmaster (and close friend and confidant of Dr. Aziz) - I forget his name, but he's one of the main characters. They are both wise men, unentangled by the romances, indifferent to women, observing from the outside. They seem to me to be the portals through which E.M. Forster's homosexuality enters the novels. There are countless other similarities, but they are not worth drowning this post in.
But perhaps what is worth a discussion are Forster's views on the two genders. From the two novels of his that I have read, Forster doesn't seen to have any strong female characters and, on the contrary, his female characters seem to be either naive or superficial. Both Miss Quested and Lucy Honeychurch undergo much disillusionment in the novels. The rest of the female characters seem to care more about delicacy than beauty, and on the whole are very superficial. To examine the way he conceives male characters, one should look at Dr. Aziz and George Emerson, Mr. Beebe and the schoolmaster (oh, how I hate that I forget his name). Dr. Aziz and George Emerson are both passionate men who are right in their principles, but are unable to accomodate the prejudiced views of their environment. Mr. Beebe and the schoolmaster are both wise men, observers, indifferent to the petty women in their environments, providing the closest insight into Forster himself. One can see, then, how Forster's personal indifference to women manifests itself in the novels.
But perhaps what is worth a discussion are Forster's views on the two genders. From the two novels of his that I have read, Forster doesn't seen to have any strong female characters and, on the contrary, his female characters seem to be either naive or superficial. Both Miss Quested and Lucy Honeychurch undergo much disillusionment in the novels. The rest of the female characters seem to care more about delicacy than beauty, and on the whole are very superficial. To examine the way he conceives male characters, one should look at Dr. Aziz and George Emerson, Mr. Beebe and the schoolmaster (oh, how I hate that I forget his name). Dr. Aziz and George Emerson are both passionate men who are right in their principles, but are unable to accomodate the prejudiced views of their environment. Mr. Beebe and the schoolmaster are both wise men, observers, indifferent to the petty women in their environments, providing the closest insight into Forster himself. One can see, then, how Forster's personal indifference to women manifests itself in the novels.