A Room With A View Essay

E.M Forster’s A Room With A View challenges the societal values of upper-middle class England, and does so with a love story. Forster paints a visual contrast of societal values with two locations. The locations Forster chose to contrast one another in this story were England and Italy. England represented the patriarchal values of female submission and the strict divide between social classes. Whereas, Italy represented a more free and accepting environment, where social class did not restrict love or acceptance. Being exposed to these environments allows the story's main character, Lucy, to learn what it means to experience freedom. In this book England is clearly representing the strict expectations of women in society. Women in English society should have been well dressed, neat, prim, proper, reserved, and obedient. Lucy, our protagonist in this story, wants to have the freedom to express herself; however, she is constantly told how to conduct herself. During the time the novel takes place, women were beginning to question these values. However, there were many people who clinged on to tradition and pressed the ideas of strict social status. Lucy falls in love with George Emerson, who is not of a proper

In Italy lucy see that people can be beautiful without being proper or wealthy. In chapter 1, Lucy says “About old Mr. Emerson—I hardly know. No, he is not tactful; yet, have you ever noticed that there are people who do things which are most indelicate, and yet at the same time—beautiful?” (Forster 9) Charlotte doesn’t feel the same about the Emersons and she is rather offended by their lack of propriety. These are the generalized views of english society. Italy is seen as an escape from the constraints that social hierarchy has on the lives of people. Forster successfully used two separate locations to illustrate a divide in social