Lucy In Room With A View

E.M. Forster's Room with a View follows straight-laced, prim and proper Lucy Honeychurch on her journey to Florence, Italy where she meets unorthodox George Emerson. During her vacation George is able to challenge her, inspire her, and open her mind to a world beyond Victorian snobbery. While in Italy, Lucy witnesses unrestrictive social classes, beauty over proper behavior, and a room with a view. Daunted by the possibility of change, Lucy returns to England where she agrees to marry the aristocratic Cecil. Madly in love and unbound by convention George travels to England where he convinces Lucy to follow her heart rather than comply with high-society’s expectations of her.

Prior to leaving England, Lucy’s life consisted of rich, polite,

“‘I know his mother; he’s good, he’s clever, he’s rich, he’s well connected… and he has beautiful manners.’” (pg. 69) Her other suitor George has conversely earned the approval of Freddy, who enjoys his lack of refinery and willingness to participate in childish games. “Then all the forces of youth bust out. He smiled, flung himself at them, splashed them, ducked them, kicked them, muddied them, and drove them out of the pool.” (pg. 106) Cecil points out later in the novel that Lucy always associates him with a room, specifically the drawing room with no view. When Lucy pictures George however, she imagines the Italian hills with a beautiful view behind him. A room represents conformity and the restrictions of society where a view represents freedom and nature. When George and his father first offered Lucy their room with a view they were essentially offering their own worldview which is open to possibility and not too tightly restricted by the confines of society. Accepting a beautiful, but indelicate life requires a woman to look past propriety which Lucy couldn’t have done before visiting Italy and meeting