A Room with a View: First Thoughts

The introduction to my book discussed the fact that E. M. Forester believed that characters were interchangeable between books regardless of the century or continent. During a lecture at Cambridge, he states, “we may say that History develops, [but] Art stands still.” The author of the introduction, Mona Simpson, doesn’t completely agree with Forester, but she does admit that his characters could live in other’s books.

I enjoy Forester’s critique of English society. Lucy Honeychurch is a well-to-do in society, and this book discusses her turmoil about what is acceptable among peers and what she wants. I would classify this as a semi-feminist book, because she follows her free-will and doesn’t let society tell her what will make her happy.

Speaking of society, in the SLC there is a presentation about a healthy portrayal of self-image and not relying on what society tells us. It is called A Room with a View, and the book deals with the same facts that we go through today. Maybe not in the sense that we have as segregated of a class system, but media tells us that we must be skin and bones to be pretty. It is the same concept, but for a new generation.