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Howards End

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Novels

   CAPTION: Title Howards End

     Author   E. M. Forster
    Country   United Kingdom
    Language  English
    Genre(s)  Romantic novel
   Publisher  Edward Arnold (London)
    Released  1910
   Media type Print Hardback
     Pages    343 pp.
      ISBN    NA

   Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster, first published in 1910, which
   tells a story of class struggle in turn-of-the-century England. The
   main themes are the difficulties, and also the benefits, of
   relationships between members of different social classes.

Plot summary

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   The book is about three families in England at the beginning of the
   twentieth century. The three families represent different gradations of
   the Edwardian middle class: the Wilcoxes, who are rich capitalists with
   a fortune made in the Colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings
   (Margaret, Tibby, and Helen), who represent the intellectual
   bourgeoisie and have a lot in common with the real-life Bloomsbury
   Group; and the Basts, a couple who are struggling members of the
   lower-middle class. The Schlegel sisters try to help the poor Basts and
   try to make the Wilcoxes less prejudiced. The motto of the book is
   "Only connect..."

   The Schlegels frequently encounter the Wilcoxes. The youngest, Helen,
   is rejected by the younger Wilcox brother, Paul. The eldest, Margaret,
   becomes friends with his mother Ruth Wilcox. Ruth's most prized
   personal possession is her family house at Howards End. She wishes that
   Margaret could live there, as she feels that it might be in good hands
   with her. Ruth's own husband and children do not value the house and
   its rich history, because such abstractions, while being very dear to
   Margaret, are lost to them. As she is terminally ill, and Margaret and
   her family are about to be evicted from their London home by a
   developer, Ruth bequeaths the cottage to Margaret in a handwritten note
   found among her effects when she dies, causing great consternation
   among the Wilcoxes. Mrs Wilcox's widowed husband Henry and his children
   burn the note without telling Margaret about her inheritance. However,
   over the course of several years, Margaret becomes friends with Henry
   Wilcox and eventually marries him. The more free-spirited Margaret
   tries to get Henry to open up more, to little effect. Henry's elder son
   Charles and his wife try to keep Margaret from taking possession of
   Howards End.

   Gradually, Margaret becomes aware of Henry's dismissive attitude
   towards the lower classes. On Henry's advice, Helen tells Leonard Bast
   to quit his promising bank job, because his company stands outside a
   protective group of companies and thus is vulnerable to failure. A few
   weeks later, Henry carelessly reverses his opinion, having entirely
   forgotten about Bast, but it is too late, and Bast has lost his tenuous
   hold on financial solvency. Bast lives with a troubled, "fallen" woman
   for whom he feels responsible and whom he eventually marries. It is
   later revealed that years earlier, when a teenager, she had been
   Henry's mistress in Cyprus, but he had then carelessly abandoned her,
   an expatriate English girl on foreign soil with no way to return home.
   Margaret confronts Henry about his ill-treatment, and he is ashamed of
   the affair but unrepentant about his harsh treatment of her. Because of
   Margaret's marriage into the Wilcoxes and situations such as these, the
   Schlegel sisters drift apart somewhat. Helen continues to try to help
   young Leonard Bast, but it all goes terribly wrong; because of Bast's
   wife's connection with Henry, Henry will not countenance helping them.
   In a moment of pity for the poor, doomed Bast, Helen has an affair with
   him. Finding herself pregnant, Helen leaves England to travel through
   Germany to conceal her condition, but eventually returns to her sister.
   Margaret tries in vain to convince Henry that if he can countenance his
   own affair, he should forgive Helen hers. Henry's son attacks Bast for
   the dishonor he has brought to Helen, and accidentally kills him when
   his weak heart gives out. The ensuing scandal and shock cause Henry to
   reevaluate his life and he begins to connect with others. He bequeaths
   Howards End to Margaret's nephew - Helen's son by Bast. Helen
   reconciles with her sister and Henry, and decides to raise her child at
   Howards End.

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

   A television adaptation of the novel was broadcast in 1970 with Leo
   Genn and Glenda Jackson.

   The 1992 film version starred Emma Thompson, Helena Bonham Carter,
   Anthony Hopkins and Samuel West. Thompson won an Academy Award for her
   performance.

   Zadie Smith's On Beauty is a modern retelling of and homage to Howards
   End.

Location of Howards End

   Forster based his description of Howards End on a house at Rooks Nest
   in Hertfordshire, his childhood home from 1883 to 1893. According to
   his description in an appendix to the novel, Rooks Nest was a hamlet
   with a farm on the Weston Road just outside Stevenage. The house is
   marked on modern Ordnance Survey maps at grid reference TL244267. Since
   Forster's childhood, Stevenage has grown to meet the house but has not
   yet engulfed it.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howards_End"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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