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Adrian Guzman
Dr. Huckabee
English 042
20 April 2014
The British Social Classes
Edward Morgan Forster is a British author who wrote many critically acclaimed novels
surrounding the issue of the British social class system and its impact on family and social
relationships. The novels A Room with a View and Howards End both reflect the issues of a
societal view on social class separation and inequality. Forster wrote these novels in hopes of
changing the views of society.
Edward Forster was born on January 1, 1879, in London living what some would call, a
monotonous life. Unfortunately, Foster’s father died when he was only two. It was with the help
of an inheritance from his aunt, equivalent to almost eight hundred thousand euros in today’s
money, that he was able to achieve greatness. Forster was able to attend schooling and live off
the money he had inherited devoting himself to writing his novels.
Forster attended King’s College in Cambridge between the years 1897 and 1901 joining
the university’s most prestigious discussion group, the Apostles. Joining the group impacted him
by shaping his philosophical and aesthetic points of view. At King’s college he flourished in
academics and it was there that he acknowledged his agnosticism and homosexuality. While still
attending, his early works displayed his antipathy for Christianity, his sexual orientation, and his
sexual frustrations. In one of Forster’s novels, he “clearly depicts Mr. Emerson’s new mode of
aesthetic spiritually as typologically superseding the church, ‘to hate one another in the name of
God” (25) states Hinojosa referring the a quote in a novel. It is quite evident in Forster’s novels
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about his stance with religion. These traits and characteristics were revealed throughout the
entirety of his work.
After graduating from King’s College, Forster joined his mother traveling to Italy and
Greece. It was there that he began drafting his first two novels. Howard’s End was his first
successful novel. Against the war, Forster decided to go to Alexandria where he would volunteer
with the Red Cross from the years 1915 to 1918. He later returned in 1922 as a secretary to the
Maharajah. Forster fell in love with an Egyptian tram conductor, Mohammad el Adi, with whom
he had his first sexual affair. Forster’s experiences with the East helped outline his most
notorious novel, A Passage to India, which was also his last novel.
Forster continued to write short stories including nonfiction such as criticisms, essays and
biographies before his death. Forster died in Coventry, England, on June 7, 1970. His reputation
declined after due to the fact that he practiced homosexuality according to Summers in the
Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire. This decline later stabilized as homosexuality
became more socially acceptable. Although only writing four novels, he is easily one of the most
recognizable British writers because of his ironic and well-plotted novels.
Forster’s novel Howard’s End focuses on the British economic social classes and how
they affect connections in families. Forster has a reputation of assaulting or chastising the British
Class system because of what he believes to contain inequality in social classes. “Faced […] with
England’s working class and the ugly legacy of Victorian imperialism, the clarity and force with
which Forster perceived the demands of ethical responsibility proved difficult,” writes Turner.
Forster focuses on the issue at hand which are the problems classes faced because of the
Victorian Era. Readers are able to perceive this theme of inequality in the social classes
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throughout the entirety of the novel through the actions and dialogue between characters, which
represent Forster’s beliefs without blatantly stating them.
Throughout the novel, the phrase “only connecting” appears many times as it plays a role
in being the novel’s theme. The phrase implies that social issues such as where people stand in
society distract them from what they should be doing, such as creating relationships with others,
no matter their class or sex. Forster uses his characters to display this message in the novel. Lucy
asks, “Henry, why do people who have enough money try to get more money” (72). This quote
shows the difference between two of the social classes. She does not fully understand why the
upper class would need excess money. The social classes did not like to intermingle because they
did not understand each other. Forster wanted to prove his point in that there was a difference
between the social classes during his time. He is chastising the British class system because of
what they had become, just fighting instead of acceptance and understanding.
The issue with social classes is highlighted many times throughout the novel. Characters
often find themselves in situations in which they face difficulties, whether they are in the upper
class or lower class. By this, Forster’s message is that everyone faces difficulties. He hopes
people don’t glorify the upper class because even they face problems. In another section of the
novel, he highlights the problems of the lower class such as trying to provide for oneself. This is
intended for readers of the upper class to show compassion for the unfortunate. The problem
with the system is that different classes would not like to converse with each other. This caused a
problem in society. Families were split because of their social classes and it was not evident to
those individuals who faced such problems because of society’s views. Forster criticizes the
British class system throughout his novel for promoting inequality.
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Another point that is highlighted in the novel is the view on women as being inferior
subordinates and in a class of their own. The character Henry Wilcox, an individual who
represents the entirety of men during Forster’s time, looks down on women. He states that “Man
is for war, woman for the recreation of the warrior […] She cannot win a real battle, having no
muscles, only nerves” (205). This reflects men’s thoughts of woman during Forster’s time. The
character stating this expresses sexist feelings and believes a woman’s only job is to produce a
boy who will eventually become a man (warrior); it is as if he is calling woman useless. Forster
believed in equality for all sexes and social classes.
Another example Forster used to display the problems of inequality were with the
character Jacky who tried to better herself but couldn’t because of society’s view. The character
Jacky represents the lower class during Forster’s time. She is poor and society views her as
