Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Only connect!

So it would probably be a useful exercise for me to post more frequently here so I don't have to cram so many thoughts into one small space, but I get too involved in the story and forget to write. Oops.

I thoroughly enjoyed Howard's End. Even though dear old Eddie pulled the "I'm including characters to represent lofty ideas" ruse, I didn't find that as bothersome or obvious as I have in other works (*cough* The Jungle *cough* Lady Chatterley's Lover). The Schlegels, representing liberal intellectualism, unite with the Wilcoxes, conservative, practical businesspeople, through the marriage of Margaret Schlegel and Henry Wilcox.

And let's be honest here, if I wasn't imagining Henry Wilcox as Anthony Hopkins, I would think he was pretty much a giant jerk. Sometimes even the imagined Hopkins charm couldn't salvage his remarks. Upon learning he'd caused Leonard Bast to lose his job, Henry's response was pretty much "There will always be poor people. Not my problem!" And some of the terribly chauvinistic remarks he would make to Margaret made me seriously question how someone as awesomely smart, practical, and loving as Meg could have fallen for a guy who is more or less an arse. Women's expectations were a lot lower in 1910? I wanted to like Henry because Margaret loved him so much, but never could quite make myself do it.

Anthony Hopkins in Howards End
.
But she crossed out "I do understand"; it struck a ... false note. Henry could not bear to be understood. She also crossed out, "It is everything or nothing." Henry would resent so strong a grasp of the situation. She must not comment; comment is unfeminine. (28.3)

Through a series of events too complicated to relay in their entirety here (but including such juicy tidbits as a former mistress, an unexpected pregnancy, and a possible murder), everything works out in the end. Meg's mantra of "Only connect!" not only helps her love all the very different personalities in her new family, it indeed helps Henry and her sister Helen learn how to better love and "connect" with others. Forster leaves us with the idea that the different English classes will soon intermingle and learn to respect one another. As I am not British, I can't really say whether I think his prediction came to pass, but it's certainly an optimistic way to end the novel. And if there's anything I really treasure on this list, it's an optimistic ending. Trust me, there are plenty of dire endings to balance this one out. And bonus - Meg gets Howard's End after all!

I'm really excited to watch the movie some time this week to see how it compares to the novel, as this seems to be one of only a handful of cases where the book and the movie receive favorable reviews.

Want to read Howard's End yourself? Download the ebook from Project Gutenberg
here.

Bonus question - what do you think is the best movie adaptation of a novel? What's the worst?



Anthony Hopkins image found here

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