While Margaret Schlegel is contemplating Henry’s comfort with
an instability and flux of life which she associates with London, Forster’s
narrator makes an aside, stating that “under cosmopolitanism, if it comes, we
shall receive no more help from the earth. Trees and meadows and mountains will
only be a spectacle, and the binding force that they once exercised on
character must be entrusted to Love alone. May Love be equal to the task (222)!”
For the narrator, the unique natural surroundings of a particular nation which
in the past was the prime influence on the individual are losing their power,
replaced by large urban centers with a strong international element. The cosmopolitan
city, which tends to have more in common with foreign cities than the rural
areas of its own nation, is posited here as determining factor in the future of
society.
The waning of nature and the nation’s power to shape
individuals is reflected by the novel in the fate of Ruth Wilcox and her house
at Howards End. Ruth is, early on, depicted as deriving her character and
personality from the nature represented by her estate of Howards End, with the
narrator noting that Margaret “discerned that Mrs. Wilcox, though a loving wife
and mother, had only one passion in her life- her house (73),” identifying Ruth’s
attachment to her natural surrounds, by way of her home, as the primary
influence on her personality, with her attachment to others (her position as
wife, mother) being secondary. More than love, the natural world of Howards End
makes Ruth who she is.
This attachment of Ruth’s is easily contrasted in the
attitude towards Howards End manifested by the rest of the Wilcox family after
Ruth’s death, when it is revealed that Ruth wanted the house to pass to
Margaret instead of staying in the Wilcox family. The narrator voices the
family’s disbelief, asking “was there to be no compensation for the garage and
other improvements that they had made under the assumption that all would be
theirs someday (85)?” The Wilcoxes are not bothered by the potential loss of
Howards End due to any sentimental attachment to the property, but are instead
concerned at the prospect of not gaining their expected return on an
investment. The property is thought of by the Wilcoxes in terms of monetary value,
far removed from the sense of personal attachment felt by Ruth. The Wilcoxes
are less worried about the loss of Howards End itself, and more so with the
loss of the house’s monetary value. Unlike Ruth, the rest of the Wilcoxes have
little or no identification with the natural world of Howards End.
What is perhaps less obvious, but still operative is what
this coming of cosmopolitanism as dramatized by the novel means for the notion
of the past. With her connection with the natural world by way of Howards End,
Ruth would seem to find her identity, including her class position, given her
by her connection with the past. Howards End, a remnant of her heritage,
directs Ruth in how to think of herself. Henry, however, would seem to eschew
any sort of identification with his past, as is alluded to by his refusal to
think about or deal with his involvement with Jacky Bast, would seem to couple
his disconnection from nature with a disconnection with the past. While it will
be noted that Henry is not himself thoroughly cosmopolitan, in the sense that
he tends to identify with a rather aggressive nationalism, his disconnection
from the natural world would seem to position him as a sort of
quasi-cosmopolitan. This degree of cosmopolitanism would seem accompanied by a
disregard for the past.
The question is then: what is the future of the past? If, as
is stated in the novel, cosmopolitanism is slowly diminishing the importance of
nature to the individual, then what is to become the importance of the past,
which is shown as carried in nature, to the individual? It would seem that Howards End, in alluding to a world in
which the natural is in the past, no longer as important as it once was, also
alludes to a world in which the past itself is increasingly past, diminishing
in importance to the individuals occupying an increasingly cosmopolitan world.
This is a great question! As you argue in your paper, WIlcox wants to leave each moment behind as soon as he's done living it. Where do you see Margaret standing on this question? Does she mediate between Ruth's and Henry's relationship to the pas/ Or does she do something different?
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