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Discuss the theme of change in literature
Explore the development of Lucy’s character in the opening half of A Room with a View
Explore the development of Lucy’s character in the opening half of A Room with a View
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Recommended: Discuss the theme of change in literature
In Forster’s novel, A Room with A View, Lucy Honeychurch, a young upper middle class woman, visits Italy with her older cousin Charlotte. At their guesthouse in Florence, they are given rooms that look into the courtyard. Mr. Emerson and his son, George, offer them their rooms; however, Charlotte is offended of their offer due to their lower class. She initially rejects the offer, but later accepts it when Mr. Beebe intervenes in the situation. Later, Lucy runs into two arguing Italian men. One man stabs the other, and she faints, only to be rescued by George. On their return home, he kisses her, and Charlotte tells Lucy to keep this a secret. Once Lucy returns home to her mother and brother, Cecil Vyse, a man she met in Rome, proposes to her to which she accepts. After many encounters that show Cecil’s snobbish nature, Lucy breaks off her engagement that night; and with Mr. Emerson’s encouragement, Lucy discovers that she loves George and marries him. Throughout the novel, the theme of transformation is shown thru the change Lucy and Charlotte go through. This theme is affected by Forster’s “light” and “darkness” throughout the novel because the light and darkness emphasize that Lucy’s forward thinking is desirable over Charlotte’s traditional thinking.
The theme of transformation is affected by Forster’s “light” and “darkness” in the novel because they both emphasize how Lucy’s path in life is more favorable. At the beginning of the story, Forster reveals Lucy’s character when she enters her room with a view: “she opened the window and breathed clean night air, thinking of the kind old man who had enabled her to see the lights dancing in the Arno.” (Forster, pg. 11). This sentence shows that Lucy is excited and open on her trip ...
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...because both highlight how Lucy’s modern attitude of life is desirable over Charlotte’s traditional thinking. Throughout the novel, Forster describes Lucy and George with “light”; this helps to show how falling in love with George is the best decision for her. While Forster uses “light” to describe Lucy’s way of thinking, he uses “darkness” to describe Charlotte’s character. This helps to show that Charlotte will not go against the way of society; however, Charlotte has been hinted in helping George and Lucy get together by arranging Lucy and Mr. Emerson to speak with one another; this would mean that Charlotte could have been able to escape the “darkness” of society and enter the “light”. Because of Forster’s use of “light” and “darkness” in A Room with a View, these transformations that Lucy and Charlotte experience have a much larger impact for readers to enjoy.
In the novel, light is used as a symbol of a normal life that is dictated by the normality of society. This is illustrated when Ruth
The novel starts out with seventeen-year-old Ian Bedloe, young and handsome, and without a care in the world. He’s still dating his high school sweetheart with plans to get married right after they’ve both finished college and his entire family seems to be the exact representation of the American dream. Unfortunately, all that dramatically changes when Ian’s older brother brings home a mysterious beauty, announcing that after only two weeks of having known Lucy, he plans to marry her right away. At first, Ian didn’t seem to mind her and he barely seemed to take notice of her two children from her previous marriage. However, Ian starts to notice Lucy behaving suspiciously, for example...
Connected to the somber image of the town, The house is described with harsh diction such as “streaked with rust”, depicting the years of neglect. Affected by abuse, Petry describes the house as stained with “blood” in the form of rust. Despite the harsh outer layer, Lutie is drawn to it as her figurative and literal “sign”of refuge. A town that had been nothing but cold to her is finally seen as warm from the words on the sign; describing the house as “Reasonable” and open to “respectable tenants”.
In Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet’s journey to love and marriage is the focal point of the narrative. But, the lesser known source of richness in Austen’s writing comes from her complex themes the well-developed minor characters. A closer examination of Charlotte Lucas, Elizabeth’s dear friend in Pride and Prejudice, shows that while she did not take up a large amount of space in the narrative, her impact was great. Charlotte’s unfortunate circumstances in the marriage market make her a foil to Elizabeth, who has the power of choice and refusal when it comes to deciding who will be her husband. By focusing on Charlotte’s age and lack of beauty, Austen emphasizes how ridiculous and cruel marriage can be in this time.
Since symbolism first began to be used in the English language, Light has always represented a theme of hope and optimism. The phrase “Light at the end of the tunnel” best encompasses this, implying an opportunity or relief after difficulty or chaos. In the same way, Darkness has represented confusion or despair. James Joyce expands on the traditional connotations of Light and Darkness in his short story “Araby”. The narrative follows a young boy on his futile quest to find love with a girl much older than himself whom he hardly knows. Joyce uses Light to represent not only hope, but unrealistic idealism and illusion. In the same way, Darkness, in addition to despair, represents the reality and truth in the narrator's predicament. Joyce uses Light and Darkness as a symbol for the clash between fantasy and reality that takes place within the narrator.
In Lucy Steele’s confession to Elinor that she is engaged to Edward Ferrars, we can see how the novel illustrates gossip as a cause of both internal conflict, in Elinor, and external conflict, present between Elinor and Lucy. Elinor becomes jealous because of Lucy’s boastful gossip about her life, placing the two into a conflict over romance. When the two meet, Lucy divulges in her relationship with Edwa...
In the novel, Mrs. Clarissa Dalloway, a royal wife, shares almost similar views of the world with Septimus Warren Smith, a former soldier who fought in the World War I and now suffering from hallucination. These two characters share many things in common albeit the fact that they are not known to each other and they have not shared anything in their lifetimes. The novel is an in-depth “day-in-the-life” view of Mrs. Dalloway featuring what she thinks about her life, other people’s lives, her real feelings and the feelings of other people. She is told the story of a former World War I soldier and she takes her time to reflect in the man’s life and experiences. His life appears more like hers not in how they both live but their feelings, which is why I hold the view tha...
“A sensible man will remember that the eyes may be confused in two ways- by a change from light to darkness or from darkness to light; and he will recognize the same thing happens to the soul” (Plato 3). In a literal meaning, the term dark is defined as, “with little or no light,” and the term light is defined as, “the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible” (Dictionary.com). However, when used in a piece of work, such as this one, darkness and light can be associated with an endless amount of meanings. For instance, by using imagery, any author can write a story about one event that’s happening, but have a deeper, more meaningful message that isn’t so straightforward. For example, in both Oedipus the King and “The Allegory
Lightness and darkness have very different meanings in the human psyche in that lightness is synonymous with innocence and naïvety while darkness coincides with all things daunting and evil. Throughout the memoir, many situations are repeated but to different degrees of severity. For example, on pages 113 and 145, Marjane is arguing with her mother. However, the first instance is simply a minor act of preteen rebellion while the second alludes to the possibility of state-sanctioned rape and execution. At first glance, these pages are very similar; Marjane’s mother is obviously angry and invades upon her daughter’s personal space as she lectures and ...
The problems Lucy faces in A Room With a View mirror those of E.M. Forster. Forster, being raised by the women in his life, saw the difficult choices they had to make. Lucy's biggest decision is whether to live a fulfilling, happy life or follow along with her families values. Forster watched the Victorian women in his life give up their freedom for societal acceptance. For example, Forster's maternal grandmother on whom he based the character of Mrs. Honey church (Gardner 398) Forster also recognized the parallels between the societal treatment of women and its treatment of homosexuals. Forster also enjoyed adding "muddle" ...
...er. Even as wise and intelligent as Charlotte is, she still identifies with the ideas of her time about marriage. Charlotte, serving as a basis of time’s views allows the reader a glimpse into the institution of marriage in the Regency Era. Charlotte more than emphasizes just how radical Elizabeth was for her time, since she was willing to wait for the perfect man rather than settle. As a contrast, she helps Austen create a unique relationship in Darcy and Elizabeth. Austen disproves Charlotte’s and the general society’s pragmatic belief in a likely unhappy marriage. Through Charlotte’s marriage Austen gains a more cynical and realist voice she shows that the heart does not always have to be consulted with for a comfortable union. However, she also proves that a happy marriage is possible in spite of personal imperfections as is the case with Darcy and Elizabeth.
Forester inserted a handful of characters to surround Lucy during this time in her life to demonstrate the views and beliefs of people in this particular era to better understand her dilemmas. During a time when society was on the cusp of change, there are people who try to refuse ...
But it was getting dark on the inside too” (Carver). The description of light and dark of the story
True Love in The Merchant of Venice Among the various themes presented in the Merchant of Venice most important is the nature of true love. The casket plot helps illustrate the theme of the book. Through a variety of suitors the descriptions of the caskets, Shakespeare shows the reader how different people view true love. He also shows what is most important to the suitors and in some cases it is not true love, but material things and outward appearance. The first suitor who tries to win Portia's hand is the Prince of Morocco.
E.M. Forster lived in a period of time where change was all around him. Through his novels, he attempted to call attention to the changes he really wished to see. At the time, social class played a big role in how people understood life. People married within their class and did not go against their elders. Forster emphasized this through Lucy Honeychurch, who goes along with what her cousin and mother tell her, and does not question too much. She obeys the rules and does not speak out of turn. The importance of social class is also a major reason as to why Lucy agrees to marry Cecil instead of following her confusing, yet real, feelings for George. However, the point of Forster’s writing is not to discuss the way things are, but to change them. E.M. Forster used his novel, A Room with a View, to challenge the importance of social class by showing extreme contrast with several characters, as well as using setting to help form Lucy’s transformation.