Howards End

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1910

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-8

Chapters 9-16

Chapters 17-25

Chapters 26-34

Chapters 35-44

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

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Discussion Questions

Background

Authorial Context: E. M. Forster

Forster was an English writer from a middle-class family of an Anglo-Irish and Welsh background born in 1879. He was raised by female relatives after his father died when he was a year old. A country house that he lived in as a boy with his mother in Hertfordshire served as the model for Howards End in the novel.

His best known and most widely acclaimed novels are A Room with a View (1908), Howards End, and A Passage to India (1924). All of them deal with critiques of English society and are concerned with its future. A Passage to India is notable as a critique of English colonialism in India and English colonists’ attitudes toward Indian people. His novel Maurice (written 1913-1914, revised 1932 and 1952-1960), which follows the story of a queer relationship between two young men, was not published until after Forster’s death in 1970. Forster, who was himself gay, said in 1914 that the novel could not be published “until my death and England’s” (Rose, Peter. “Peter Rose on the peculiar charms of E.M. Forster.” Australian Book Review, 2011). Howards End itself was viewed as scandalous in light of Helen and Leonard’s affair in the novel.

Forster was part of the Bloomsbury Group, an informal group of English intellectuals that counted among its members the writer Virginia Woolf, the economist John Maynard Keynes, and the art critics Clive Bell and Roger Fry. The group was deeply influenced by the philosophy of G. E. Moore and his book Principia Ethica (1903), which champions the significance of art and friendship to human happiness. As evidence of Forster’s commitment to these ideas he wrote, “I hate the idea of causes, and if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend, I hope I should have the guts to betray my country” (v). This idea is evident in the anti-nationalism of the Schlegel sisters in the novel.

Sociohistorical Context: The Edwardian Era

Howards End, published in 1910, takes place during the Edwardian era, which followed the long reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901). Although King Edward VII reigned from 1901 to 1910, “Edwardian” is often used to refer to the era between the start of the century and the outbreak of World War I.

The Edwardian era was a time of rapid change. In terms of technology, new steel-framed buildings (which allowed for taller constructions) replaced older buildings; cars and trams began to replace horses on the roads; gramophones were introduced, first in the homes of the wealthy; film became a form of popular entertainment. Frozen meat was sold from the other side of the world, marking a new stage of competition for local farmers, and aspirin was introduced in a major advance of medicine. An agricultural depression in the preceding decades, together with a rise in industrialization, also led to the rapid urbanization of the population. It was also a period of economic stratification, as some lived richly from the wealth of Britain’s global empire and industrializing economy, while others lived in extreme poverty before the establishment of any welfare programs. These changes are evident in Howards End as the capitalist Wilcoxes live off their profitable, global business while Leonard is eventually evicted from his home after losing his job.

At the same time, as the population boomed, and as more people crowded into cities, various social movements arose. The labor movement gained prominence in addition to the women’s suffrage movement (in which the Schlegels are interested), and there were increased demands for a welfare state. Indeed, the wealthy women in the Schlegels’ club debate what rich people can do for poor people such as Leonard Bast. During this period, Germany outpaced the United Kingdom in industrial output, and there were widespread fears of a war with Germany in the decade leading to World War I.