In the novel, Howards End, written by E.M. Forster, we learn much about the relationship between two families, the Wilcoxes and the Schlegels. While reading the novel, two of the main themes that continuously arise are class and identity. When it comes to those two themes, we learn that there is a reciprocal relationship between ones social and public life versus there private and personal life, all which can be affected by one’s class. The novel, Howard’s End, along with other articles, can show how one’s social class can affect their persona.
Terry Eagleton wrote an article titled, “What is Literature?” In this article he goes on to argue that literature is a special kind of language that “transforms and intensifies ordinary language, deviates systematically from everyday speech” (Eagleton, 2). He goes on to tell us that literature can have many different definitions and it all depends on how a person defines it. On page four of the article, Terry tells us that most of the time “we breathe in air without being conscious of it: like language, it is the very medium in which we move. But if the air is suddenly thickened or infected we are forced to attend to our breathing with new vigilance, and the effect of this may be a heightened experience of our bodily life” (Eagleton, 4). I compare the empty definition of literature to someone’s persona. Who you are doesn’t really have a definition until you add meaning to it.
In order to understand literature and one’s persona, you must be able to think abstract. As humans, we need to look beneath what appears on the surface; to find the potential that lies hidden from the first glance. As said in the article, “Mass Culture and the eclipse of reason” we should be thinking abstract. Mass culture and pedagogy have changed how students think and are able to read and interpret certain passages. Aronowitz tell us, “the problem of abstraction becomes a major barrier to analysis because students seem enslaved to the concrete” (Aronowitz, 769). When we think abstract we are able to see things like how social class can affect someone’s persona. We can study someone’s personality and realize that one thing can always be triggering another. In this case, we can realize that Leonard’s social class makes him this sad man, but if he was upper class along with Mr. Wilcox, things might have been different from him.
With this being said, Leonard Bast is the main character that sticks out to me in the novel. His personality shows how being in a certain social class can affect one’s persona. Leonard Bast is a poor insurance clerk who is at the very bottom of the working class. He has enough money for food, a place to live, and clothing and is constantly worried about his finances. He is married to Jacky, represents the aspirations of the lower class, and is obsessed with self-improvement, with hopes of lifting himself up. Through the character of Leonard, Forster shows us the instability of a man that’s on the very edge of the working class. Leonard Basts’ attempt in having a relationship with the Schlegel sisters can be a depiction of the problematic relationship between the wealthy and the poor.
In the novel, Leonard is the one character that represents everything that’s thwarted by modern life. He’s a romantic and relatively intelligent young man, but he doesn’t have everything the way he wishes. He’s trapped in a dead-end job and he’s frustrated all around the board: sexually, intellectually and economically. He wants so much for himself, but he literally can’t go after it since he doesn’t have the money to and two of the main things that Leonard strives towards are literature and art. The stress on his shoulders is so immense that the readers have no other option but to feel bad for him. Forster uses Leonard to show us that poverty can be a very destructive thing. The lack of money makes Leonard a sad man all around and this is a perfect example of how one’s class can affect their persona.
The tensions that Leonard Bast has to go through on a day to day basis can be compared to the tension in the poem, “Tulips” written by Sylvia Plath. In this poem, Plath shows us the tension between the desire for the simplicity of death and the sense of the encouragement of life. The patient has nothing else to do, but to think about what she wants to do with her life. One second she loses hope just to gain it right back the next second which is just like Leonard. He has his aspirations in life that he holds on to, yet at times, his social standing makes him want to give up. He hits a lot of low points in his life which cause him to be stress. The tension in his life is just as bad as the patient’s since they have to deal with this constant battle of yearning for more or settling for less. Plath tells us in lines 31 to 33, “How free it is, you have no idea how free—The peacefulness is so big it dazes you, and it asks nothing, a name tag, a few trinkets” (Plath, 1838). Leonard wishes that he could be free from the tension that he has to deal with. He wishes that he can feel this peacefulness, yet how can he feel peace when he has so much to work for? How can he feel peace when he can’t settle for less because all he can do is yearn for more?
Another comparison to Leonard Bast would be the dancer in the poem, “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay. In this poem we read about a dancer that is dancing in Harlem, half- clothed. In the poem we get a lot of imagery and expression which allows us to create a vivid image in our mind about how this dancer looks and the way that she is dancing. The one comparison that I see between the dancer and Leonard Bast would be that they both can’t hide their emotions. Leonard Bast can’t hide that his social class shaped him into this sad man that can only wish and aspire to be something bigger than he is, yet this dancer can’t hide that behind what she’s doing she’s also very sad. We know that the dancer is sad because in the last two lines of the poem we read, “But looking at her falsely-smiling face, I knew her self was not in that strange place” (McKay, 518). They both show their emotions and allow someone else to realize that they are not okay.
On the other hand of the spectrum, we get characters like Margaret Schlegel that is part of the middle class. Margaret had to play the mother role in her family since her parents passed away, but once she got married to Mr. Wilcox, everything takes a turn for the worse. The whole novel, E.M Forster is on her side, yet as the reader I feel like she does a drastic change. She starts to only worry about herself and allows Mr. Wilcox to change her persona. At one point of the novel, her little sister notices her change and she says, “I don’t see why it shouldn’t succeed with you. Go on and fight with him and help him. Don’t ask me for help, or even for sympathy. Henceforward I’m going my own way. I mean to be thorough, because thoroughness is easy. I mean to dislike your husband, and to tell him so…. Our bothers are over tangible things—money, husbands, house hunting” (166). Margaret has allowed Mr. Wilcox to change her and she’s starting to disappoint her little sister. She allows the upper class living to her to her head and doesn’t realize that that’s not who she genuinely is.
The two families in the book additionally help concentrate on the battle and strife inside the middle class in Edwardian England. The privileged and the extremely poor don’t show up in this novel; the author expresses that “we are not concerned with the very poor,” but rather with the “gentlefolk, or with those who are obliged to pretend that they are gentlefolk.” The families in Howards End each speak to various levels of the middle and upper class. The Schlegels involve the center position, somewhere close to the Basts, who exist at the lower edges of the middle class, and the Wilcoxes, who have a place with the upper-working class. Leonard Bast, the assistant, lives close to the “pit” of destitution, while the Schlegels live easily on family cash, and Henry Wilcox, the wealthy businessman who consistently gets wealthier, has cash for “motors” and country houses.
Your persona and literature are both “empty definitions, which can be practical or non-practical.” The things that you go through always shape you into the person that you are, hence why the characters in Howards End are the way they are. As stated in my thesis, your persona can really be affected by your class.