61 pages • 2-hour read
Howards End
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Literary Devices
Omniscient Narration
The narrator of the novel is often presented as an omniscient third-person narrator. However, the narrator often speaks in the first-person and provides their views on some of the events in a manner that is at odds with the conventional third-person narrator. The extra voice highlights the novel’s sense of conflict since the narrator often disagrees with the actions of the characters.
The unorthodox character of the narrator is made apparent by the first line of the book, which reads, “One may as well begin with Helen’s letters to her sister” (3). Rather than simply beginning with the letters, the narrator considers how to begin and only provides a flippant comment on the matter. The idiosyncrasies of the narrator retreat, as the narrator takes on the characteristics of a traditional third-person narrator, but they occasionally interject. For instance, the narrator uses the first-person when discussing their thoughts on how the Wilcoxes handle the execution of Mrs. Wilcox’s will after her death.
Moreover, there are reflections on various themes throughout the novel that are not attributed to the thoughts of any of the characters. For example, when the narrator talks about England’s lack of its own mythology at the beginning of Chapter 33, the reflections are prompted by Margaret’s walk but are not presented as Margaret’s own thoughts.
The narrator thus fluctuates throughout the novel between a traditional third-person narrator who relates the thoughts and actions of characters, a first-person narrator with their own personality and biases, and a remote third-person narrator.
Realism
Forster uses real-world details throughout the novel to situate the story firmly in the England of the contemporary Edwardian era. He uses real street names like Ducie Street, where Margaret moves in with Mr. Wilcox, and real countryside towns like Oniton, the place of Evie’s wedding. Moreover, the novel is full of talk of the transformation that England is undergoing, as new and taller buildings are being constructed in place of old ones and as automobiles are increasingly taking over the roads. For example, the Schlegels must move out of the only home they have ever lived in because their landlord has decided to tear it down in order to build a newer and bigger building in its place, and the characters take drives from one place to another in Charles Wilcox’s car. Real-world contemporary political issues are included in the novel, from the competition between England and Germany, to the issue of women’s suffrage and women’s political engagement, to the issue of the divide between the poor and the rich. The cumulative effect of all of these real-world details is to prompt the contemporary reader to consider quotidian circumstances from a fresh perspective.
Various kinds of social types familiar in England—the rich businessman, the poor clerk, the educated and idealistic woman—are presented in the novel, and the reader is presented with their perspectives and the means by which they arrived at their perspectives. The real-world setting and the real-world details thus prompt the reader to “connect” to others outside of the world of the novel, serving its ethos of The Need for Love, Sympathy, and Connection.
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