The Importance of Knowing One's Self In E.M. Forster's Howard's End

For anyone to react effectively in a situation, a level of maturity is required in order to think through the correct course of action. A time of constant change, not only of the world at large, but also of the individual is described by Cynthia Rylant. In I Had Seen Castles, Rylant uses the change of the time and of the world’s view to show the change and growth in Diane’s emotional and mental maturity.

“No,” she said. “I’m determined to overdo it. Listen,” she exclaimed, as two birds sang together. “Not grieving, nor amorous, nor lost. Nothing to read into it. Simply music, Like Mozart. Complete. Finished. Oh, it is rain to listening ears.” She glanced at Edwin to see how he took this rhetoric. He took it calmly. She let go his hand and capered amidst the fallen eucalyptus leaves.

When we are first introduced to the narrator’s father we find that he has a no-nonsense view of life. He does not

"The meaning of a word - to me - is not as exact as the meaning of a color. Colors and shapes make a more definite statement than words. I write this because such odd things have been done about me with words. I have often been told what to paint. I am often amazed at the spoken and written word telling me what I have painted. I make this effort because no one else can know how my paintings happen. Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest."

      The Victorian form of inquiry coexisted with a desire toward repairing the weakening foundations of faith.  "I write so/of the only truth-tellers now left to God,/The only speakers of essential truth/Opposed to relative, comparative/and temporal truths/...while your common men/lay telegraphs, gauge railroads, reign, reap, dine/ and dust the flaunty carpets of the world/...The poet suddenly will catch them up/With his voice like thunder, - 'This is soul/This is life...(Longman p.1872 lines 858-862,869-875).  Elizabeth recognizes the transition of her society and wonders aloud if they have all missed the point entirely.  She is arguing, in a sense, for sense and for the need to remain accountable to something outside ourselves.

"It was my folly! I have said it. But up to that epoch of my life, I had lived in vain. The world had been so cheerless! My heart was a habitation large enough for many guests, but lonely and chill and without a household fire. I longed to kindle one!"

“He wanted to explain how people were never quite what you thought they were.” Pg 54

People prejudge others before you get to know them. “loaded language” (5). Plays on personal feelings from past beliefs, as well as, prejudgment in our interactions with others. We need to ask one’s mind is it right to do, or say. Is my conscience clear in the midst of a panic? We can change our mind set on how we communicate with real life issues that are very complex. I feel from reading Weston’s book that if he can reach out and make a change in the world and help others change their moral mindset of thinking we all would live happier. I feel if we apply passion to our thinking when using emotions that it too can play a strong role in our ability to problem-solve. Letting our emotions get in the way of our thinking for a positive outcome is okay. As he reaches out to open minds on having more than one possibility to help solve a problem, when one is in an emotional state of mind, it can alter our way of thinking morally. Does redirecting a situation when emotions are high make it an ethical decision. Let us compare this to family court, when parents are bashing each other to look better than the other parent, is it the right thing. Does this help escalate their situation or make it worse? Our ability to problem solve has gone hay wire in today’s court systems, maybe. Having angry and sad emotions help give a direct understanding to equal morals. Overlooking morel ethics can be damaging to equality. He inquires we should be mindful thinkers. I feel Anthony wants us to be mindful thinkers in every aspect of decision making. When I say mindful I don’t mean having a one-sided thought. I am talking about being open minded, even if it means thinking of the other person. How would I feel being in that person’s shoes? What did they do to get here? Would you travel in his/her shoes after knowing their battle? Some would say yes others would say no, while a few would say what they could have done better not to be in that

In her work, “This is Our World,” Dorothy Allison shares her perspective of how she views the world as we know it. She has a very vivid past with searing memories of her childhood. She lives her life – her reality – because of the past, despite how much she wishes it never happened. She finds little restitution in her writings, but she continues with them to “provoke more questions” (Allison 158) and makes the readers “think about what [they] rarely want to think about at all” (158).

“When I think of them now, I think of how they probably seen nearly as little world as I had by that time” (5).

The protagonist, Holden, is moving away from the issue of existential anxiety and path of self hate into the path of self compassion, breathing, awareness, acknowledgement, acceptance, action, and appreciation, by demonstrating acts of kindness to others. In the beginning of the story, Holden would often judge a person instantly, such as Ackley and Stradlater, but later in the novel, we notice that Holden shows less judgement and more endearment in the form of the steps of self compassion. An example appears when Holden picks out a gift for her sister, Phoebe. When he picked out the record Little Shirley Beans to give to her, he said, “I could hardly wait to get to the park to see if old Phoebe was around so that I could give it to her” (Salinger, 116).

"But my hope is to write a book that will be useful . . . and so I thought it sensible to go straight to a discussion of how things are in real life and not waste time with a discussion of an imaginary world; for the gap between how people actually behave and how they ought to behave is so great that anyone who ignores everyday reality in order to live up to an ideal will soon discover he has been taught how to destroy himself, not preserve himself."

behavior and thus I enter into a different self-state (para 11). He explains himself being

In E.M. Forster’s novel, Howard’s End, connection is perhaps the most important theme of the story, as the words "Only connect" make up its epigraph. Connections are necessary in many cases such as family, friends, and many other acquaintances. Howard’s End deals with conflict of class distinctions and human relationships. Connecting within oneself is a very important role which we are introduced to through Mr. Henry Wilcox’s character and his development between family and friends throughout the story. His new wife, Margaret Schlegel, knows Mr. Wilcox could open up and “connect” if he only tried to focus on things other than business. She urges him to “only connect”, yet he cannot as he is so full of

In this passage, Jane breaks free from the bonds that hold her down and repress her, and for the first time the reader realizes Jane’s true personality and individuality (Anderson).