Having passed the lips of many a teacher for his rich exploration in to ‘key themes’ of post Victorian Britain, E.M. Forster is one of those names a literary student (and indeed every other fan of reading) feels they should know and love dearly. Howards End, argued by some as the greatest of Forster’s work, should therefore breed a sigh of knowledge in a vast number of the population. However, both the author and the novel have been somewhat neglected in recent years by those who should treasure them most and, whatever acclaim the novel may have achieved, neither is as celebrated as they should be.  

In Howards End, Forster introduces us to the three stages of middle class as they were in the late Edwardian period; the lower in the Bast couple, the upper in the business minded Wilcox family and the intellectual bourgeoisie in our protagonists (if there were to be any)half German, half English sisters Helen and Margaret Schlegel. These three groups meet by complete chance; the Schlegels first meet the Wilcox family at a hotel and the Basts only fall in to the Schlegal’s acquaintance when Helen accidentally takes Leonard Bast’s umbrella leaving a music concert. Yet as the novel progresses, their stories become slowly intertwined until they are irremovably connected to one another; Helen falls in and out of love with Paul, the youngest Wilcox son, within the space of a few days, Margaret befriends mother Wilcox, Ruth and after Ruth’s death falls in love with father Wilcox, Henry and marries him. Sounding somewhat like an early-twentieth century soap opera already, one need not mention the bad advice given by Henry to Leonard that costs the poor man his job nor the scandalous events that tie the happenings all together.

However, it is in the way that the novel is constructed that these events are plausible and indeed understandable. Like an item of clothing, small stitches in the lives of these characters end up making, from scraps of different people’s lives, the finished garment. The characters too are devised in such a way to be plausible. Unlike the flawless heroes of the romantic period and the quintessential, horrid antagonists of the Victorians, no character is necessarily dislikeable nor is any character perfect. Margaret is likeable and even today is a strong female, however she is not without flaws. Out of her context, her love for the widowed Henry Wilcox can seem slightly irritating, perhaps Forster’s intention, and likewise despite an apparent apathy for all but himself, Henry shows genuine redemption for actions he has done in the past and has moments of complete goodness.

Perhaps what makes the novel so interesting is the underlying themes which ensure it, far from being just a novel on these people, an exploration in to many topics of the time. Contextually held ideas are looked and questioned subtly; class division, gender, Imperial Power and, particularly resonant with the added gift of hindsight in today’s reader, pre ww1 Anglo-German antagonism. This is not to say, however, the novel’s biggest qualities lie in the past. Reading today provides reminders of our own society and questions of our own attitudes can’t help but arise (Christmas shopping for example appears just as arduous and pointless in the novel as it does today).

Howards End is a novel one can take from it what they will; exploration in to pre war Britain and her values, an exploration in to our own society and our own values or just the perfect rainy afternoon read. There are some snags that could bother the modern reader; the love between Henry and Margaret (particularly after Henry’s failure to carry out the old Mrs Wilcox’s dying wishes) is perhaps a little too based in the male-dominated world it was set in to be really appreciated and instead it leaves a somewhat bitter taste in the modern audience’s mouth. However, Howards End is not a love story and nor does it pretend to be, Forster’s writing is such that real characters and real emotions greet the reader and that is where its real resonance lies today. “Science explained people, but it could not understand them” writes Forster towards the end of the novel. Be this the case, Forster appears to understand people where science cannot.