A Room With A View Character Analysis

As John O’ Hara once said “They say great themes make great novels”. In the novel A Room With A View, by E.M. Forster, this definitely proclaims true. One of the major themes in this novel is transformation. In the novel A Room With A View, by E.M. Forster, transformation is apparent through personal discovery, falling in and out of love, and the shifting of alliances. Transformation is first shown in the novel through personal discovery, and an example of this is by Lucy accepting other social classes. In the beginning of the novel Lucy respected the people in the social classes below hers, but she did not integrate with them. “This successful morning left no pleasant impressions on Lucy. She had been a little frightened, both by Miss Lavish and by Mr. Eager, she knew not why. And as they frightened her, she had, strangely enough, ceased to respect them. She doubted that Miss Lavish was a great artist. She doubted that Mr. Eager was as full of spirituality and culture as she had been led to suppose. They were tried by some new test, and they were found wanting” (Forster 53). Although Lucy doubts that these people are what they claim to be, she respects that they are passionate about what they do. “There is no attempt to depict the society, or the characters who make it up, in depth. At first sight the society on the pension appears entertaining and imperfect. Lucy is not wholly part of it: she reacts with and against an assorted group of her peers, assessing them as they make judgments about her” (Edwards 13). Lucy is in a hard spot when it comes to interacting with peers in other social classes. She is constantly having to balance herself from interacting too much and being judged by her social group and interacting too little and being rude and going against what she wants. Lucy also wishes that George was in the same class as her so they could intermingle. “Lucy notices George who did not do [bow], and found time to wish that he did” (Forster 11). Edwards best explains this by stating, She is saddened at the implicit ostracism of George and his father, and turns o departure to give them a ‘nervous bow’. …show more content…
Of course she is nervous: she is unsure of herself and this bow is a minor rebellion against the judgment of her social group. Lucy is not at this stage ready to flour responsibly. After all, she shows no sense that George and his father may have values of their own of any merit: she merely wishes they ‘did do’ – that is, that they might be included in this smiling unsavory clique. (Edwards 16). By Lucy slightly rebelling to her society, she starts her transformation into becoming an accepting member of society. The next way Lucy transforms in the novel is by her accepting herself; in the beginning of the novel Lucy is not very secure with herself or her happiness. The only time she truly felt secure was when she plays the piano, “It just so happened that Lucy, who found daily life rather chaotic, entered a more solid world when she opened a piano. She was then no longer either a rebel or a slave. The kingdom of music is not the kingdom of this world; it will accept those whom breeding and