Identity as an Evolving Process in A Room With A View - Book Report/Review Example

LUCYS SEARCH FOR IDENTITY IS AN EVOLVING PROCESS IN "A ROOM WITH A VIEW", WHEREAS MISS BARTLETTS IDENTITY IS A RIGID AND A FIXED CONCEPT.TO WHAT EXTEND DO YOU AGREE WITH THIS STATEMENT I agree with this statement completely, this is a beautifully written book by E.M forester; it can be regarded as a classic of its time. The book revolves around a main character by the name of Lucy, who is accompanied by other characters as well but our focus in this paper is on one and that is Lucy's old cousin, charlotte Bartlett, in other words, Miss Bartlett. The focus of this paper is to explain how Lucy's search for identity evolved throughout the book while Miss Bartlett's identity remained rigid and fixed in her concepts. Before I get in to more detail, I will give a little summary of the book along with the characters growing throughout in order to understand these two characters a bit better. Lucy honey church belongs to the upper middle class and she is a young lady who goes to Italy under the supervision of miss Bartlett, where they are staying in Florence they have been given the wrong rooms, the rooms which they have look in to the courtyard instead of the river Arno. Another guest is staying there by the name of Mr. Emerson and his son, George. They offer Lucy their room which has the river Arno view. At first Lucy is offended by Mr. Emerson lack of tactfulness but then later on agrees to switch the room. The novel starts off with Lucy being relatively uniformed; she is young, nave and extremely charming and regards people as innocent as well because her thoughts are so pure that she regards everyone as nice. from the start of the novel Lucy's looking for approval as she has always been used to that when having talked to Mr. Beebe whom she considers to be very nice after having met him briefly she and miss Bartlett are seen talking amongst themselves in their room and Lucy tells her how nice Mr. Beebe is and miss Bartlett wonders if Lucy's mother would approve of her talking to such men or not and Lucy says that, "I am sure she will, and so will Freddy" Her approval was not only limited to her mother but to her brother Freddy as well. Miss Bartlett's character since the novel starts comes across as a irritating and a possessive personality; she doesn't let Lucy do anything on her own and is easily suspicious of everyone who comes in Lucy's way. she controls Lucy in her way of talking and thinking as shown when Lucy would talk to Mr. Emerson about the room and he would try to convince them to take the room and miss Bartlett's response would show rigidness .example of that would be, "Because it is quite out of the question, thank you" And when Lucy would try to give Mr. Emerson a response to this, she would repress her like, "You see we don't like to take..began Lucy, her cousin repressed her" Miss Bartlett was actually an old spinster who had been sent to Italy as a chaperone and was deadly against the Emerson's as Lucy was seen socializing with them from time to time. One can also say that she was possessive regarding Lucy, as stated by her own words, "And it would be a serious thing if I put her under people whom we know nothing; I hope I acted for the best" miss Bartlett not only comes across as having a narrow mind but is also aware of her one can say drawback, she is slightly suspicious of the emersions and feels that she is indeed narrow minded and as talking to Mr. Beebe about not taking the rooms she says, "So you think we should have accepted their offer You feel I have been narrow minded and suspicious" Lucy is ecstatic at having the room and eyes Mr. Emerson as the nicest man ever while having shifted in to the room miss Bartlett doesn't let go of her suspicious mind and inspects the room completely of anything odd or obnoxious and then when finds nothing goes off to sleep. Lucy's visit to Italy is marked by several significant encounters with the Emerson's much to miss Bartlett's displeasure who doesn't even let Lucy venture out on her own and accompanies her everywhere. Because of Lucy's dependence on miss Bartlett we see Lucy moved to tears when miss lavish leaves her alone and stranded , having experienced a moment of loneliness we quickly see in Lucy a independent streak where she's asking Italians for directions and moving around on her own. Lucy was an excellent piano player and the way she would play her notes would be full of excitement and energy and it was often wondered by people that if she ever lived the way she played the piano her life would be very exciting as her music was. We see her leading a life which is uneventful, not at all exciting something which she feels also, as she says that, "Nothing ever happens to me" and then it suddenly does as if the gods heard her cries of help, in the Piazza Signora where Lucy was she comes across two Italian men who are quarrelling with each other and suddenly one man stabs the other and Lucy faints at the horror of what she sees, she faints and is rescued by George, son of Mr. Emerson. A girl who is young and protected for her to see such a crime taking place is a big thing, this scene also brings a change in the life of Lucy and George as the saying in the novel goes, "You never knew which way life would turn" One sees a change in Lucy as she says to Miss Bartlett I don't know what I think, or what to want Miss Bartlett is seen as the same, she feels guilty of having left Lucy on her own. She feels she neglected her duties first time we see Lucy as being uncertain or bored, from being a happy go lucky girl we come across a girl who is slightly confused. Having gotten bored of Florence, both Lucy and Miss Bartlett leave for Rome. While being in Florence, when Lucy was rescued by George they share an intimate moment with each other on their way home, much to her surprise, he kisses her and Lucy being shocked by this behaviour keeps it a secret. On a country outing in the hills Lucy wanders in search of Mr. Beebe the chaplain Mr. eager. The Italian cab driver for the first time she feels that she has escaped from her life of dullness and didn't care about "Not a step, not a twig was important to her" Very different from a girl who wanted or considered everyone's approval. The cab driver leads her to George, when he sees her again, he again kisses her but this time Miss Bartlett sees him. Here charlotte Bartlett gives the perfect example of snobbery of her class and era as he says to Lucy "It is dreadful to be entangled with low class people." Due to her suspicious and over possessive nature she tries to corner Lucy into try and convince her to make sure George doesn't mention to anyone about their kiss. Due to her nature , miss Bartlett feels she knows men very well and says to Lucy regarding George that , "Unfortunately, I have met the type before. They seldom keep their exploits to themselves" Lucy and charlotte began to talk and she again questions her about George and for the first time only briefly we see Lucy answering charlotte with an opinion of her own "You see charlotte your kindness- I shall never forget but as you said it is my affair mine this" Strong words form the girl who wouldn't do anything without charlotte but again we see Lucy obeying charlotte when asked to stay away from the window. Charlotte decides to take Lucy to Rome away from George for a second we do see a change in her behaviour as she knows what she is doing wrong. Keeping Lucy away from George but she feels it's for Lucy's best interest not to mingle with those kinds of people. A little bit of disappointment is there in her voice as she says to Lucy "Dearest Lucy, how will you ever forgive me" But Lucy knowing how clever charlotte was and how she loved to act as the aged martyr Lucy would say that she had nothing to forgive Miss Bartlett presented to Lucy a meaningless world; she gave a picture of a cheerless, loveless world in which the young rush to destruction until they learn better. On the other hand from a young innocent lovable girl we see Lucy as some one whose diplomatic advantage had been taken of her sincerity of her craving for sympathy and love Charlotte acts as a very selfish woman in keeping Lucy and George away from escaping into a world which is dull and suspicious of people's motives all the time. In the second half of the book it centres on Lucy's home in surrey where she was with her mother and brother. Once back home Lucy becomes engaged to Cecil who proposes marriage to her for the third time and she accepts it. Even Cecil notices a change in Lucy since her time in Italy she was like a woman of Leonardo de Vinci as if whom one would love not so much for herself. As for the things she would not tell. In this phase of the book we see Lucy as uncertain and confused about her new experiences, she missteps and becomes engaged to the pretentious Cecil who shows her susceptibility to the pressures of society Lucy had clearly began to find herself in Italy but thanks to charlotte had begun a life in uncertainty. Cecil would disapprove of her country people he found them to be coarse and unsophisticated, he wanted her to change, already Lucy was going through uncertainty in her life and Cecil wasn't helping much and wasn't letting her evolve but was wanting to make her something she wasn't, Lucy wanted to be a, "A rebel who desired, not a wider dwelling-room but equality inside the man she loved, for Italy was offering her the most priceless of all possessions-her own soul" The book takes another turn in Lucy's life as we see Cecil offering Mr. Emerson's the ugly villa for rent in the town, he had met them by chance in the museum and they took him up on the offer much to Lucy's horror. Lucy receives a letter from charlotte and even after reading half of the book she is still fixed in her concepts as she says in her letter that, "If the Emerson's heard that I complained of them they would think themselves of importance which is exactly what they are not" This upsets Lucy from the beginning where Lucy's seen being fond of charlotte she is no longer and feels that, "I can't help it mother I don't like charlotte" meanwhile charlotte has been away from Lucy and her family for a long time but decided to visit them upon Lucy's mothers request ,when she arrives there she sees George and gets worried about Lucy and him but promises Lucy that she will not say anything to anyone and still regards George as not respectable. But near the end we do see a change in charlottes behaviour and she lets the secret out through a novel which records the kiss among violets, Lucy sees Cecil in a new light much to Georges conviction and breaks the engagement off and lives happily with George in Florence with in a room with a view. In conclusion, looking at Lucy's and miss Bartlett's characters one can see a change in Lucy as she does she fall in love with George Emerson but convention and self-deception makes it difficult for her to admit her feelings but by the end of the novel she is strong and an independent woman whereas charlotte Bartlett is at the end does make a critical decision and makes Lucy's happiness possible. This book show's Lucy's struggle as she emerges as her own woman, she grows from indecision to a life of fulfilment, we see her as struggling between strict and old fashioned Victorian values to a more liberal mores in the struggle we see Lucy's own idea of what is the truth evolve and mature. Her trip to Italy enables her to open her protected eyes to ideas and people unlike those she had known in the country side. Another thing which she saw was how easily Italian classes mixed with each other. Her experiences with the Emerson's show her that there can be beauty in the things that are considered improper and charlottes betrayal shows her that property is not always the judge of what is true. Lucy though cautious is loving by nature at the end we see Lucy finds the courage to recognize her own individuality and break free from the narrow mindedness and fixed concepts of charlotte Bartlett. Read More