Class, Gender And Culture

E.M.Forster is a famous novelist and critic in Britain. Theses about his novels involve many aspects. Some are the analyses about imperialism; some are about the relationship between spiritual and outside world; some probe into feminism. This thesis is an analysis about women's dilemmas and identities in three of Forster's novels. They are A Room with a View, A Passage to India and Howards End respectively.There are 4 chapters in this thesis. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 is the main part. Women's contradictory images are analyzed from three aspects. First, it is analyzed from the class point of view. Lucy in A Room with a View and the Schlegel sisters in Howards End belong to the middle class people. But different from other arrogant middle class people, they want to connect with people from different classes. But their actions are not accepted by other middle class people. Later they even feel confused about the society, the people and even about themselves. Secondly, from the gender point of view. Lucy, the Schlegel sisters and Adela in A Passage to India all occupy a subordinate place in the society. Lucy's husband is a supporter of patriarchy; Margaret compromises with her husband before and after her marriage; Helen is discriminated by Henry; Adela is not only mocked by her native people but also by people of the colony. Finally, it is the analysis from cultural point of view. The public school education accepted by Lucy is contradictory to the essence of humanism she faces in Italy. The rural culture admired by the Schlegel Sisters is contradictory to the newly-appearing urban culture. Western culture accepted by Adela is contradictory to the mystic eastern cultural of the colony.Chapter 3 describes how women reconstruct their identities and Chapter 4 is the conclusion.Women play multiple roles in the society and always face contrdictory choices. Women's identities is an eternal issue of feminism. By the analysis of Forster's novels, we can find that women's identities are not defined by men or by the society. Women should have their own ideas. They should be respected. What more important is that women can prove their existence, won their identities and gain their recognitions by their own actions.