E.M.Forster Under The National Flag Of Great Britain

Edward Morgan Forster is one of the most famous English novelists in the twentieth century. Howards End (1910), one of his representative works, is a novel about the fate of England. It reflects the social conflicts of Britain's rise and fall from late Victorian to Edwardian era, including the separation between man and man, the collision of different cultures, presented with the writer's deep thoughts and feelings. This thesis, starting from the concept of culture, discusses Forster's structure of feeling and his idea of salvation through "Only connect", with a comprehensive analysis of his view of connection by employing Matthew Arnold's view of culture, Antonio Gramsci's cultural hegemony, Raymond Williams' cultural materialism and the analytical approach of close reading. However unconvincing or even Utopian his "connection" may seem, it symbolizes the historical inevitability in culture to come in touch with material things. For Forster, the hope of England lies in the connection of a wealthy urban empire with the pleasant tradition of England, which reveals the implied goal that is Forster's patriotic feelings to be in defence of the bourgeois cultural hegemony, an unconscious expression of his dream of the British Empire.This thesis consists of six parts.Chapter One dates back to the origin of culture, mainly about the beginning of criticism with the theory of traditional moral culture created by Matthew Arnold, Antonio Gramsci's cultural hegemony which developed the theory of cultural criticism, and Raymond Williams' cultural materialism which reached cultural criticism to an advanced level with broader perspectives.Chapter Two, Victorian to Edwardian Culture, explores the loss of the overlord state of the British Empire, with clouds of a flowering age, the different conflicts as well as the life, studies and feelings of young Forster. All these have come to shape up Forster's structure of feeling.Chapter Three applies Arnold's theory of culture to discuss Forster's view of connection through the marriage of Margaret the intellectual with Wilcox the businessman, and analyzes the different cultural conflicts: those between humanistic culture and industrial commercial culture, country culture and city culture, and their "connection".Chapter Four concentrates on critiques at home and abroad on the marriage between Margaret and Wilcox, by applying the theory of cultural materialism to analyze the inevitability and rich connotation of Forster's view of connection, and points out that Forster's ideal kingdom lies in the perfect connection of the powerful urban empire with the pleasant tradition of England.Chapter Five reveals the political connotation of culture, which strengthens the pillar of the British Empire, by applying the theory of cultural hegemony. Although Forster's "connection", his proposition for salvation, is Utopian, it shows his love for the nation, and unconscious sense of the dream for the British Empire. He eventually stands under the national flag of Great Britain.Chapter Six discusses briefly the realistic significance displayed by Forster's Howards End.In summary, Forster, as a member of the humanistic intellectual elite, had a high degree of social conscience and was active in exploration. His view on "connection" may offer us some food for thought.