This famous novel was published in 1910 and was well-received by critics and the general public alike, and continues to be regarded as a classic of twentieth-century English literature. It is a ‘state of England’ novel, intended as a ‘snapshot’ of society and culture in Britain during the Edwardian period.
The story concerns the relationship between three family groups – the orphaned Schlegel siblings (Helen, Margaret and Tibby), the wealthy Wilcoxes and the lower-middle-class Basts (the clerk Leonard and his vulgar wife, Jacky). Events are set in action when Helen Schlegel agrees to marry Paul Wilcox, the youngest son of the industrialist Henry Wilcox and his wife Ruth. The engagement is broken off, but Margaret Schlegel becomes friends with Paul’s mother, who decides to leave the Wilcox’s house, Howards End, to Margaret in her will. The will is contested and the Schlegels renounce their claim on the property. Henry Schlegel marries Margaret, however, and the house becomes hers after all.
In a subplot, which gradually becomes more important as the novel progresses, the Schlegels and the Wilcoxes keep encountering Leonard Bast, a struggling Clerk that views the Schlegels as the epitome of the culture he so desperately wishes to emulate in a bid to lift him out of poverty. The first meeting occurs when Leonard accidentally steals Helen Schlegel’s umbrella, while a chance meeting with Henry Wilcox leads the latter to suggest that Leonard leave his job as an insurance clerk – to Leonard’s ultimate detriment. The unexpected connections between the three families mount to a tragic climax, although the final conclusion is cautiously optimistic.
The novel brings to fruition several prominent themes detectable in all of Forster’s previous fiction, which appear here fully developed and worked through. ‘Connection’ or empathy between individuals is seen as the key to bridging the rift between classes, while an obtuse inability to connect with others (the Wilcoxes’ main fault) is seen as a barrier to human and societal progress. Indeed, ‘only connect’, the novel’s epigraph, has become famous as a motto in itself.
The rural idyll of Howards End (based on Forster’s beloved childhood home, ‘Rooksnest’) is symbolic of England itself, with the contrasting forces of culture and spiritual connection (the Schlegels) and insular, materialistic philistinism (the Wilcoxes) competing for occupation of the house. Ultimately, however, the novel argues that the two impulses must work together, or ‘connect’, if England is to have a future.