Importance of a Narrator

The Importance of a Narrator

E.M. Forster’s novel, Howards End stands, strongly on the theme, “Only Connect.” Throughout this novel, two different kinds of characters are represented; there are those who connect and those who do not. In a broad and simple terms, the connecting theme is demonstrated through characters who values strong relationships. On the other side, those who do not “connect,” value materialistic things. Portrayed in many ways and emphasized throughout many scenes, Forster clearly gives readers something to remember. This novel is not Forster simply telling a good story. He wants readers to leave with a new perspective. As J. Hillis Miller states in his critical article, Just Reading Howards End, “A just reading is as much a matter of doing as of knowing. Doing what? This doing might be behaving differently in your daily life as a result of the reading, or it might be bearing witness to other people about your reading, for example in talking, teaching, or even in writing about the novel” (472). Miller understands that Forster’s goal was much deeper than to entertain; Forster uses both dialogue between characters and narration to get his ideas across. This novel contrasts the idea of living a life full of personal connections through understanding others versus living a life looking only through the lens of one's own glasses. Forster makes it clear which characters live which kind of life, and he makes this separation through character dialogue as well as through the narrator. Some commentators, such as Barbara Rosecrance, have argued that Forster’s narrator is intrusive. In her critical article, “The Ambivalent Narrator of Howards End,” she argues that the narrator takes away from the story through the blunt, and frequently intervening voice. In her critical article, she states, “For despite the narrator’s brilliance, his persuasion must ultimately be regarded as unsuccessful. He does not achieve a harmonious integration of ideology and...