Question:
Comment closely on ways in which the following passage presents Mrs Wilcox and Margaret.
Introduction:
Margaret is so dissimilar to Mrs Wilcox in ways of thinking and general behaviour. However, they connect in essence as they do understand each other. In this extract, they launch on a shopping spree, enjoying each other’s company, while assessing how much they differ from each other. Forster amuses himself in juxtaposing both characters as reflections, yet nuanced with distinguishing differences. Ironically, Margaret is the future Mrs Wilcox (after the death of Mrs Wilcox) but she is the latter’s antithesis.
Ways:
1. Both Margaret and Mrs Wilcox are clichés of their respective genres.
Mrs Wilcox – airy, cheerful and far from the intrinsic societal demands. She does not follow any edict of the society for it imposes too much.
Margaret- serious, responsible, rational and self-righteous. She puts herself in a cage of propriety and decorum, suiting the expectations which others have on her. She is judgemental of Mrs Wilcox, who seems so exotically different.
Was Mrs Wilcox one of the unsatisfactory people…?
Unsatisfactory is the enigma. To whom is she unsatisfactory? The society or Margaret and her upbringing/ her socialisation?
- Margaret is a dynamic character as she changes through the story. Her stoicism slowly melts into a more compassionate and airy being as Mrs Wilcox is depicted in this extract. She is at first characterised as a londoner, who is all prim and proper in her expectations of others. Her outlook is to meet those who are like-minded and have the same predispositions. Mrs Wilcox shocks her. The latter seems flirting with what is condoned as propriety.
- Mrs Wilcox is a round character. She displays different facets while handling varying situations and characters. She is relaxed and refuses to be molded into how others are. She has her sets of intentions and ideas; she follows her instincts; she indulges in her own whims; and she refuses to be part of any scandals. Throughout the novel, until her death that it, Mrs Wilcox is a liberal. Even her bequest of Howard’s End to Margaret is done written with a pencil on a piece of paper. She ascribes to her emotions, rather than being enslaved to rationally demanding expectations.
2. The omniscient narrator shows the women’s true colours unflinchingly. No shadow of doubt is cast. The omniscient narrator,also known as the third person narrator or point of view knows everything; he even delves in the minds of the characters, chalking out how they feel about one another and what inherently disturbs them.
Through the omniscient narrator, the differences of Mrs Wilcox,when contrasted to Margaret, are stressed on. However, the narrator also sets out to reveal the impatience of Margaret to befriend the elderly woman. Indeed, on the subject of gifts for Christmas, Margaret’s theories are seen as bewildering. Interestingly, Margaret possesses the same degree of oddity as Mrs Wilcox, but she is ignorant to it. She believes that her non-conformity to gifts and Christmas is a product of her education, when it is actually the fruit of her own individuality, which,in this extract, is still layered with efficacious rationality.
She did not want to be thought a second Helen…
Her analogy to her impulsive sister reflects her comparison to Mrs Wilcox,who does carry self-important theories about the requirements of a gift.
The fact that she intellectualises the whole concept of gifts, suggesting that the Wilcoxes may consider her greedy or compare her to Helen,narrows Margaret to belonging to the self-righteous category of individuals,who do not want to offend.
3. Analogy and symbolism:
Forster combines these devices to subject Margaret as a societal individual,who worries too much about what-others-will-think. Such an incurable epidemic usually assaults the snobs.
Forster uses gifts as the symbol revealing Margaret’s need to appear different and proper, if not better than others. She is a people-pleaser, a sort of pompous sycophant who wants to attract the admiration of Mrs Wilcox by unravelling modern theories about gifts. Yet, by constantly rambling on the inappropriateness of distributing gifts randomly and exclaiming
Vulgarity reigned
, Margarets again draws a likelihood with Mrs Wilcox. The latter is so airy about gifts. She does not decide nor has she made any proper list nor arrangements. Forster supports the claim that Mrs Wilcox is merely fulfilling her wifely duties, as recommended and expected by her husband. Ironically, it is Margaret who strategises on what to gift to whom, though she finds the whole concept repugnant.
Forster makes this epiphanous reaction of Margaret hyperbolic. Though Margaret mentally criticises the gift-buying procedure, she is the one doing it. It is an epiphany as she realises that love and care cannot be measured through material gifts or money but she does the task, hoping to earn the friendship of Mrs Wilcox.
The literary blogger 