Moralitatea In Literatura Engleza

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University

Faculty of Letters and Arts

Morality in English literature

Contents

Introduction

Chapter I. Literary perspectives on morality

Morality and literature

Writers and visions on morality

Chapter II. The creative universe of E.M. Forster and A. J. Cronin

2.1. The literary perspective of E. M. Froster

2.2. The literary perspective of A. J. Cronin

Chapter III. Moral vision in the novels of E. M. Froster and A. J. Cronin

3.1. A moral analysis of events and characters in "Hater's Castle"

3.2. A moral analysis of events and characters in "Howards End"

Conclusions

Bibliography

Introduction

In the thesis "Morality in English literature", two particular novels as representatives of the moral perspective in English literature are analyzed. The aim of the thesis is to highlight that the narrator, as well as the characters he creates, are the image of moral standards expected by society.

The research is based on a deductive structure. In the first chapter, the general framework of morality is analyzed. Morality is initially represented as a philosophical concept, which is assimilated by literature. Concretely, writers create events and characters able to suggest particular moral concepts as the women's subordination towards men in the case of marriage, as a form of respect. In addition, literary creations also reveal the negative consequences of characters unwilling to respect the sense of morality existing in their families or in their communities, being punished for their inappropriate behavior.

The second chapter represents a particular focus on the creative universe of E. M. Forster and A. J. Cronin, analyzing moral events and the reaction of the characters they created. The purpose of the chapter is to create a general image of the sense of morality assumed by each writer, in order to establish a framework for the effective personal contribution.

The third chapter represents a personal analysis of the moral vision encountered in the "Hatter's Castle" and the "Howards End". The main direction of research is focused on a comparative analysis, retrieving in both texts elements, which suggest the moral perspective of the narrator. For instance, the description of the house as the image of a micro-universe can be considered a sign of morality, as the narrator might perceive it as susceptible to influence the behavior of characters. People born in families focused on moral standards tend either to adopt their habit or to revolt against concepts they consider unnecessary. In addition, the behavior of the characters might suggest a dissimulated conduit, by displaying the moral concepts as integrity expected by the community, but in a private context, to perform opposite deeds as brutally forcing other characters to accept their desires.

The works selected for an analysis represent the most popular creations of E. J. Cronin, respectively E. M. Forster, revealing moral concepts, which can be further analyzed into an additional research.

Chapter I. Literary perspectives on morality

Morality and literature

As a preliminary demarche, before analyzing the impact of morality in literature, a general framework on ethics is required. As mentioned by Johnson, ethics is a branch of philosophy, revealing the "the nature of the moral life and the manifold concepts involved in it" (Johnson 1). A major difference between literature and ethics is that literary works do not create arguments or demonstrations to support their value of truth, instead it suggests in a more concrete image what society or different characters expect from other characters to do or to think. If a philosophical book is a challenge to create a rational engagement, the reader understanding at the end of it the utility of the logos proposed, "the last page of a novel ends the story, but it is not the conclusion of an argument" (Johnson 1).

Despite the essential differences between literature and ethics as part of philosophy, some philosophers wrote novels, as some writers inspired their novels based on philosophical judgments. Literature, comparing with philosophy, is based on the advantage of being dedicated to mass of readers, being adapted for their understanding possibilities. As a major communication channel, philosophers were interested in disseminating their ideas through books, as writers were interested to enhance their style with deeper connections than the common mentality of the period. As consequence, the hybrid cultural product created, books that indirectly suggest what is moral or not to be adopted in daily context. Books with moral influence "may be entertaining, boring or mystifying. We may be attracted or angrily repelled by the characters we encounter in fictional worlds and we may or may not be caught up in the tales they tell" (Johnson 1).

The connection between literature and morality can be retrieved on the level of language. Ethics, as well as other philosophical categories, are expressed in a form of language that cannot be wholly technical or abstract, but based on concrete images of social reality or historic events, for the reader to completely understand the judgment proposed by the philosopher: "Even the most formal philosophical writing incorporate allusion, metaphor and anecdote. We might think, for instance, of the evil demon in Descartes or Socrates' appeal to the Oracle during his conversation with Crito" (Johnson 2). George considers that the connection between literature and morality is even older, dating from the antique Platonic manifestations of Beauty, Goodness and Truth, "in other words, it involves explaining how false philosophers, and sometimes misunderstandings of true philosophers, have beclouded educated but sequacious minds, obscuring truths once widely acknowledge" (George 4). The scholar adds to his argumentation the fact that "good books" (George 6) tend to incline the reader to a "slightly optimistic sense – morality" (George 6). The common assumption described in originated in the Plato's "Republic" revealing the example of a poet showing a good man performing a bad act, the poet being responsible to show to the audience the wrongness of the situation. The basic of morality as suggested by Plato was enriched by Aristotle, affirming that some things are morals and others not, additionally that art should be moral, but unlike Plato, he considered that the effect of an action depend on "energeia – the actualization of the potential which exists in character and situation – that gives us the poet's fix on good and evil; that is, dramatically demonstrates the moral laws, and the possibility of tragic waste, in the universe" (George 6).

As philosophy symbolically borrows from literature the ability to render in a comprehensible perspective the rational demarche created by the philosopher, the writer also borrows from the philosopher the necessity to impose moral standards or to punish the incorrect behavior of characters or the wrong direction of society's evolution. Literary works that "mean something to readers of many generations, are those whose construction entails a kind of moral courage" (Jourdan 12).

As mentioned by Gardner, both ethics and literature rely on human society, its evolution and potential strategies to improve it. In terms of literature's contribution to the correct development of society, "great art", focusing on moral concepts can perform this mission, while "minor art", omitting moral concepts is "trivial, inadequate, vacuous" (Gardner, 15). Conclusively, Gardner considers that "And if it is not moral, it isn't art" (Gardner, 15).

The indisoluble connection between morality and literature, in Gardner's perspective, can be explained on the two complementary levels, as follows:

A work of art is moral when it is faithful to its integral laws, and to its tradition

A work of art is moral when it promotes morality (Jourdan 24).

In the case of the first condition of art as being a moral creation, Gardner metaphorically associated good art with good music, particularly music that does not use "needless screaming, pompous foolishness, self-centered repetitiousness, misuse of the vocabulary" (Jourdan 24). Although the metaphor used by Gardner is ambiguous, he affirms that morality in literature is an invisible, coherent, necessary creative tool used by the writer to suggest the attention of the reader, similarly as good music delights the spirit of the listener. Secondly, a moral art is necessary, as it promotes the required moral concepts to "reform" society. In order to accomplish its mission, moral art should have a clear, positive message, focusing on valid moral models to be imitated as an image of what is correct for people to do, in order to reach virtue. In the case of virtue, Gardner is also ambiguous, not mentioning whether he refers to philosophical virtues as truth or Christian virtues as mercy for the other one (Jourdan 25)

The interest in research moral aspects in literary creation is not a new concern, as mentioned by Lopez Sanchez-Vizcaino, considering that starting with the literature of Antiquity, writers connected ethical facts with the evolution of the events or characters created. The scholar focuses on the current evolution of morality in literature, classifying multiple influences named ethical concerns, such as "the Leavisian, liberal-humanist critical tradition, beginning in the 30's", followed by the Literary Theory in the 60's, 70's and 80's, featuring moral criticism as main tendency, while in contemporary context the writers and critics tend to react against old concepts through poststructuralism, postmodernism and deconstruction (Lopez Sanchez-Vizcaino 169).

Contradictory to the perspective of Lopez Sanchez-Vizcaino, scholars as Adamson, Freadmnan and Parker argue that in fact the contemporary period in literature is subject to a reconsideration of "being human" (Adamson, Freadman, and Parker 21), including moral details. A similar perspective is also supported by Gardner, considering that "sentences full of large words like hermeneutic, heuristic, structuralism, formalism or opaque language" (Gardner 4) can only determine potential readers to avoid discovering a book, since it alters the original part of art as a "play", a personal approach to art and personal understanding of its meanings. Gardner's position is based on Homer, Platon, Aristotle or Dante's approach to art, considering that true art is moral, as "it seeks to improve life, not debase it. It seeks to hold off, at least for a while, the twilight of the gods and us" (Gardner 5). On the other hand, trivial art as opposing to moral art, "tends towards destruction, the art of nihilists, cynics, and merdistes, is not properly art at all" (Gardner 6).

Concretely, the influence of morality in literature can be expressed through the dichotomy rightness and wrongness, separating characters or the plot of a literary work. The narrator or the characters suggest about events or other characters moral features as "shame, courage, modesty, arrogance, sentimentality, confidence, rudeness, dishonesty, integrity, brutality, honor" (Adamson, Freadman, and Parker 25).

Gardner advanced a stylistic image of vision of art in literature, that will orient the demarche of this thesis: "Art is essentially serious and beneficial, a game played against chaos and death, against entropy. It is a tragic game, for those who have the wit to take it seriously, because our side must lose; a comic game – or so a troll might say – because only a clown with sawdust brains would take our side eagerly join in" (Gardner 6). Based on Gardner's approach, the thesis will analyze the impact of society on the events and characters presented in Cronin's "Hater's Castle" and Froster's "Howards end". Additionally, the moral conduct of characters as positively or negatively affecting other characters or creating events will be analyzed, focusing on the chaos or social order they potentially create or the personal conflict of characters between the choice made and the alternatives that they may have chosen.

Stephen K. George considered that every literary work includes morality in a certain degree, depending on the tone adopted by the narrator, as literature is a personal creation of a writer dedicated to potential readers, willing to understand his/her private perceptions on different themes, as mentioned: "We cannot prevent a moral attitude from creeping into our purely aesthetic assessment of a book" (George 1). George also expands the area of morality as inherent element of contemporary public discourse, considering that it can be retrieved in media products or politic discourse. The scholar analyzes Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" as a truly moral work, since the moral debate included leads to rebellion, as a form of social revolt against the existing discrimination or other social negative factors reducing the perspectives of an individual to evolve in the German society described by the author. The same pattern can be applied in the case of video recording displaying Hitler' discourses, the politician invoking the need to preserve the spirit of German nation as a moral destiny for the community (George 4).

A similar perspective of mutual connection between morality and literature is supported by Hadberg and Jost, considering that "morality in literature may sometimes need to be acknowledged as morality-serving-the-needs-of-literature" (Hadberg, and Jost, 285). The argumentation of the scholars focuses on the fact that essential literary works as Nietzsche' "The Gay Science" can induce the idea that morality stimulates individual and collective actions, but in practice the influence of morality is limited, the moral values being commonly presented as educative goals, able to be or not be accepted by readers (Hadberg, and Jost, 285).

Although democracy is an expanded political regime in the majority of states, the issue of morality in literature is a recurrent subject on public agenda, as politicians, writers or journalist complain that some books create a negative impact on readers, mostly young readers, as they present details of social life as parental conflict, drugs, mental illness, despair, anger, abortion or suicide. Analyzed in terms of potential negative effects, indeed these subjects might provide the context of teenagers to behave in a perspective unwanted by society, but the debate also has to take in account the fact that literature is the image of a particular society, as consequence if toxic events as drug consumption happens cannot be eliminated by writers, as if they do not exist (Edwards 16).

A balanced perspective on morality in contemporary context belongs to George, considering that morality in literature became unattractive, as it is associated with criticism, the tendency to exclusively present negative facts and drastically analyze them, in order to obtain essential improvements. George proposes the use of morality in its original form, as a suite or social norms that citizens are requested to follow, instead of the current image of "means of oppression, a cover, in some quarters, for political tyranny, self-righteous brutality, hypocrisy, and failed imagination" (George 6). For George, morality is the expression of social life itself, inviting readers of literature, politicians or people interested in the subject of morality to perceive it, underneath current appearances, altering its nature: "Let us say for the moment that morality means nothing more than doing what is unselfish, helpful, kind and noble-hearted, and doing it with at least a reasonable expectation that in the long run as well as the short we won't be sorry for what we've done, whether or not it was against some petty human law" (George 6). As mentioned by the same scholar, morality is also an individual perspective, but also an encapsulating collective perspective, as the individual actions can essentially influence the general pattern of morality in a society, as well as the collective moral rules influence the individual behavior: "Moral action is action that affirms life. In this wide sense there is no inherent contradiction between looking with sympathetic curiosity at the unique and looking for general rules that promote human happiness" (George 6).

1.2. Writers and visions on morality

According to George, there are two possibilities in analyzing the presence of morality in the literary universe of a writer. Primarily, it is the "certain kind of artist's insistence that his/her art's morality is irrelevant, since she/he writes (or paints or composes) only for herself/himself" (George 4), not focusing on humanity as external audience, as consequence the moral impact of his/her work is minimal, if not absent. George considers that this tendency is impossible, as every work is dedicated to an audience, as consequence susceptible to impose a moral vision, yet in the case of the artist's affirmation that his/her work exclusively relies on his/her personal experience and has nothing in common with other people, the scholar advances the idea of a not fertile research demarche, as the work won't reveal a concrete moral vision related to individuals or society. Secondly, there is the major category of artists who assume that their works is able to impose certain moral effects on audiences. In this case, the researcher has to debut a personal analysis related to the visibile or invisible appearance of morality in the creation of that artist. For instance, in the case of literature, the narrator or a character can directly express his/her moral perspective by affirming that bringing a child outside marriage is immoral, while in other literary works this moral perspective is invisible, meaning deeply inserted in the text, the reader indirectly understanding it through the evolution of events or the behavior of characters (George 5).

Focusing on Plato's pattern of Truth, Goodness and Beauty, George recommends the application of these moral values in varying degrees, depending on the context of the literary work. Generally, Truth is a major concern for the author and his/her readers, yet Goodness and Beauty are relevant criteria to be implemented in a literary work, in order to obtain a harmonious balance of unity, as well as emotional honesty related to characters and readers. As consequence, while analyzing a literary work, the moral values mentioned should be balanced according to the context of the creation. For instance, Marcel Proust's "Remebrance of Things Past" can be considered immoral, based on the alteration of Truth or Goodness, some characters violating the social norms of their period, but analyzed in terms of Beauty, the text can suggest the struggle of an heroic man to recover and properly use the time he lost in doing unsuitable actions (George 8).

Adamson, Freadmnan and Parker divide the main moral details in literature into two major categories, complementary as structure, yet different through their geographical area. The first of the moral traditions in literature is named the Anglo-Saxon paradigm, "empirical and utilitarian, deriving from Bacon, Locke, and Bentham" (Adamson, Freadman, and Parker 21). The major literary representatives of this perspective are considered G. E. Moore, H. A. Prichard, David Ross, C. L. Stevenson or R. M. Hare. The second moral tradition in literature is entitled the Continental European pattern, based on Descartes and Kant's philosophical works, influencing writers of existentialism as Albert Camus or Jean- Paul Sartre (Adamson, Freadman, and Parker 21). According to Swift, the influence of Kantian perspective on morality is a major issue in European literature, as the philosopher imposed the idea of "good will", precisely the attempts of people to create positive actions as objective judgment, intelligence, wit, courage or self-control, in order to respect and preserve the condition of other people. Particularly to Kant is the perception of good will as "intrinsically good, for what it accomplishes, but for itself" (Swift 62), as consequence the philosopher reduces the impact of society on the moral behavior of individual, which was highlighted by other philosophers or writers as Camus as being extremely persuasive, since we tend to perceive the influence of society as refraining our freedom through the moral standards imposed, similarly to Sisyphus' attempts to fulfill his mission, despite its absurdity (Swift 62).

Typically, in literature a recurrent theme occurs, generally named the "good or the right one or right thing" (Wainwright 36). Depending on the historic period of the literary writing, the concept of good is either associated with an external influence as the divine law or an internal influence, as the power of humans to decide for their own destiny as suggested through modern trends.

Historically analyzed, the first signs of morality in literature can be noticed in Antiquity's texts such as the tragedy "Antigona", the feminine heroine being herself a moral subject in the city as the result of incest between Oedip and his mother, as consequence unable to state moral standards for other citizens. By choosing to offer his father normal funerals, Antigone chooses to act as an "anti-polis" (Tymieniecka, 794), defying the authority of citizens as representative of morality. Antigone focuses on her personal perspective as daughter and follower of the divine law, arguing that each member of the community should be offered funerals, despite their past errors. She opposes human law to divine law, rejecting the morality of the polis, but affirming her own moral position: "The distinction Antigone makes at the beginning of her confrontation with Creon between human laws (temporary and contingent) and the laws of the gods (eternal and absolute), links the human with Creon's arbitrary and misguided proclamations, and making Antigone's separation from the human a sign of her superiority, her connection to the gods, and thus her own morality" (Tymieniecka, 794).

Early interconnection between morality and literature can be retrieved in Mill's "Autobiography", as the possibility of pursuing a meaning in one's life, including happiness, depends on nurturing one's ability to adopt moral concepts as creating value for next generations, not precisely for the current one, although it is essential to preserve social order and personal balance between intentions and the impact on others (Wainwright 12).

Dickens, as Wainwright mentioned, is one of the writers focusing on the moral personality, particularly the deepest feelings of characters, their evolution and the impact on the other characters. Although it is not a popular of Dickens, the "Angel of the House" suggests that "angels" (Wainwright 33), precisely people with good intentions related to others are self-sacrificing, putting the happiness or richness of other persons on the first place, before their personal needs or expectations. Dickens' character is a "noble innocent whose happiness consists in spreading joy around her" (Wainwright 33).

Similarly, George Eliot's idealist character, Dorothea Brooke in "Middlemarch", strives to achieve a higher mode of life and feeling, but comparing with Dickens' character, Dorothea stirs the negative reaction of other characters, being an misunderstood "angel": "neighbors think of Dorothea as strange or alarming, and even friends find her fanatical, while the reader's attitude to Dorothea's fervor cannot but be influenced by an ironic view of her marriage prospects which signifies Eliot's own perplexity" (Wainwright 36). Additionally to Dorothea's example of character in the search of moral completion, society itself seems to search for morality as a daily standard: "For Eliot a good life exhibits a harmony between values and motives; there is a strict connection between what one believes in or values most and the reasons that motivate one's behavior. In other worlds, built into the foundations of her definition of a good life is the requirement that good be achieved in an integrated way" (Wainwright 36).

Jane Austen in "Mansfield", mostly through Reid's perspective, considers that good life is mandatorily a moral standard of living with other ones as well as understanding and completing personal moral actions, the novel being a complex structure of "moral steadfastness and righteousness, acute sense of duty and obedience to principle, And this virtuous mode of proceeding will show an individual where her best interests lie" (Wainwright 54).

In contemporary literature, moral examples are rare, wrongness being predominant, as "moral excellence is not only difficult to achieve, it is difficult to identify, to understand and even to admire" (Wainwright 194). For example, in the case of James' fiction "The Turn of the Screw", morality is associated with self conscious awareness, the characters focusing on their own needs and desires, before thinking of others' interests. Human experience is essential, as it completes and enriches the personal horizon of each character, while contradiction appears between personal needs and the desires of some other character, a decision is required, ideally on a moral basis as the reader might expect, but in practice reinforcing the personal plans of characters (Tymieniecka, 813).

Modern characters do not know or are not willing to adopt moral standards, society itself through its chaotic evolution seems to favor this situation, as consequence morality is less present in contemporary literature, opening stage for ideas as the need to surpass own limits at any cost or the destiny of a person as a rootless tree, since family and society are not able to offer a favorable context for the moral development of the character.

Chapter II. The poetics of E.M. Forster's and A. J. Cronin's fiction

2.1. E. M. Forster literary creed

Basically, E. M. Forster literary creed can be resumed to the central idea of considering art, including literature, as a form of reaching and preserving individual freedom: "Forster's term of his own doctrine is Art with a capital A. Art is not simply a created work in painting, music or literature; nor is it a term for all the arts thought of collectively. Art is an idea of wholeness, a wholeness that is greater and other than the sum of its parts. A work of art is a self-contained entity, with a life of its own" (Stone 7). Concretely, artistic creations represent forms of freedom and create the context of personal freedom, as art includes "an internal order, a reflection of the Divine Idea" (Stone 7). His perspective on art is contradicted by the social or political practice, as artistic creations are "disordered" (Stone 7) by the events affecting the community or the creator of art. In order to preserve the existence of the pure world created through art, the writer creates novels based on his/her personal "little worlds which have no necessary impact on the great world, they may exist only as sanctuaries of private consolation" (Stone 7). E. M. Forster's perspective on literature reminds of the Greek concept of catharsis, art being a form of personal or collective freedom. As mentioned in his letters, E. M. Forster admitted that a writer cannot possibly live in art, as an isolated, pure environment, but he can attempt to transform society into a "a fragment of the human spirit and … another fragment can only get expressed through art" (Stone 8).

In "Aspects of the Novel", E. M. Forster considers that novels create the "illusion of perspicacity and of power" (Berger 3). Based on the ancient concept of art as compensation, art becomes an escape from reality towards the "celebration of emotions" (Berger 3). The common path of escaping the limited reality is its accurate representation into artistic format. For instance, writers as E. M. Forster attempted to portray life accurately, "to create a world that the reader will recognize as much like the one he inhabits even when dramatized to arouse and maintain his interests" (Berger 3).

Based on his similarities with previous or contemporary writers, but mostly his particular style, E. M. Forster is considered by Philip Gardner as one of "the fixed stars of the century's literary firmament" (Gardner 10), similarly to Lawrence, Joyce or Woolf. Debating on his potential reputation, the author himself treated his popularity in an ironic perspective, as noticed in the case of the novelists' metaphor in "Aspects of the Novel": "Forster preferred to see his group of novelists, widely separated in time, writing simultaneously in the Reading Room of British Museum, so Forster's critics of the last decade may claim an equal right to consider his novels despite the long lapse of time since they were written" (Gardner, 12). A similar ironic and questioning perspective related to his own role in British literature can be analyzed in one of the first novels created by E. M. Forster, "Where Angels Fear to Tread", the narrator questioning himself upon his entrance in literature universe "with so little practice" (Gardner 15). In terms of literary influence, E. M. Forster debuted as a Victorian novelist, writing the majority of his novels in the Edwardian period. Through the multiple subjects included in his novels, E. M. Forster can be consider can be considered an initiator of modernism in British literature, anticipating the works of Virginia Woolf (Gardner 14).

Wilfred Stone considers that the literary creed of E. M. Forster is to reunite into a pleasant form the ideal form of art as catharsis and the concrete representation of art as influenced by the existing social or political events. The novel of E. M. Forster are based on an inner tension between the ideal and the concrete image of art, the writer assuming his role of a "private sensibility, a unique individual talent, with esthetic allegiances outside of history and society – even in repudiation of them. Art, to him, means otherworldliness. On the other hand, he is a public and representative man, the product of a tradition, the self-conscious heir of a commercial and intellectual aristocracy stemming from the late eighteenth century. Both strains are strong: the private and the public, the unworldly and the wordly" (Stone 8). As a consequence, the narrator's voice is divided between society and his personal ideas, the artistic creations reflecting the impact of the conflict between the two plans.

Similarly to Jane Austen, E. M. Forster's fiction includes stories about characters determined to surpass the existing social norms, in the pursuit of happiness. A suggestive example is the novel "A Room with a View", which can be considered "an almost satirical romance in which unconventional, spontaneous love-making wins out against stuffiness and being in a muddle" (Stape 92). The central heroine of the novel, Lucy, the typical charming, but indecisive young woman as in Jane Austen's novels, denies the existing social norms and starts a romance with a totally unsuitable partner as George, with little education and manners. Confused, but completely attracted by the forbidden type of man, Lucy finally accepts the social norms and becomes engaged to the compatible man, Cecil, but her decision is contradicted by the heart's necessity and chooses to run away with George, in order to fulfill her dream of happiness (Stape 92).

E. M. Forster's interest in analyzing social norms related to love and marriage also focused on other communities, such as the Indian one as in "The Other Boat", yet his main interest is British acceptance of inadequate relations. Captain Lionel March starts a love affair with a middle class Indian woman, Cocoa, the focus of the narrator being based on the British man' inner conflict with his own desire and the society's expectations: "March is divided in his allegiance to a lover from another class and race and to the society which has produced him and which is powerfully entrenched in the figure of his mother" (Staple 124). The intensity of the conflict increases, as the feminine character attempts to transform him into a permanent lover, as a consequence surpassing any social norm related to the separation of races and cultures. March commits murder, being influenced by jealousy, an action that he regrets, but society is not interested in accepting his decision, as he had already chosen the path of his destiny (Staple 124).

India, as the region of the British Empire, he used to live for a period of time, is present in E.M. Forster's fiction is an additional novel "A Passage to India". Comparing with the previous couple, Adela and Ronny are both British citizens, but being in India determines Adela to consider her position about marriage. While discovering caves with Aziz, Adela starts asking herself whether the decision she assumed of marrying based on common sense was the correct one (Bradshaw 200). Similarly to "Maurice" or "Howards End", the novel "A Passage to India" is a Bildungsroman of the British middle-class, "having its horizons broadened" (Bradshaw 11). Adela, as Maurice or Margaret, is interested in discovering her inner abilities and exposes them to the world, as a sign of personal revolt against the suffocating social norms of the period (Bradshaw 161). India is also the subject of comparison between the superior British culture and the potentially undeveloped cultures that the British Empire encounters in its evolution. In terms of narrator's perspective, "A Passage to India" becomes the "spiritual circumnavigation of the world, from west to east, through Alexandria to the Hill of Devi, similarly to a soul's voyage" (Scherer Herz, and Martin 267). Through spiritually traveling to an unknown civilization, the narrator is able to discover an "early paradise" (Scherer Herz, and Martin 268), able to purify his spirit, as well as improving the behavior of his characters, susceptible to make the correct decisions, as they succeeded in regaining their freedom. Unlike Judith Scherer Herz and Robert K Martin, Wilfred Stone considers that in fact "A Passage to India" is a "sport, the Indian summer of a talent that had shown marked faintness and weariness even before World War I" (Stone 11), as a consequence its artistic effect is limited, comparing with other novels created by E. M. Forster, such as "Howards End".

In "A Passage to India", "almost all the British characters believe in the eccentricity, backwardness and supine malleability of the Indians. India is portrayed as a place isolated from the mainstream of European progress in the sciences, arts and commerce. Only the English are really unequalled, especially at the time of crisis" (Jajja 40). In the case of women status in each culture, the narrator established a particular similarity between the subordination of women towards men as commonly perceived through marriage, yet Indian women are subject of a double subordination based on a traditional connection with men as the pillar of the familiar, additionally based on a religious perspective: "Forster, instead of sympathetically illustrating the Indian values and culture, celebrating the spirit of sacrifice and devotion for the family, shown by the Indian women, shows the fate of Indian women worse than men. The wife of Hamidullah is in purdha. She cannot take her dinner before it is taken by men. She believes that women have no possible life and existence without marriage and men. The narrator describes the fate of the Indian women as mere wedlock and motherhood" (Jajja 40). In the case of men, although they are considered superior comparing with women in Indian culture, the narrator has a critical perspective, considering that Indians similarly to Latif, benefiting of Hamidullah's generosity, have "parasitic tendencies" (Jajja 40).

Feminine characters in E. M. Forster's novels are able to surpass the current status of women in the period, as mainly housekeepers and subordinated to men. For example, in "Howards End", the two sisters presented, Margaret and Ursula are "the questing intellectuals, alive to the significance of forces that transcend the intellectual and that are of the potentially greater value" (Stape 105). On the other side, Helen Schlegel and Gudrun Brangwen represent the more "instinctual" type of women in the period, as "their energies have destructive ramifications despite their intelligence and their capacity to feel" (Stape 105). Women in E. M. Forster's Howards End are parts of an intense cycle of denials, as rejecting society's norms or the decision of family: "Margaret Schlegel is able not only to relate to the materialism of the Wilcoxes, the intense idealism of Helen Schlegel, and the mysticism and nature worship of Ruth Wilcox, but she also espouses a philosophy of achieving proportion by the forging of such connections. She emphasizes that proportion is an ongoing process" (Stape 106).

According to John Henry Stape, analyzing one of the least appreciated novels of E. M. Forster, "Maurice", (Stape 29), the narrator in Forster's fictions is focused on rejecting social norms, as in the case of negative perception of homosexuality. John Henry Stape considers Maurice as "a plea for homosexual rights on the part of a homosexual writer" (Stape 29). The narrator argued that society should grant freedom for the people that are different to the majority, that he and similar persons in his period similarly perceived, with the ideal context of the ancient Greek world, where beauty and love were the equal rights of the community. Edward Carpenter, one of the novel's characters seem to "create his own tradition, to offer a world where the homosexual could build a new social order" (Stape 38), suggesting that art or interpersonal relations should not be affected by the sexual habit of a person. As Jane Austen challenged the social order through her literary perspective on love and marriage, E. M. Forster through the evolution of his character, Edward Carpenter, affirms that society has to face the "sense of new love" (Stape 38), homosexuality challenging both common heterosexuality, as well as the traditional image of marriage or family structure.

Also analyzing Maurice, David Bradshaw reveals the sensitive approach of the narrator to the taboo of homosexuality. Basically, the novel develops in a gradual intensity scale, as in the first part dialogues are rare and timidly aiming to the characters' positions related to homosexuality, while in the last part dialogues develop, the characters being interested in challenging the social taboos. Maurice, the central character of the novel is placed in isolation and loneliness, able to suggest his particularity among the members of the community as his household, the public school, the university or the city. Maurice becomes the messenger of a social change expected to be performed: "The focus of the narration is on what was felt at that particular time, and on relating what happens to Maurice to the general experience of growing up" (Bradshaw 174). Maurice has to choose from normality and the expression of his true identity. He learns from his experiences with Clive or Alec, becoming a mature man (Bradshaw 177).

Another masculine character in E. M. Forster's fiction, Mr Lucas in "Dr Woolacott", is the representative of men searching for a "sense of intense life" (Stape 123). Developing a passion for a votive tree in Greece, Mr Lucas is forced by his daughter to return to London, facing the impact of psychic death, as he cannot be connected anymore with the space of his happiness, rather than physical death. Clesant, a character in the same novel, feels connected with an agricultural worker, who "instills in him a feeling of abundance" (Stape 124). Masculine characters, as analyzing the relations of Clesant with the young worker, are subject to a ritual of "regeneration" (Stape 124), the stranger arrives from the outside to serve the needs of the person requiring his presence.

Henry Wilcox, one of the Wilcoxes male characters created in "Howards End" exposes a radical perspective on interpersonal relations, particularly in the case of marriage, which he treats as a "funeral" (Stone 5), limiting his personal freedom, but a social norm that has to be accepted, in order to continue benefiting of the community's benevolence. Henry Wilcox considers that marriage does not have to include any emotional engagement to the other one, but to be considered as a social affair: "They did not make the mistake of handling human affairs in the bulk, but disposed of them item by item, sharply" (Forster 232). When a man decides to accept the social norm, marrying, he has to preserve his "own naïve experience, the withering of his capacity for wonder"(Stone 6), but in the most of the cases, marriage leads to the repression of the feelings that could support his positive evolution in society. A married man becomes a man with no plan of action, accepting the useless of his own condition (Stone 6). The narrator and the characters in Forster's novels are not sentimentalist about the family image as in the Victorian age, since marriage is not mandatorily an image of constant bliss, but they propose a different concept of marriage "within which the individual can be both himself and be related, be free and yet belong" (Stone 16).

Another male character in Forster's universe, Rickie is focused on a different quest, the discovery of his true nature, implicitly understanding life itself. Rickie attempts to understand his own actions, as well as the deeds of the other characters, transforming the needs to know into a personal "grail" (Stone 192). As the plot of the novel evolves, Rickie becomes aware of his own talent for writing, creating the opportunity of personal freedom to create and feel what other persons cannot. Unlike others, Rickie is interested in friendship rather than marriage, attempting to preserve his personal freedom, supporting his artistic efforts. Similarly to Maurice, Rickie is marked by a latent homosexuality, creating the context of a social and personal conflict: "He must either courageously face this knowledge and its consequences or else try to force his life into an alien, conventional mold. On one side the great world urges him to be a dutiful son, a loving husband, and a responsible father, and on the other the voices of his inner being counsel him not to risk the agony of these trials. Either way, he faces a test- the one of his courage to defy convention, the other of his courage to endure it" (Stone 193). Similarly to Maurice, he chooses to accept the social norm, refraining his personal desires.

In addition to "Howards End", the novel "Longest Journey" suggests an unsatisfactory perspective on interpersonal relations, comparing with the previous period in British history. The context of the writing highlights that the British society was marked by the passing of the countryside and the transformation of the Victorian family. Symbolically, the smog of London in the "Howards End", noticed on the horizon, represents the end of a peaceful period and the debut of a new one, marked by social and political transformations, focused on the "ugly cancer of suburban housing developments and industrial filth" (Stone 12). The house itself in "Howards End" represents the image of destruction, suggesting the effects of the Second World War (Stone 12). Analyzed on an individual level, the house represents the lack of a home as a stable environment for characters. For instance, is "The Longest Journey", both Rickie and Agnes need a home, in order to escape the "menacing tumultuous world" (Stone 16), the walls and the windows of a common house being able to protect them. As mentioned by Wilfred Stone, Forster's characters such as Rickie tend to be influenced by a sense of homelessness, regarding a house as an ultimate shelter, as the male character in "The Longest Journey" is "extremely sensitive to the inside of a house, holding it an organism that expressed the thoughts, conscious and subconscious, of its inmates" (Stone 16). Houses in Forster's universe become the symbol of security, their absence creating the context of loss, either financial or spiritual. The narrator and the characters seem to desire to acquire and live into a house, as a consequence to obtain membership in a community.

Judith Scherer Herz and Robert K. Martin proposed a different analysis of E. M. Forster's fiction, in terms of a personal social philosophy, based on a liberal perspective. Basically, according to the scholars, E. M. Forster's novel focus on the impact of "personal relations" (Scherer Herz, and Martin 15), the narrator being interested in highlighting the positive or negative effects created by the issue of social or personal power. Characters tend to impose their desire to the community or to a small group, such as in the case of the central character in the novel "The Challenge of Our Time", considering that he was able to change the current social and political event through his personal philosophy:

"In many ways it was an admirable age. It practiced benevolence and philanthropy, was humane and intellectually curious, upheld free speech, and had little colour-prejudice, believed that individuals are and should be different, and entertained a sincere faith in the progress of society. The world was to become better and better, chiefly through the spread of parliamentary institutions. The education I received in those far-off and fantastic days made me soft and I am very glad it did, for I have seen plenty of hardness since, and I know it does not even pay. Think of the end of Mussollini – the hard man, hanging upside-down like a turkey, with his dead mistress swinging beside him" (Forster 45)

The analysis of history through the personal lens of the character created by E. M. Forster is challenging, as there are multiple versions of interpretation. Initially, the reader can consider that the character refers to the unpredictable historic events, affecting his community, such as the positive impact of democratic institutions as the Parliament, comparing with the dictatorship promoted by Mussolini. In addition, the position of the character can be interpreted as a personal credo related to the necessity of educating communities, in order to stimulate their members to make the correct decisions. A third level of interpretation is also possible, as mentioned by the scholars, combining elements of the collective and personal approach to history: "Did he suppose that some abstract force of history, operating automatically and inevitably, took care of these threats to civilizations without human intervention? What kind of bloodless dream of history was this? And by what right did Forster the non-combatant stand on the sidelines of conflict and assure us that the hard ones always lost, just a few years after they had come so desperately close to wining?" (Scherer Herz, and Martin 16). As noticed in the case of the paragraph analyzed, there are two contradictory social elements mentioned by the character: the brutal force of social and political authority represented by Mussolini and the balanced perspective of liberalism, the conclusion of the character being susceptible to be recognized, although it is not directly pointed: "To citizens of the twentieth century who have known trenches and breadlines and concentration camps for their inheritance, Forster's defense of softness can seem at best unrealistic and at worst infuriating. Yet the idea of softness is at the heart of the Forster's liberal philosophy"(Scherer Herz, and Martin 16).

The fictional universe created by E. M. Forster attempted to represent in vivid colors the social universe of his period, including virtuous or less virtuous types of characters. His credo related to the necessity of literature to reflect the existing social reality was expressed in his letters to other writers such as Virginia Woolf, considering that his novels would be "either almost-successes or failures" (Scherer Herz, and Martin 1). For instance, in "What I Believe", the readers notice the impact of money issue, having or not having it, on the characters' behavior. In the case of "Howards End", the readers analyze the impact of death on the destiny of characters, as a contradictory element, destroying one character and saving another one, offering a new chance to correct his/her behavior. Death becomes self-discovery, characters embracing the idea of imminent death as a personal truth. In addition to "Howards End", death as an element stimulating characters to react into a certain perspective, either accepting it or denying its existence, is present in other novels such as "Gerald died that afternoon" or "The Longest Journey". Globally, the characters created by E. M. Forster tend to analyze the transition from life to death as a simple and unexpected passage, being almost similar to being released from the burden of daily life as noticed in the case of "The Road from Colonus". As mentioned by Judith Scherer Herz and Robert K. Martin, death seems to be greater than life itself (Scherer Herz, and Martin 36). For instance, Helen Schlegel debating with Leonard Bast, considers that death can correct injustice:

"Injustice and greed would be the real thing if we lived for ever. As it is, we must hold to other things, because Death is coming. I love Death – not morbidity, but because He explains. He shows me the emptiness of Money. Death and Money are the eternal foes. Not Death and Life" (Forster 235)

Unlike other persons in her community, considering that death is the final stage of life itself, Helen Schlegel focus on the negative effects of money, which create an invisible death, of a person's soul, focusing on obtaining increasing amounts of money, instead of cherishing the people and happy events occurring in his/her life. By accepting death as an imminent, yet a reality able to release a person's daily burden, the character designed by E. M. Forster is able to "spiritualize life" (Scherer Herz, and Martin 37).

Totally, the novels of Forster represent a tense universe, marked by open conflict "so intense as to flare into melodrama and even into physical violence. Across each of his novels runs a barricade: the opposed forces on each side are Good and Evil in the forms of Life and Death, Light and Darkness, Fertility and Sterility, Courage and Respectability, Intelligence and Stupidity" (Trilling 12). For example, a servant as Gerald in "The Longest Journey" is represented similarly to a villain, but his death is "invested with dignity"(Trilling 17). Similarly, after Gerald's death, Agnes Pembroke presents to readers an attitude of "tragic nobility" (Trilling 17), although she is a character implacably using brutality. Mrs. Moore in "A Passage to India" accepts to let herself be sent away from the trial at which her testimony would have been crucial, although reader might expect honorable actions, based on the details offered by the narrator. In addition, Cyril Fielding, a solitary man having heroically opposed official ideas, becomes their supporter as a successful and married man (Trilling 17).

In terms of plot creation, the same duality is preserve suggesting the idea of open conflict that not even the end of the novel can solve, since the characters or the narrator cannot offer possible answers to the readers' questions. Gradually, the plot of E. M. Forster's novel "move forward to grand simplicities but the comic manner confuses the issues, forcing upon us the difficulties and complications of the moral fact. The plot suggests eternal division, the manner reconciliation; the plot speaks of clear certainties, the manner resolutely insists that nothing can be quite so simple" (Trilling 12). A suggestive example is Miss Bartlett in "A Room With a View", considering that she is acting from duty, but in fact acting "from a kind of malice – she has been trying to recruit the unawakened heroine into the armies of the benighted, who follow neither the heart nor the brain" (Trilling 16). Uncommonly to women in her period, Miss Bartlett is able to fulfill her destiny, instead of the social norms that the community expects her to apply, finally marrying the man she had unconsciously loved (Trilling 16).

2.2. A. J. Cronin literary creed

The fiction of A. J. Cronin is considered by Alan Davies as a critic of modernist writers such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce or Virginia Woolf. A. J. Cronin proposes the return to "the traditional requirement to tell a story in which true-to-life characters represent reality as it is" (Davies 18), instead of choosing a radical narrative technique such as the "stream of consciousness" (Davies 18), suggesting that conscious is suspended, allowing the unconscious to freely express itself, used by the writers he criticized. In practice, A. J. Cronin focused on presentation of "a difficult childhood, a wide-ranging apprenticeship, and a diverse and ultimately successful practice" (Cooper 285), promoting the ideals of tolerance, integrity or altruism, a vision that can be retrieved in the fiction of other writers of the period, whose characters express an individualist vision on social life (Cooper 285).

Commonly to E. M. Forster, A. J. Cronin was considered in his period one of the most popular writers, based on the vivid representation of the conflict they highlighted through their novels. "The Citadel" represents a "highly political-medical novel" (McKibbin 33), representing the social transformation of his period. In addition to E. M. Forster, A. J. Cronin reflected in his novels the theme of religious conflict, mostly between Catholicism and Protestantism (McKibbin 33).

As in the case of E. M. Forster's creative universe, the majority of A. J. Cronin's novels are influenced by the social and political impact of the World War II. In the case of "The Citadel", the plot describes a "bygone era when the prevailing writer's mission was to draw the line between good and evil, between the noble and despicable" (Surawicz, and Iacobson 41). Similarly to E. M. Forster's perspective, the narrator and the characters in the novels of A. J. Cronin tend to revolt against social norms or silently accept them, being subjects of conflicts either between individuals or between communities. "The Citadel" can be interpreted as the reflection of "inequity and incompetence of the medical profession in the society of Great Britain" (Surawicz, and Iacobson 41).

Unlike E. M. Forster, the creative universe of A. J. Cronin tends to be intensively connected with the personal experience of the author. Generally, the narrator is a physician, providing accurate information of medical practice, as the author graduated a medical school in Scotland. As he admitted in his autobiographic work "Adventures in Two Worlds", A. J. Cronin did not renounce to his medical knowledge, investing his narrators or characters with a particular medical practice, which cannot be retrieved in the novels of other authors publishing in the period.

Commonly to E. M. Forster, novels published by A. J. Cronin as "Hatter's Castle" or "The Stars Look Down" focus on the existence of social injustice in British society, creating the context of conflict between characters or between a character and a community. Unlike E. M. Forster's characters, the heroes created by A. J. Cronin tend to focus on the fight against corruption, rather than on the quest of personal freedom. A. J. Cronin's characters mostly "seek justice for the downtrodden working class" (Surawicz, and Iacobson 42) as a collective objective, instead of focusing on individual desires.

"The Citadel" can be considered the story of a young doctor, Andrew Manson, working in South Wales and London, during the 1920s. Based on his immaturity, the physician, faces disillusionment in a corrupted environment. His credo in the medical profession is attacked, the young doctor being subject of an individual conflict between preserving his knowledge and accepting the negative pressure of society. The narrator presents Andrew Manson's career in two tense situations, practicing in Wales and lately in London (Meredith 51). The inner conflict of the hero is doubled by the opportunity of marrying, a decision that might prevent him from obtaining the medical expectation he created himself during medical school. The newly qualified doctor accepts the presence of love in his destiny, although his miserable condition in Drineffy was not fortunate, marrying Christine Barlow. Expecting that marriage could offer him an opportunity to improve his condition, Andrew Mason finds himself into a more miserable status, being exploited by his employer and as a consequence frustrated by the poor condition of his workplace and the pressure of the local bureaucracy. His medical credo provides the necessary courageous for the young physician to continue his mission, he "almost single-handedly cures a typhoid outbreak and helps the disaffected and heavy-drinking" (Meredith 42).

Based on a Bildungsroman's structure, "The Citadel" is composed by successive stages of personal evolution. After ending his mission in Drineffy, he leaves the poor community for a mining town, Aberalaw, taking Christine with him. Apparently, the new community seems to be more prosperous than Drineffy, in addition he is not employed by an individual, but by a society, Aberalaw Medical Aid Society, funded by the workers, which grants him the opportunity to freely practice his profession into improved conditions, such as a hospital. The ideal image of improvement is ruined, as the Andrew Manson discovers that in Aberalaw he fights "poor, unscientific practice and has enemies on the committee where he seems to have only one ally, the Society's secretary, Owen" (Meredith 42). Andrew Manson becomes confident in his own ability to make decision, as refusing to give workers "spurious compo notes", which gradually create him a respectable image in the community. Witnessing the malpractice of Dr Llewellyn, Andrew Manson as his anesthetist organizes a revolt, which fails. His professional error is followed by a personal failure, as the pregnant Christine loses the child. In order to improve his situation, Andrew Manson intensively focuses on qualification, researching lung diseases, by corresponding with an unqualified American medical practitioner. When his destiny seems to have found the correct path, Andrew Manson becomes subject of a local revolt leaded by collier Ben Chenkin, confiscating his guinea pigs used for research (Meredith 43).

In the third part of the novel, after winning against his critics in Aberalaw, Andrew Manson leaves again the local community, in the quest of a better professional practice. Starting to work for the Coal and Metalliferous Mines Fatigue Board, the young doctor becomes friend with Dr Hope, a cynical but sincere researcher. Repeatedly, bureaucracy and the obtuse perspective of committees frustrate him, preventing him to completely practice his profession. Resigning, Andrew Manson starts practicing in London, as suggested in the fourth part of the novel. Unlike the previous periods of his evolution, the London phase of his career presents a wealth Dr Manson, curing hypochondriac clients. Richness determines him to accept corruption, as well as to emotionally estrange from Christine, becoming "the voice of his conscience" (Meredith 44). His loveless affair with a wealthy woman is followed by the death of one of his patient on the operating table. The perspective of his medical failure determines Andrew Manson to "reject what he has become, trying to change and winning back his wife" (Meredith 44). The novel' ends is unexpected, presenting Christine dying in a road accident. As in the case of E. M. Forster's characters, death can be the end of a character's evolution, such in the case of Christine, while in the case of other characters as Andrew Manson, death represents a phase to be accepted. Dr Manson is supported by Denny and Hope, creating an ethical practice in London, fulfilling his destiny as a respectable doctor.

Despite its apparent simple evolution as a young doctor changing places in the quest of an improved medical practice, the destiny of Andrew Manson is a moral debate by refusing the expectations of society or accepting them. The young doctor's evolution is marked by "heroic struggle, fall and redemption" (Meredith 54). Unlike her husband, Christine, is religious, finding potential answers to their problems in her religious attitude, while Andrew seems to blindly search for answers to his dilemma. After her death, Andrew seems to understand that not being religious might have been the cause of his turbulent destiny, affirming that "God is not mocked!" (Cronin 272). The end of the novel suggests that Andrew Manson is "heroic individual who is corrupted by the shortcomings of the world but who ultimately seems to return to his ideals. The nature of society it is set in serving the arc of the moral and less obviously purpose of supporting the spiritual evolution of the hero" (Meredith 54).

The most known novel of A. J. Cronin, "The Hatter's Castle" proposed a different perspective, focusing on the conflicts affecting the balance of a family. Mr. James Brodie, as the head of the family, treats the other members into a tyrannical manner, considering his wife, Margaret and their children, Matthew, Mary and Nessie as personal properties. As forcing people to react to his desire, Mr. Brodie becomes the subject of repeated unfortunate events, suggesting that he ruined the moral expectations of society or the intentions of his family. Discriminating his children, by focusing on Nessie, Mr. Brodie indirectly leads her to suicide, by asking her to be the most meritorious student in the class, threatening to kill her if she fails. He sends his son to India, urging him to earn money, but he secretly demands money from his mother and finally leaves for America, accompanied by his father's mistress, Nancy. The elder sister, Mary represent an essential contrasting personality comparing with her brothers, being brave and determined to fight for her happiness next to Dennis Foyle. Pregnant and homeless, Mary struggles to find a way of survival for her child, whose death and the death of Dennis determines her to accept the social norms of the community, by returning home to his father who does not wish to pronounce her name, attempting to please him. Although Mr. Brodie is the character negatively affecting the lives of the other persons, the moral redemption noticed in "The Citadel" is not a decision he makes, the end of the novel suggesting he feels no sorrow for his deeds, including the influence on Nessie's death. Tyrannical in his family, Mr. Brodie suggests a similar behavior in his professional career as well. His business as a hatter is gradually competed by a rival company, succeeding to attract all his customers, as James Brodie considers that his hats are unique, focusing on his illusion of superiority. His fragile wife, Margaret, begins collapsing, as his business is ruined, suffering of cancer, but similarly to Mary attempting to fight for her purposes, such as providing food and protection to her children. As all characters seem to morally collapse, the sinner Mary discover a possibility to rebuild her life, based on the sincere love of Dr. Renwick. From this perspective, Mary seems to be an alter-ego of Dr. Andrew Manson, discovery a new beginning in his life, after the death of Christine. Mary suffered the effects of multiple deaths, starting with the death of her premature child, her ill mother and her fragile sister, Nessie, preserving a satisfactory self-capacity of inner healing, in order to support the other characters (Birch, and Hooper 333).

Similarly to E.M. Forster, the fiction of A. J. Cronin includes the themes of social revolt against the suffocating social norms of the period, but the perspective created by A.J. Cronin is different. Comparing with E.M. Forster, mostly focusing on love and marriage dilemmas, A. J. Cronin is mainly interested in revealing the conflict between professional vocation and the requests of the society. For example, in The Citadel the central character is interested in effectively practicing medicine in the case of neglected miners, but the authorities prove no concern for those persons, as they are subject of "exploiting" (Tischler 87), whose cheap work is needed for the evolution of society. Captured in a dilemma between vocation and cruel daily context, the central character "turns to God, acknowledging that crime will have its punishment and God will not be mocked. The hero's subsequent transformation comes after his powerful moment of recognition at a church" (Tischler 87). The interest for religion is absent in E. M. Forster's fiction, while in the creative universe of A. J. Cronin, the commitment to principles and religion is completed by a strong love interest. The narrative structure in A. J. Cronin's fiction is a revolt against "rigid systems and those people who flourished in professions like the church and medicine, ignoring the real good they might achieve while exploiting their positions for greed and pride" (Tischler 87).

Unlike the fiction of E. M. Forster, the creative universe of A. J. Cronin includes references to the political configuration in the period. For example, in The Stars Look Down, the central character believes in the rightness of a democratic socialist project, but his demarche is futile, as he loses the election and is forced to return to work in the mine (Looby 82). Similarly to "The Citadel", in "The Stars Look Down" the image of the collier is recurrent, but in different perspective. The good collier, Davey Fenwick is defeated by his own political party, comparing with the negative collier in "The Citadel", Ben Chenkin, preventing Dr Manson from continuing his research. In addition, another positive character as the mine owner, Arthur Barras, is affected by the actions of the other members of his class, raising questions about the narrator's perspective on the effectiveness of morality as an element able to create balance in the community, as the hero seems to "suffer, mainly at the hands of the group" (Meredith 63).

Chapter III. Moral vision in the novels of E. M. Froster and A. J. Cronin

In this chapter, the novels "Hater's Castle" and "Howards End" will be analyzed in terms of moral standards assumed by the characters, the moral evolution of the characters, as well as the narrator's position regarding the deeds performed by the characters created.

3.1. A moral analysis of events and characters in "Hater's Castle"

The debut of the novel "Hater's Castle" is based on a calm description of the peaceful nature and community, where the moral conflict will develop, anticipating nothing of the turbulent time affecting the family of James Brodie:

In the inland villages farmers exulted cautiously and children ran barefooted after watering carts; in the towns which flanked the wide river the clangour of the shipyards lost its insistence and, droning through the mild air, mounted to the foothills behind, where the hum of a precocious bee mingled with it and the exuberant bleating of lambs overcame it (Cronin 3)

A remark, which can be considered the narrator's sign for the extraordinary events affecting the Brodies is related to the "unusual forward and open" (Cronin 3) weather in the spring of 1879.

While describing the house of the Brodies, the narrator suggests that through its perfect appearance among our houses, their home is a moral standard of personal balance, which can be followed by the community:

in its coldness, hardness and strength, it could not be dismissed as seeking merely the smug attainment of pompous ostentation. Its battlements were formal but not ridiculous; its design extravagant but never ludicrous; its grandiose architecture contained some quality which restrained merriment (Cronin 5)

Based on the gravity created by the appearance of their house, the Brodies were associated with an interdiction in the community: inhabitants of Levenford respected or feared the peculiar design of the house, as well as the members of the family:

The people of Levenford never laughed at this house, at least never openly. Something, some intangible potency pervading the atmosphere around it, forbade them even to smile (Cronin 6)

Inside the house of the Brodies, a similar gravity was preserved through the modest rooms and furniture. In the case of the kitchen, the place where the members of a family reunite for recurrent occasions, objects as chairs or sofa suggests the impression of modesty combined with a sense of superiority, as the members of the family were proud of their belongings:

The room was plainly visible as commodious, comfortably though not agreeably furnished, with horsehair chairs and sofa, an ample table, with a bowfronted chest of drawers against one wall and a large mahogany dresser flanking another. Polished wax-cloth covered the floor, yellow varnished paper the walls, and a heavy marble timepiece adorned the mantelpiece, indicating by a subtle air of superiority that this was not merely a place for cooking (Cronin 6)

The sense of morality is introduced by the narrator through the reflection of Grandma Brodie, analyzing the careless behavior of Mary, the eldest sibling of the family, regarding a domestic chorus: the purchase of cheese for tea. The old woman with "tremulous hands" (Cronin 7), preparing the food for the family with "infinite care" (Cronin 7) is interested in correcting the inappropriate attitude of her niece:

It was simply an iniquity, she reflected, that Mary had forgotten to bring home the cheese. That girl was getting more careless than ever and as undependable in such important matters as a half-witted ninny. What was tea to a woman without cheese? Fresh Dunlop cheese! The thought of it made her long upper lip twitch, sent a little river of saliva drooling from the corner of her mouth (Cronin, 7)

Grandma Brodie expects Mary to behave as any other woman in their family, focused on the duties that a mother, a daughter or a grandmother as herself has to fulfill for the satisfaction of the family, such as cooking food with the required ingredients.

Mary, the niece showed by Grandma Brodie as being negligent is displayed as sitting next to her father, in an obedient position, as a daughter is expected. Yet, the old woman of the family is still unsatisfied by her deed of forgetting a particular ingredient for the food:

As she ruminated, she kept darting quick recriminative glances from under her bent brows at her granddaughter, Mary, who sat in the opposite corner in the horsehair armchair, hallowed to her father's use, and by that token a forbidden seat (Cronin, 7)

On the other hand, Mary is represented as a young woman, affected by the rigid climate of her family, forced to accept moral standards, instead of the free will of her own:

Upon her was the unbroken bloom of youth, yet, although she was only seventeen years of age, there rested about her pale face and slender unformed figure a quality of repose and quiet fortitude (Cronin, 8)

The narrator's description anticipates her revolt against the sense of morality imposed by her father, choosing to follow her intention of building a family with a man unwanted by her family. In the debut of the novel, she is the subject of Grandma Brodie's argument related to the necessity of a daughter to respect the seat of her father, as a sign of respecting the social role of her father: "The chair you're sitting in is your father's chair, do you hear?" (Cronin, 8).

Margaret Brodie, wife of James Brodie is displayed by the narrator as the image of religiosity, her sense of morality being based on her abnegation to Christian values, including the unity of the family, as suggested by the narrator's remark about Margaret Brodies as being "mistress of necessity" (Cronin, 9):

Years before, this inclination had been affected to exhibit resignation and true Christian submission in periods of trial or tribulation, but time and the continual need for the expression of abnegation had rendered it permanent (Cronin, 9)

Noticing the conflict between Mary and Grandma Brodie, Margaret Brodie attempts to stop it, asking Mary to fulfill her duty related to the tea ritual of the family, as well as calling her sibling to enjoy the tea. In the case of the burnt piece of toast, Margaret Brodie decides to eat it, as the Brodies cannot afford "waste in this house" (Cronin, 9).

Nessie, the youngest daughter of the Brodies, suggests through her appearance a particular weakness and obedience, being susceptible to accept the moral standards of the family, unlike Mary:

Her face was narrow with a high delicate white forehead, pink waxen doll's cheeks, a thin pointed chin and a small mouth, parted perpetually by the drooping of her lower lip, all expressive, as was her present soft, void smile, of the same immature and ingenuous, but none the less innate weakness (Cronin, 10)

The head of the family, James Brodie is represented by the narrator as receiving the best food and chair, based on his social role. The members of the family accept his authority, fulfilling a standard of morality based on wife-husband relationship, as well a children-father relationship:

large plateful of ham and eggs, accepted the white bread especially cut and buttered for him, had hardly seated himself before he had begun to eat (Cronin, 11)

The members of the family show to James Brodie the acceptance of his authority through recurrent activity, such as the tea time. The narrator points the importance of respecting his role as a sense of morality in the family analyzed:

their punctual attendance, the explanation of their bated expectancy, for the ritual of immediate service for the master of the house, at meal times as in everything, was amongst the unwritten laws governing the conduct of this household (Cronin, 11)

The tea time of the Brodies is marked by "absolute silence" (Cronin, 12), as the head of the family speaks no word to them. In addition, the members of the family do not start eating or drinking tea, unless James Brodie suggests through his gestures that he would enjoy the meal (Cronin, 12).

While addressing to his wife, James Brodie uses a pejorative reference, comparing her eating style with a sow's habit of eating, suggesting the reduced moral appreciation he has for the mother of his children: "Are ye a sow to eat like that, woman?" (Cronin, 13). Margaret Brodie accepts the words of her husband, showing subjugation as morally expected from a wife towards her husband: "I forgot. I clean forgot. I'll no' do it again" (Cronin, 13). Her excuses are not satisfactory for James Brodie, considering that her wife did not fulfill her duties: "It's a fine thing that a man like me should have to put up with this in his own house" (Cronin, 13).

In the case of the youngest daughter, Nessie, the head of the family expects her to be the best student, a duty that Nessie accepts as a moral standard: "Quite well? You're still top of the class, aren't ye?" (Cronin, 13). As disappointing her father, Nessie sadly accepts being questioned about her reduced performance: "Not to-day, Father! only second!" (Cronin, 13). As the younger sibling is bitterly criticized, Mary defends her, causing a severe reaction of her father, reminding her that there is a moral duty in speaking, when asked on a certain subject: "You hold your tongue and speak when you're spoken to" (Cronin, 13). The conclusion of James Brodie is that Nessie has to overcome her difficulty with French, in order to be the best student in the class, as she inherited his intellectual capacity, being her moral duty to prove her extraordinary performance:

you're going to be educated, my girl. Although you're young, they tell me you've got the brains my brains that have come down to you, for your mother's but a half-witted kind of creature at the best o' times (Cronin, 13)

As her father asks her to do double homework, Nessie calmly accepts, respecting her moral duty related to James Brodie: "Oh! yes, Father, anything you like" (Cronin, 13).

Being informed about Mary discussing with a "very pretty young gentleman" (Cronin, 14), James Brodie asks of his daughter to deny any potential connection with the immoral situation: "No! no! Mary! It wasn't you, a respectable girl like you. Tell your father it wasn't you" (Cronin, 14).

Mary's reaction of defending Denis Doyle, the man she loves, is drastically radicalized by her father, expecting her to fulfill her moral duty towards her father's decision of rejecting any possible relationship with the son of the "smartest publican in Darroch" (Cronin, 15): "You're speaking back to your own father next and for a low-down Irish blackguard! A blackthorn boy! No!" (Cronin, 15). Mary revolts once more against her father, suggesting that Denis Doyle has a honorable activity at the Company of Glasgow, but her father is determined to make her daughter renounce to any idea of establishing a relationship with the Denis Doyle: "Have ye anything more ye would like to say to testify to the noble character of the gentleman. He doesna sell whisky now. It's tea apparently" (Cronin, 15). James Brodie imposes to her daughter not to mention the name of her beloved in his presence as the fulfillment of a moral duty, being offended by her attitude: "It's an outrage on me that ye ever spoke to him. But ye've spoken to him for the last time" (Cronin, 16). James Brodie also threatens her daughter to obey, unless she is willing to support the consequences of her immoral behavior: "If you dare to disobey me, God help you!" (Cronin, 16).

The last member of the family, Matthew, is displayed by the narrator as an impassible spectator to the turbulent events affecting his family:

He sidled into a chair without appearing to regard any one in the room, accepted silently a cup of tea which Mamma handed him and began to eat (Cronin, 17)

Analyzing the behavior of his children, James Brodie considers the Mary, through her revolt, needs his maximal attention, in order to prevent any potential immoral behavior, which would affect his reputation in the community:

He would, he considered, have to tame Mary, who, somehow, did not seem like his child; who had never bowed down to him as lowly as he desired, from whom he had never received the full homage accorded him by the others (Cronin, 19)

As Mary disappointed him through her immoral behavior, the attention of James Brodie turns to his wife. Margaret Brodie did not perform a gesture that could determine him think she disobeys, but the head of the family considers his companion as a particular useful servant for the moment, as she is able to maintain the unity of the family, displaying no sign of affection towards her:

His gaze then rested upon his wife, but only for an instant; considering it her only worth that she saved him the expense of a servant in the house, he quickly looked away from her with an involuntary, distasteful curl of his lips, and turned his mind to pleasanter things (Cronin, 19)

His hair, preserving the masculine line of the family, Matthew is susceptible to satisfy his needs to see his children honorable members of the community, unless he is protected by his mother:

Not a bad lad; a bit sly and soft and sleek perhaps; wanted watching; and spoiled utterly by his mother. But going to India would, he hoped, make a man of him (Cronin, 19)

James Brodie considers that through the expected moral behavior of his children, he would be able to increase his own popularity in the community, being awarded with "further tribute to his prominence in the town, how, through it, his son's character would benefit and his own importance increase" (Cronin, 19). The main male character of the novel regards the members of the family as perfect tools of improving his own public image in the community, being slightly concerned about their personal desires, as they are simply expected to follow his decisions as a sign of respect. The only person in the family, who is treated in a gentler manner is Grandma Brodie, based on her age and on the connection between James Brodie and her, as the main male character shows a moral behavior towards her, respecting her social position in the family as the eldest members, as a consequence the wisest one through her experience. James Brodie is aware of her inability to be more active in the domestic chorus of the household, apparently feeling pity for her status, as mentioned by the narrator's remark as James Brodie performed a "more indulgent regard than that he had directed towards her at table." (Cronin, 20).

The apparent sorrow for his mother is abruptly ended, as James Brodie seems to discover in her a potential enemy for the perfect plans of displaying a moral behavior in the community. Through her insatiable appetite, the old woman is considered by James Brodies as a threat to the food stocks of the family:

Her god was her belly, but losh! she was a tough old witch. The older she got, the tougher she grew; she must have good stuff in her to make her last like that, and even now she looked, to his mind, good for another ten years. If he wore as well as that, and he might wear better, he would be satisfied (Cronin, 20)

Nessie, the youngest sibling is the subject of James Brodie's untold affection, as presented by the narrator: "his eye, which became flecked with a softer and more considerate light" (Cronin, 20). The family is divided between his affection, considered correct and the spoiling of Margaret Brodie towards Mary and Matthew, James Brodie planning that Nessie would do anything he might request of her, as a lamb listens to what the shepherd says: "He would make something of her, his ewe lamb" (Cronin, 20).

Nessie is expected to listen to his father and follow the instructions he has just created for her. Nessie is destined by his father to be a unique member in the community, able to win an important scholarship. In addition, she would be the first woman to do it, a detail that contradicts the brutal behavior of James Brodie concerning the other women in his family, particularly, his wife:

Pick them out young and keep them at it. He was looking ahead too, with something up his sleeve for the future. The Latta Bursary! The crowning success of a brilliant scholastic career. She had it in her to take it, if she was nursed the right way. Gad! What a triumph! A girl to win the Latta the first girl to win it, ay, and a Brodie at that! He would see that she did it (Cronin, 20).

The perfect scenario of Nessie winning the scholarship is ambiguous for James Brodie, as the narrator describes his silent reflection, yet the projected image of himself as the most meritorious member in the community is tempting enough to force her daughter study more, despite all consequences:

He did not quite know what he would make of her, but education was education; there were degrees that could be taken later on at college, and triumphs to be won. They all knew in the Borough that he was a man of progress, of broad and liberal ideas, and he would bring this more emphatically before them, yes, ram it into their silly mouths (Cronin, 20)

As he analyzes himself as a "man of progress" (Cronin, 20), Jamie Brodie considers about himself that his behavior is the correct one, fulfilling the moral expectations of the community, as well as his personal intentions. The potential perception of the community is an essential criterion in his decision regarding Nessie, as the future image of his success through Nessie would reinforce his current moral behavior: "He's a liberal-minded man for sure, It's a feather in his bonnet right enough" (Cronin 21).

Jamie Brodie never provides information about his departure or his return at home, considering that the members of his family should be prepared to welcome, as a sign of respect:

He never said good-bye. Let them guess where he was going in his spare time, to a meeting, to the council or to the club; let them remain uncertain as to his return, as to its time and the nature of his mood; he liked to make them jump at his sudden step in the hall (Cronin, 21)

Margaret Brodie suggests a more relaxed behavior, after her husband's departure, focusing on her book as a form of relaxing, a gesture that might have been considered by James Brodie as inappropriate, if he were present:

Mrs. Brodie relaxed the muscles which for the last hour had been unconsciously rigid and, while her shoulders sagged more limply, the tension of her mind was released and her spirit revived feebly (Cronin, 21)

Mary is aware of the pressure existing on her mother, accepting "dutifully as was expected of her every evening" (Cronin, 22) the domestic chorus of "clearing" the meal. Her mother is described by the narrator as living the life of the heroine in the volume she reads, as a form of liberation, although temporal, from the harsh climate in Brodies' household:

Holding the volume tenderly against her heart she sat down, and soon Margaret Brodie had sunk her own tragic, broken individuality in that of the heroine, comforting herself with one of the few solaces which life now held for her (Cronin, 22)

Nessie is described by the narrator as sadly accepting the task assigned by his father, to double her homework, comparing her own situation with similar students allowed to play games, enjoying their time:

She thought of the other children she knew who would be fraternising to play skipping ropes, rounders, cat and bat, and other magical frolics of the evening, and her small spirit was heavy within her as she began to work (Cronin, 22)

Comparing with her mother, she cannot afford a moment of pleasant lecture or unlike Mary, she is not allowed to perform domestic chorus, only to study more, in order to preserve her position as the best student in the class.

While asking her brother murmuring French words about his relationship with Aggie Moir, Mary is severely criticized for her behavior by Matthew: "It's vulgar. It's – it's a liberty on your part" (Cronin, 24), as the elder sister does not correctly address, while speaking about her. Matthew insists her name is Agnes Moir, considering his sister should remind this detail.

The immoral behavior of Matthew as smoking is tolerated by the woman he is interested, as well as in the household of the Brodies, considered a sign of masculinity:

Miss Moir is a young lady, a very worthy young lady, and my intended as well. Yes, if you must know, she does like me to smoke. She was against it at first but now she thinks it manly and romantic. But she objects to the odour of the breath afterwards and therefore gives me cachous (Cronin, 24)

Matthew considers himself superior to Mary, as he has a relationship, which is profitable for him, as he receives gift from Agnes Moir, which he is likely not to afford himself. In addition, Matthew thinks that Mary has not understood yet what love was, as a consequence debating about love was inappropriate for her:

You shouldn't talk about things you know nothing about, but you've surely the sense to know that when people are walking out they must be fond of one another. Agnes worships me. You should see the things she gives me. It's a great thing for a young man to have an affinity like that. She's a most estimable girl (Cronin, 24)

Through her discussion with Matthew, Mary attempts to find support for her own relationship, asking him whether he misses Agnes Moir, when they are not together. Her younger brother is brutal, similarly to his father, considering that such a question does not represent a moral behavior for a young woman:

That's not a nice thing to ask. If I had that pain I should think I had indigestion. What a girl you are for asking questions and what questions you do ask! (Cronin, 24)

Similarly to his father, Matthew considers that certain activities can be performed only the men, for instance playing the mandolin. Attempting to encourage him, Mary is rejected by his brother, considering that she is not "clever" enough to perform what he does: "A man must practise! You know, I'm getting on splendidly, but perhaps you would like to try as you're so clever" (Cronin, 24).

Despite his brutal behavior, Mary shows a moral attitude, protecting his brother against an untold secret, the fear of darkness: "He admitted Mary to his confidence and companionship incontestably for the reason that she would meet him by arrangement on these nights when he was late and escort him up the obscure and gloomy stairs to his bedroom, without fail and with a loyalty which never betrayed him" (Cronin, 27). Mary proves a gentle manner, similarly to her mother: "She never considered the manner of her service to him, but accepted his patronizing favour gratefully, with humility" (Cronin, 27).

Missing the presence of Denis Doyle, Mary questions the prohibition of women to step to the fair, considered an exclusively masculine place, as a consequence being immoral for them to be there: "Why was every one else allowed to go and not she? It was unjust, for there was no harm in it. It was an institution recognised, and patronised tolerantly, by even the very best of the townspeople" (Cronin, 28). The dilemma of Mary is more intense, as Denis was expecting her at the fair, while her father has already forbidden her to ever meet him. Mary chooses to follow her feelings, instead the moral behavior expected by her father, secretly directing to the fair: "but as het will commanded her to turn, some stronger force forbade it, and she kept on, her heart thumping furiously, her steps quickening in pace with her heartbeat" (Cronin, 29).

Her meeting with Denis Doyle respects nothing of what a decent young lady is expected to behave, performing natural gestures to a woman in love, willing to suggest to her beloved the joy she feels for seeing him once again: "She had giggled insanely, immodestly, but alas, irrepressibly at his delicious raillery" (Cronin, 31). Mary admits that she does not behave properly, as "she blushed darkly now at her unladylike and unpardonable conduct," (Cronin, 32), yet the urge to see him is more intense as time passes, despite the order of her father concerning Denis Doyle.

Despite any obstacle related to their love story, Mary and Denis feel that they can determine everyone accept their relationship, based on the sincere, almost telepathic feelings uniting them, as their couple is as moral as the most respectable families in the community, although they are not yet married:

Suddenly a warm hand clasped her small, cold fingers. Hurriedly she looked up and saw that it was Denis. A wave of security enveloped her and invaded her veins in a delicious sense of comfort, filling her with such relief that she pressed his hand in hers and in the open simplicity of her nature said hurriedly, ardently, before he could speak (Cronin, 33)

Listening the comfortable words of her beloved, contrasting the imperative tone of his father, Mary feels that she is ready to confront him, in order to have her relation publicly accepted: "It's an angel you are to forgive me. But I'll not rest till I've made it up to you. Let's make up for lost time. I'll not be happy till I've given you the time of your life. What shall we do first? Say the word and it's as good as done" (Cronin, 33).

Under the power of love, the entire universe is change, being no morality, but the need of Mary to consume their love. As Denis encourages her to ask everything she would like, being able to pay for her desires, Mary, similarly to Helen Schlegel, considers she is living into a dream world, mostly because the man she loves, unlike Paul Wilcox, is willing to make her happy:

How changed everything was! How glad she was to have come! She saw that the people around were not rough but merely boisterous and happy, and had she now been confronted with the heavy-footed ploughboy she would have returned his rustic grin with an understanding smile (Cronin, 34)

As Denis argues that there is still time left for them to enjoy their evening, far from their families, Mary begins to understand the need to decide whether she would stay longer, as her heart asks or would leave, as a decent young lady should do, ashamed for her conduct and mostly for denying her father's authority: "She could not leave him! With a premonitory sadness rising in her throat at the very thought of her departure, she felt blindly that she must be with him a little longer" (Cronin, 40).

As suggested by the narrator, the impressive moon on that evening, the silent river and the gracious moths forming a couple, invite the immature Mary and the experimented Denis to consume their love, despite any moral appreciation regarding marriage:

That she should be for the first time alone with Denis and isolated from the world filled Mary with a tremulous happiness, set her heart beating in a wild and joyous sweetness.

Denis, too, the sophisticated young man of the town, was overwhelmed by an emotion that was strange and new. The easy currents of conversational small talk which made him always the life and soul of a party, the blandishments that flowed naturally from his lips, were dried up at the source (Cronin, 41)

Mary is the first one to remember that they have social duties to fulfill, arguing that her father would punish their immoral deed: "Oh! What have I done? My father! What will become of us?" (Cronin, 44). As Denis suggests he would publicly admit his fault, Mary is focused on her own error, considering that nothing would have happened, if she listened to her father, being worried for both of them: "If he's not late tonight something terrible will happen to me, to us both" (Cronin, 45).

Being the first one to notice the turbulent status of Mary, Matthew is not concerned about her feelings, but for the moral image of his family, mostly the impression that his fiancée could create herself about the Brodies: "It's shameful to find you out in the street at this time of night" (Cronin, 46).

As one couple is formed, noticing the relation between Mary and Denis, an existing couple as James and Margaret Brodie seems to disintegrate. Waking in the morning, James Brodie severely analyzes his wife still sleeping, considering her unworthy to his reputation and vigorous health, although she is the woman giving birth to his children:

Besides, since her last confinement, when she had borne him Nessie, she had been always ailing, in a weak, whining way, offending his robust vigour by her flaccid impotence and provoking his distaste by her sickly habits" (Cronin, 48)

James Brodie follows undisturbed his morning routine, without anticipating the inner conflicts in his house, such as the moral dilemma of Mary or the fragile status of Nessie. He is confident that nothing could ruin the balance he created in his household, as marked by the narrator in describing the joy he feels in eating in private his breakfast, instead of communicating with the other members of the family: "He enjoyed all his meals, but to breakfast in particular he brought, in the freshness of morning, a more lively appe" (Cronin, 50).

James Brodie compares her own respectable status in the community with the impressive villa he created, remembering at this breakfast moments from its construction, in order to motivate him to continue his work both as a hatter and as the head of the family:

Certainly Brodie's position in the town had altered sensibly in these last five years, and since the building of his house he was regarded with more significance, detachment, and misgiving; his social value increased at the price of singularity and he became gradually a more notable figure, with many acquaintances and no friends (Cronin, 52)

Being the unique hatter in the community, James Brodie owns his own store, having employees as Perry to help him in the production and confirm him the moral standards he achieved. The young worker address to James Brodie into a respectful manner, attempting to obtain his positive mood: "A very beautiful morning again, sir! Wonderful for the time of year. Delightful!" (Cronin, 56).

The perfect status of James Brodie will start to collapse, after discovering the error of Mary, followed by Nessie's incapacity to win the expected scholarship.

3.2. A moral analysis of events and characters in "Howards End"

The debut of the novel "Howards End" consists in Meg's letters towards Helen, describing her gradual relationship with the Wilcox family. Meg considers Mrs. Wilcox a model of moral behavior for a decent woman, able to stimulate the unity of her family: "I never saw anything like her steady unselfishness, and the best of it is that the others do not take advantage of her. They are the very happiest jolliest family that you can imagine" (Forster, 6). Mr. Wilcox, the head of the family is displayed as a man interested in preserving the social relations in the community, criticizing the feminism in the period. Through his attitude, he almost determined Meg to reconsider her ideas: "He says the most horrid things about woman’s suffrage so nicely, and when I said I believe in equality he just folded his arms and gave me such a setting down as I’ve never had" (Forster, 6). Based on his experience and social status as the head of the family, Mr. Wilcox persuades Meg that en vogue concept as gender equality is in fact harmful, while the traditional moral behavior is expected to maintain the social balance of society itself:

I couldn’t point to a time when men had been equal, nor even to a time when the wish to be equal had made them happier in other ways. I couldn’t say a word. I had just picked up the notion that equality is good from some book—probably from poetry, or you (Forster, 6)

Similarly to the "Hatter's Castle", the image of the house where the characters live is essential to understand their moral attitudes. In the case of Helen and Margaret's case, they live with their aunt, Mrs. Munt, in a decent household "in Wickham Place, and fairly quiet, for a lofty promontory of buildings separated it from the main thoroughfare (Forster, 9). The narrator suggests that the current balance of the area will be affected by social changes, anticipating the events occurring to the siblings: "These, too, would be swept away in time, and another promontory would arise upon their site, as humanity piled itself higher and higher on the precious soil of London" (Forster, 9).

Similarly to the relatives in charge with the care of orphans, Mrs. Munt adopts the moral obligation of protecting Helen and Margaret, as well as finding suitable candidates for their hands. She is concerned about Margaret's future, based on her habit of revolting against the social norms in her community, such in the case of gender equality: "She decided that Margaret was a little hysterical, and was trying to gain time by a torrent of talk" (Forster, 9).

Being informed about Margaret's decision to visit Helen at the Wilcoxes, Aunt Juley reminds her how a decent young lady should behave, presenting herself in the house of the potential parents-in-law of her sister:

Margaret, if I may interfere, don’t be taken by surprise. What do you think of the Wilcoxes? Are they our sort? Are they likely people? Could they appreciate Helen, who is to my mind a very special sort of person? Do they care about Literature and Art? That is most important when you come to think of it. Literature and Art. Most important. How old would the son be? She says ‘younger son.’ Would he be in a position to marry? Is he likely to make Helen happy? (Forster, 10)

Based on her maturity, Aunt Juley suggests to Helen to adopt a more moderate attitude and leave her sister develop a relationship with the Wilcoxes, as she considers the best. Margaret does not accept the piece of advice offered by her aunt, considering that she would choose, as she feels, while thinking about Helen's status in the household of the Wilcoxes: “I hate plans. I hate lines of action. Helen isn’t a baby” (Forster, 10).

Although her behavior contradicts the moral standards of the community, as her sister was subject of a potential proposal, not her, she considers that she has to visit the Wilcoxes, for the simple reason of feeling affecting towards Helen: "I love my dear sister; I must be near her at this crisis of her life" (Forster, 10). Instead of her sister and similar young ladies, Margaret is determined to surpass the moral expectations related to a woman in love as being decent and subordinated to the beloved man, the young lady being decided to let everyone know about her decision, which cannot be subject to any potential debates, as it is the path she chose to follow: "If she herself should ever fall in love with a man, she, like Helen, would proclaim it from the housetops, but as she loved only a sister she used the voiceless language of sympathy" (Forster, 10).

Despite the potential immoral behavior of Margaret, Aunt Juley regards her and her sister with a sense of admiration, unlike the head of the family in the "Hatter's Castle", forcing the other characters to accept his desires. Aunt Juley admits about her nieces that they are "and very wonderful girls, and in many ways far older than your years" (Forster, 10). Instead of the turbulent decision of Margaret, Mr. Munt suggests that she might visit the Wilcoxes, in order to analyze the situation: "frankly, I feel you are not up to this business. It requires an older person" (Forster, 11). None of Aunt Juley's mature arguments are able to convince Margaret that it is better to let her sister manage the situation as she considers the most suitable for her and her family: "I go down in no spirit of interference, but to make inquiries. Inquiries are necessary" (Forster, 11).

Margaret's decision, altough it is moral in terms of social expectations, is motivated by the young lady through her protective intentions regarding her sister:

I shall ask no questions. I have it in Helen’s writing that she and a man are in love. There is no question to ask as long as she keeps to that. All the rest isn’t worth a straw (Forster, 11)

The narrator's approach towards Margaret is marked by indulgence, as she is determined in her deeds by a natural care for her sister, which might be severely criticized by society, expecting a moral, rational behavior in her case, not based on immediate feelings:

Away she hurried, not beautiful, not supremely brilliant, but filled with something that took the place of both qualities—something best described as a profound vivacity, a continual and sincere responses to all that she encountered in her path through life (Forster, 11)

Margaret is not satisfied by the short engagement between her sister and the son of the Wilcoxes, prompting a potential relationship with Carter Paterson, unless Helen is determined to renounce to the current plans. The simple idea of seeing one of her nieces engaged in a public scandal is enough for Mrs. Munt to criticize Margaret for her immoral attitude:

Now, just imagine if you said anything of that sort to the Wilcoxes. I understand it, but most good people would think you mad. Imagine how disconcerting for Helen! What is wanted is a person who will go slowly, slowly in this business, and see how things are and where they are likely to lead to (Forster, 11)

Margaret becomes doubtful, hearing her aunt's position, asking herself why people create engagements, if they are not interested in creating reliable relationships. The young lady perceives the break of a formal engagement, created to satisfy the moral expectations of parents or society, as easy as any gesture of renouncing to an unwanted object:

What’s an engagement made of, do you suppose? I think it’s made of some hard stuff that may snap, but can’t break. It is different to the other ties of life. They stretch or bend. They admit of degree. They’re different (Forster, 12)

Margaret is subject to a dilemma between the moral expectations of her aunt as the representative of the community and her personal intentions regarding the status of her sister. Her inner debate is deeper, as their sibling is affected by hay fever: "She must be assured that it is not a criminal offence to love at first sight. A telegram to this effect would be cold and cryptic, a personal visit seemed each moment more impossible" (Forster, 12). The narrator describes her as a changing personality, unlike her sister, anticipating her further immoral behavior: "Certainly Margaret was impulsive. She did swing rapidly from one decision to another" (Forster, 13).

Margaret decides, despite the opposition of her aunt, to interfere into Helen's relationship with the Wilcoxes, surpassing the moral standards of the community:

You will remember, Aunt Juley, not to be drawn into discussing the engagement. Give my letter to Helen, and say whatever you feel yourself, but do keep clear of the relatives. We have scarcely got their names straight yet, and, besides, that sort of thing is so uncivilised and wrong (Forster, 13)

The narrator treats her attitude with a particular sense of sympathy, asking the reader not to judge her decision, a remark that cannot be retrieved in the case of the "Hatter's Castle": "To Margaret—I hope that it will not set the reader against her—" (Forster, 14).

Mrs. Munt decides to save the honor of her family, leaving for Howards End, instead of the turbulent Margaret. Helen sends a telegram to secretly inform Margaret about her intentions: "All over. Wish I had never written. Tell no one" (Forster, 14). Both Helen and Margaret, through their contradictory behavior determined Aunt Juley to interfere, the moment while Helen announces her decision to end the formal engagement being marked by the narrator as too late: "But Aunt Juley was gone—gone irrevocably, and no power on earth could stop her" (Forster, 14).

Mr. Munt is described by the narrator as admiring the two siblings, Margaret and Helen, orphans, yet able to take care for their little brother, Tibby, despite their crude age at the moment of their mother's dead, as well as their distant father's. Mr. Munt respects their independence, being considered about Margaret's particular behavior as the eldest sister, forcing her independence spirit into an attitude, which might be negatively understood by the community. Margaret makes use of her parent's heritage, investing it into what she considers being a worthy business, to her aunt's disapproval:

She learnt, to her horror, that Margaret, now of age, was taking her money out of the old safe investments and putting it into Foreign Things, which always smash. Silence would have been criminal. Her own fortune was invested in Home Rails, and most ardently did she beg her niece to imitate her (Forster, 15).

The mature woman attempts to understand the intentions of her niece, as attempting to offer a decent lifestyle to her siblings, yet she ironically criticize her, as similar activities are considered by society as masculine, not performed by women: "When the smash comes poor Margaret will have a nest-egg to fall back upon" (Forster, 15).

Similarly, Helen is susceptible to use her own heritage, worrying her aunt, as she fears both her nieces might choose the incorrect decisions, based on their little financial experience, which is likely to affect their future, as well as the marriage opportunities:

This year Helen came of age, and exactly the same thing happened in Helen’s case; she also would shift her money out of Consols, but she, too, almost without being pressed, consecrated a fraction of it to the Nottingham and Derby Railway. So far so good, but in social matters their aunt had accomplished nothing. Sooner or later the girls would enter on the process known as throwing themselves away, and if they had delayed hitherto, it was only that they might throw themselves more vehemently in the future (Forster, 16)

Mrs. Munt fears that her nieces would lose their heritage and end into a miserable status, similar to the "unshaven musicians" (Forster, 16) in the residence area they live. Aunt Juley considers that she knows the best for them and expects them, although she does not directly speak it, to behave in a moral way, accepting her advice: "it was dangerous, and disaster was bound to come" (Forster, 16).

While checking her ticket, Mrs. Munt encounters by hazard a representative of the Wilcoxes, introducing herself into a respectable manner, associated with her age: "I am Miss Schlegel’s aunt. I ought to introduce myself, oughtn’t I?" (Forster, 16). In fact, the fiancé of Helen contradicts Aunt Juley' first impression through his fast moves, causing her a negative reaction as "a little afraid of him; his self-possession was extraordinary" (Forster, 19), in the moment he helps her with her luggage, although he apparently seem to be a gentleman: "To a feminine eye there was nothing amiss in the sharp depressions at the corners of his mouth, or in the rather box-like construction of his forehead. He was dark, clean-shaven, and seemed accustomed to command" (Forster, 18). Facing an unexpected discussion with the young gentleman she expected to analyze in the household of the Wilcoxes, Aunt Juley considers that Margaret's arrival to Howards End would have been more satisfactory than hers, as the young woman could adapt herself into a more pleasant way to the particular situation: "Margaret had only warned her against discussing the incident with outsiders" (Forster, 19).

Mrs. Munt, worried about the status of her niece in the household of Wilcoxes performs an immoral behavior, by openly discussing with the young gentleman, instead of reaching to his house and speaking with his parents, as marriages in the period were arranged between the tutors, not between a tutor and one member of the couple. Aunt Juley defeats Mrs. Munt, the narrator suggesting that the decision of the character is taken after an inner conflict between social duty and personal feelings: "Helen is a very exceptional person— I am sure you will let me say this, feeling towards her as you do—indeed, all the Schlegels are exceptional. I come in no spirit of interference, but it was a great shock" (Forster, 20).

Young Wilcox is enclosed into an uncomfortable situation, being forced by moral standards to answer into the politest way to his visitor, on the other hand the interference of the worried aunt determines him to take time, admiring the landscape, in order to prepare the best answer, in order not to offend her feelings:

contemplated the cloud of dust that they had raised in their passage through the village. It was settling again, but not all into the road from which he had taken it. Some of it had percolated through the open windows, some had whitened the roses and gooseberries of the wayside gardens, while a certain proportion had entered the lungs of the villagers (Forster, 20)

As Mrs. Munt insists with her remarks related to a potential relationship between Helen and himself, young Wilcox reacts into an appropriate manner to her expectations, suggesting that the love story was only a creation of Helen's intentions towards him: "He pushed up his goggles and gazed at her, absolutely bewildered. Horror smote her to the heart, for even she began to suspect that they were at cross-purposes, and that she had commenced her mission by some hideous blunder" (Forster, 20).

As the young gentleman clarifies the situation, that it was "an extraordinary mistake" (Forster, 21), it is the mature lady who behaves in an appropriate way, conducted by her feelings of revolt, instead of reacting in a rational perspective, admitting that perhaps Helen misunderstood the gestures of Charles Wilcow. Aunt Juley "stammered, getting blood-red in the face, and wishing she had never been born" (Forster, 21), considering that young Wilcow has affected the reputation of her niece, as he confesses he is engaged with another lady. Charles Wilcow offers a potential solution to the moral crisis affecting both families: "Don’t tell me it ‘s some silliness of Paul’s" (Forster, 21).

Although Charles Wilcow is not the person she was looking for, Mrs. Munt develops a feeling of antipathy towards him, based on the confused situation created by her arrival, as well as the enigmatic behavior of her niece, unable to clarify her status in the household of the Wilcoxes. Her attitude is not rational, either moral, but it is the normal attitude of an aunt worried for her niece:

But she did not like his voice. He sounded as if he was talking toa porter, and, certain that he had deceived her at the station, she too grew angry (Forster, 21)

Charles Wilcox performs a moral behavior, attempting to excuse the confusion created by Paul Wilcox, arguing that he was "the idiot, the little fool" (Forster, 21), but Mrs. Munt is implacable, considering that her niece was the only one affected in this situation, determined to rectify it: "Mrs. Munt—such is human nature—determined that she would champion the lovers. She was not going to be bullied by a severe young man" (Forster, 21).

Mrs. Munt considers that the Wilcox family did not treat correctly her niece, being willing to ask a rapid correction of the situation:

I quite agree, sir. The thing is impossible, and I will come up and stop it. My niece is a very exceptional person, and I am not inclined to sit still while she throws herself away on those who will not appreciate her (Forster, 22)

Asked by Charles Wilcox to speak lower, in order for passersby not to hear their conversation, as a consequence the reputation of his family to be affected, Mrs. Munt respects his desire, which is also her will, as she is interested in displaying a moral attitude, although she is in an unknown community:

Esprit de classe—if one may coin the phrase—was strong in Mrs. Munt. She sat quivering while a member of the lower orders deposited a metal funnel, a saucepan, and a garden squirt beside the roll of oilcloth (Forster, 22)

Charles Wilcox speaks of his brother in an appropriate manner, considering him not a good opportunity for a marriage, although Mrs. Munt previously suggest that she is interested in clarifying the situation, not to continue it. Her immoral attitude can be considered a method of protecting his family, but it does not respect the moral standards of the period, young gentlemen as him being requested to politely speak to elder persons, in addition being advised not to interfere into issues surpassing their status as the potential marriage between Helen and Paul: "I warn you: Paul hasn’t a penny; it’s useless" (Forster, 22).

On the other hand, Mrs. Munt adopts a moral attitude, arguing that she will rapidly rectify the situation, as a consequence none of the families would be affected: "No need to warn us, Mr. Wilcox, I assure you. The warning is all the other way. My niece has been very foolish, and I shall give her a good scolding and take her back to London with me" (Forster, 22).

As the atmosphere between the two characters seemed to become normal, Charles Wilcox commits imprudence, informing that his brother would eventually marry with a woman able to support the climate of Nigeria, where he is expected to arrive. He also adds that Helen should not inform "the news" to her family, a detail that determines Mrs. Munt to "grow furious" (Forster, 22), defending the honor of her niece:

If I were a man, Mr. Wilcox, for that last remark I’d box your ears. You’re not fit to clean my niece’s boots, to sit in the same room with her, and you dare—you actually dare— I decline to argue with such a person (Forster, 23)

As the representatives of the two families united by confusion, the young man and the old lady show little respect one to each other. For instance, Charles attempts to explain that Helen should not advance the idea of a potential marriage between her and his brother, as the head of the family is not present, while Mrs. Munt attempts to interrupt him, to prompt her own vision. Charles Wilcox brutally asks whether he can finish his sentence, while Mrs. Munt severely denies his intention, as a consequence the young man accelerates the vehicle, causing the old lady to scream for fear (Forster, 23):

So they played the game of Capping Families, a round of which is always played when love would unite two members of our race. But they played it with unusual vigour, stating in so many words that Schlegels were better than Wilcoxes, Wilcoxes better than Schlegels (Forster, 23)

Their game of authority is not what is expected from moral persons, in charge with finding a solution of the crisis involving two respectable families in their own communities. They are not able to create answers for their situation, their silence suggesting the existence of unnecessary negative feelings:

The man was young, the woman deeply stirred; in both a vein of coarseness was latent. Their quarrel was no more surprising than are most quarrels—inevitable at the time, incredible afterwards. But it was more than usually futile. A few minutes, and they were enlightened (Forster, 23)

Seeing her niece, confessing the stupidity of the error which created an unworthy conflict between the families, Mrs. Munt burst into tears, feeling ashamed for the immoral situation: "Aunt Juley dear, don’t. Don’t let them know I’ve been so silly. It wasn’t anything. Do bear up for my sake" (Forster, 23)

Helen admits her error, asking Mrs. Munt to keep the secret, in order to avoid any other potential tension between the Wilcoxes and the Schlegels, as Charles Wilcox was determined to ask his brother to offer suitable answers for the situation: "Yes or no, man; plain question, plain answer. Did or didn’t Miss Schlegel" (Forster, 24). The conflict between the two brothers, as well as between Helen and her aunt, is stopped by the calm entrance of Mrs. Wilcox, inviting Charles to tolerance regarding his younger sibling: "Charles, dear Charles, one doesn’t ask plain questions. There aren’t such things" (Forster, 24).

Mrs. Wilcox appears to be the most moral person in the novel, based on her balanced behavior, attempting to calm the unnecessary conflict between the two families. The narrator describes her as an extraordinary presence, connected with the past, able to shape into a suitable manner the future of the other characters:

She seemed to belong not to the young people and their motor, but to the house, and to the tree that overshadowed it. One knew that she worshipped the past, and that the instinctive wisdom the past can alone bestow had descended upon her—that wisdom to which we give the clumsy name of aristocracy. High born she might not be. But assuredly she cared about her ancestors, and let them help her (Forster, 24)

The lady of Howards End surpasses in moral attitude Mrs. Munt, as she is able to find a rational potential solution to the conflict, by separating the parts, while the elder lady is surpassed by her feelings. Ruth Wilcox behaves as appropriate in such difficult situations, "still less did she pretend that nothing had happened, as a competent society hostess would have done" (Forster, 24), asking Helen to make comfortable her aunt, requiring of Paul to find his young sister, Evie and as well, calming Charles, as the engagement is "broken off" (Forster, 24). Every gesture, as informing Charles that Helen and Paul "do not love any longer" (Forster, 24) is associated by the narrator with details, suggesting her deep connection with the house she represents, such as smelling a rose (Forster, 24). The perfumed flower can be associated with the potential love between Helen and Paul, but it is likely to be considered a sign of her belonging to the aristocratic Howards End.

The disappointment created by the potential marriage of Helen with Paul is soon forgotten by Mrs. Munt, realizing that she avoided terrible events through her inappropriate decision, yet Helen is a "more serious patient" (Forster, 25) for Margaret, as she seems to have fallen in love with the family, not precisely a member of it, putting her elder sister into a difficult situation of attempting to erase the perfect image represented by the Wilcoxes, comparing with her own family:

The energy of the Wilcoxes had fascinated her, had created new images of beauty in her responsive mind. To be all day with them in the open air, to sleep at night under their roof, had seemed the supreme joy of life, and had led to that abandonment of personality that is a possible prelude to love (Forster, 25)

Based on her current experience at the Wilcoxes, Helen is subject to a moral transformation, accepting the ideas of their guests and renouncing to concepts she used to share with her sister, creating a tense relation between the two siblings:

she had liked being told that her notions of life were sheltered or academic; that Equality was nonsense, Votes for Women nonsense, Socialism nonsense, Art and Literature, except when conducive to strengthening the character, nonsense (Forster, 25)

Her ideal engagement with Paul debuted as an impossible romance, based on his absence. Helen imagined that she could create her own home with a member of the family, who was described as the perfect man by others, mostly the youngest sister, Evie:

she began to throw the halo of Romance, to irradiate him with all the splendour of those happy days, to feel that in him she should draw nearest to the robust ideal (Forster, 26)

Arranged marriages existed in the period, Helen's relation with Paul could have followed the same path, if the young man would have been interested at least in her affection. As described by the disappointed Helen, his behavior suggests an immoral approach to every lady she would encounter, Paul Wilcox being interested to notice whether he could conquest the heart of his potential victim or not, not involving into a serious relationship, such as the engagement Helen dreamt to have with him as mentioned by the narrator asking about the effects of a kiss on the young lady, "but the poetry of that kiss, the wonder of it, the magic that there was in life for hours after it—who can describe that?" (Forster, 26). On the other hand, the young gentleman treats his closeness with Helen as a potential game to win, being satisfied by the impression he created upon her behavior:

He had been talking of his approaching exile in Nigeria, and he should have continued to talk of it, and allowed their guest to recover. But the heave of her bosom flattered him. Passion was possible, and he became passionate (Forster, 26)

The narrator uses the example of Helen's confusion to debate on the worthiness of emotions in his contemporary society, considering that British people tend to be "cynic" in their morality sense, suffocating emotions for particular purposes as the necessity to form a profitable marriage. In the case of Helen and Paul' s potential marriage, none of the families would have accepted, as Charles considers his younger brother not a good opportunity for a profitable marriage, while Mrs. Munt perceives the behavior of the Wilcoxes as inappropriate for a reputable young lady as her niece. The critical approach of the narrator is that British people forget what an emotion as love or respect truly represents, guiding themselves after social prejudices:

Our impulse to sneer, to forget, is at root a good one. We recognise that emotion is not enough, and that men and women are personalities capable of sustained relations, not mere opportunities for an electrical discharge. Yet we rate the impulse too highly. We do not admit that by collisions of this trivial sort the doors of heaven may be shaken open (Forster, 27)

Unlike Paul treating their romance as a game, Helen is tremendously affected, considering that she was cheated, ending by loving a man who will not be her husband, as expected:

To Helen, at all events, her life was to bring nothing more intense than the embrace of this boy who played no part in it. He had drawn her out of the house, where there was danger of surprise and light; he had led her by a path he knew, until they stood under the column of the vast wych-elm (Forster, 27)

Noticing the inability of her sister to surpass the embarrassed moment of the potential engagement with Paul Wilcox, Margaret attempts to explain her that she did not behaved immorally by accepting to be kissed and dreaming of a romance, as the majority of the women admit it. The eldest sister is worried about Helen's inability to foresee the potential consequences of her deeds, the fact that Aunt Juley's presence in the household of the Wilcoxes would have created an useless conflict, unless Ruth Wilcox wisely interfered in clarifying the situation, which should have been exposed by Helen to her family:

The truth is that there is a great outer life that you and I have never touched—a life in which telegrams and anger count. Personal relations, that we think supreme, are not supreme there. There love means marriage settlements, death, death duties. So far I’m clear. But here my difficulty. This outer life, though obviously horrid; often seems the real one—there’s grit in it. It does breed character. Do personal relations lead to sloppiness in the end? (Forster, 29)

Margaret suggests to her sister that she has to think and feel in "the great outer life" (Forster, 29), where social norms do not exist. If she could have reacted immediately as soon she noticed the negative behavior of Paul Wilcox, instead of fearing public shame, the situation would have been more comfortable for both families.

Helen replaces the romance disappointment with active presence in the community, attending with her sister public meetings related to politics or organizing in their house similar society events. Comparing with Mary Brodie, silently accepting her current status as the dishonored member of the family, since she was seen in the company of a young man not accepted by his father, Helen Schlegel supported by her sister transform her pain into a reason to surpass her social status. Based on their intelligence and refinement, the Schlegel sisters succeed to be appreciated in their community:

they filled the tall thin house at Wickham Place with those whom they liked or could befriend. They even attended public meetings. In their own fashion they cared deeply about politics, though not as politicians would have us care; they desired that public life should mirror whatever is good in the life within. Temperance, tolerance, and sexual equality were intelligible cries to them; whereas they did not follow our Forward Policy in Tibet with the keen attention that it merits, and would at times dismiss the whole British Empire with a puzzled, if reverent, sigh. Not out of them are the shows of history erected: the world would be a grey, bloodless place were it composed entirely of Miss Schlegels. But the world being what it is, perhaps they shine out in it like stars (Forster, 30)

The evolution of Helen, supported by her sister, is positive, while Nessie, her counterpart in the "Hatter's Castle" is gradually descending to a severe depression, unnoticed by her sister Mary, captured into her own moral dilemma of being pregnant outside marriage.

As analyzed based on a comparative structure, the two novels include similarities, but mostly particularities. A major similarity is related to the debut of the novel, each narrator focusing on the household as the image of a perfect moral behavior of its inhabitants. In addition, the main male characters as James Brodie and Henry Wilcow represent the social authority in the family, feared as in the case of the Brodies or respected for his experience as in the case of the Wilcoxes. Both families include three siblings with contrasting paths.

Being pregnant outside the marriage is common for Mary Brodie and Helen Schlegel, yet the first one loses her child, being forced to return to her father, while Helen gives it birth, leaving the community, in order to hide her error. Margaret Brodie is brutally treated by her husband, while Ruth Wilcox displays an autonomous status, being the owner of Howards End.

Conclusions

In the thesis "Morality in English Literature", the moral perspective of A. J. Cronin and E. M . Forster was analyzed. Deductively structured, the thesis clarified the concept of morality based on a philosophic approach, which was adopted by writers.

Among similar writers in the period as Virginia Wolf, A. J. Cronin and E. M. Forster distinguish themselves through a deep sense of morality existing in the majority of their works. Family unity, the subordination of women towards men, the imposed chastity to young women, the necessity to apply the urges of the elder members of the community being few of the moral concepts retrieved in the creative universe of the two writers.

Focusing on the "Hatter's Castle" and the "Howards End", the most known novels of the analyzed writers, the comparative analysis proposed was aimed to reveal potential similarities and particularities between the moral vision of each writer.

A notable similarity is the importance of the household in the structure of the both novels. The narrator debuts the story with the image of Brodies' and Schlegels' households as the perfect buildings in their communities. The building itself represents a micro-universe, including characters as James Brodie or Juley Munt, focused on the fulfillment of moral standards such as the good education of their children or chastity until the moment of marriage. Another similarity between the two novels is the death of the central female character, such as the wife of James Brodie and the wife of Henry Wilcox. In the case of children, another similarity can be noticed: both families include three children: two sisters and a brother, while the eldest sibling is represented by a young woman. Like Mary Brodie, Margaret Schlegel is a strong personality, able to face any moral prejudice related to the role of women or to her personal desires. In the case of head of the families, both main male characters James Brodie and Henry Wilcox are appreciated in their communities, based on the reputation of their families. They tend to adopt inappropriate behavior, as James Brodie forcing his youngest daughther, Nessie, to study until the verge of depression, while Henry Wilcox has an affair, which is unknown to his respectable wife, Ruth Wilcox.

On the other hand, the particularities existing in the novels analyzed suggest their uniqueness as the personal moral vision of the writers. In the "Hatter's Castle", the head of the family, James Brodie, treats his wife in a brutal way, humiliating her. After her death, he starts an affair with a younger woman, not interested about the opinion of his children. Mary, the eldest daughter was expected to be a model for her younger siblings, yet she behaves immorally, becoming pregnant before marriage. In the case of the Wilcoxes, the head of the family, also after the death of his wife, starts an affair with a younger woman, but she is different to Nancy, a common woman, as Margaret Schelegel is the representative of the educated women, with a fortunate financial status in British society. The only obstacles that Henry and Margaret have to surpass are related to his turbulent past and the prejudice related to the age difference between the members of the couple. Margaret Schelegel, unlike Mary, does not become pregnant, being able to be distant to Henry, when she feels he is not behaving correctly to her, as she is not forced by any event to tolerate his behavior, as Mary is obliged to return to the Brodies, as soon as Denis Doyle dies, being unable to obtain money for a decent lifestyle. Ruth Wilcox, the former wife of Henry Wilcox, is a refined woman, unlike Margaret Brodie, reading romance books, being the owner of an aristocratic household, the Howards End, which she leaves through her will to Margaret Schlegel. By contrary, Margaret Brodie has no independent status, being subject to her husband's brutal gestures, finding consolation in developing a protective behavior towards her children, mostly Matthew as she considers the most fragile of them, since he works to sustain the family's costs. The younger sisters, Nessie and Helen are also different, both of them affected by moral dilemmas. Nessie attempts to fulfill her father's desire of being the best student in the class, although she feels the double homework as an unbearable burden. Disappointing him and fearing his brutal deeds, Nessie decides to commit suicide, as a form of revolt against the morality imposed by her family. Helen creates a potential romance with Paul Wilcox, being ashamed to admit to her relatives that she was wrong for not behaving into the appropriate way requested to a young lady of her class. Similarly to Mary Brodie, she becomes pregnant, but her motherhood is an accident, as the baby is not the fruit of a sincere love story, Helen Schlegel choosing to start an affair, in order to revolt against her family and the dramatic events affecting her future. While Mary and Nessie Brodie have a close relation, Mary attempting to protect the youngest sister, yet being unable to stop her from committing suicide, the relationship from the Schlegel sisters is a tense one as initially they were similar friends, divided by hatred and reunited in the end of the novel.

The results obtained so far can be completed by further research on the text of the two novels or by expanding the comparative analysis towards additional works of A. J. Cronin and E. M. Forster.

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