Forster's "A Room with a View"
             When reading A Room with a View, one is tempted to take the story at face value only. By simply reading into the surface meaning, a rather dull tale of a young girl's struggle to find love in a culturally clashed world presents itself. However, Forster's brilliant use of symbolism throughout the novel tells a great deal more about the events taking place and the characters themselves. The setting of the scenes, the background objects and characters, and even the weather make for many underlying meanings that grant the reader a better awareness of how the characters feel and why they do the things they do. Without the symbolism used, the book would have been a bit ordinary and a futile read. I feel I have heard this story line many times. There is nothing interesting about a simple girl having to pick between two boys. It happens every day in every culture. It is the representation of carefully placed symbolic details that make A Room with a View such an intriguing experience.
             In the first chapter, a symbolic detail is placed that makes for a microcosm of the entire novel. Lucy and Miss Bartlett are sitting and dining at the pension complaining amongst themselves that they have a room, but with no view. George and Mr. Emerson completely and rudely interrupt them claiming that he has a room with a view. The main dilemma of the novel is Lucy's struggle to decide if she wants to marry Cecil or follow her heart toward George. Rooms, in this book, symbolize men. Cecil is a room without a view. Cecil is dull, constricting, and offers no enlightenment to the outside world. George, on the other hand, is a room with a view. They plainly state in the first chapter, "I have a view, I have a view (5)." George offers an opportunity to see the world as it actually is and be truly free. The manner in which George goes abou
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