A Room with a View: Chapter by Chapter Analysis

A inhabit with a place Chapter by Chapter AnalysisOpening a Window A Room with a s potbelly by E.D. Forster explores the struggle amid the expectations of a conventional wench of the British upper class and move the substance. elude Lucy Honeychurch must choose among class concerns and personal desires. Honeychurch is a respectable young lady from a well-known family. She travels with fall behind Charlotte bgraphicslett to Italy at the turn of the century. In Italy they meet Mr. Emerson and George Emerson. George is young adult male who f entirelys in love with Lucy. Mr. Emerson is an nouslist and a dreamer.Only a couple of twenty-four hour periods by and by they get to Italy George kisses Lucy while standing in the middle of a waving field of grass. George does this with come in her leave or discussion. Even though this surprises Lucy and backs outside she dor homot participates in the kiss that assorts the readers that there is some(prenominal) social occasion in her heart that drives her toward George. Georges function in A Room with a View is clear he is a ascendant of passion in a society that is tightly sealed with convention, timidity, and dryness. When Lucy comes home to Britain she is proposed to by Cecil. She accepts the offering because she knows that it is the proper thing to do. Cecil is an in give notice (of)igent, well-respected objet dart scarcely inadequacys the passion that George penetrates. When Cecil attempts to kiss Lucy it is actu all toldy different than George. He premiere of all asks permission, then Cecil timidly moves in to kiss her, and lastly his glasses fall off. This example shows the difference mingled with Cecil and George and how Cecil lacks the aggression and desire that George has. Lucy has to make the decision between the mind and the heart. She is torn between Cecils world of books and agree ment and Georges world of passion and nature. This decision is non easy for Lucy to make.Lucy came really close to binding the wrong gentlemans gentleman beings payable to her lack of thought. She has grown up and lived a sprightliness of proper existence. However, Lucy possesses passionate qualities they open just been oppress her entire lifespan. Her only emotion outlet is the piano, in which she prefers dramatic pieces by Beethoven. She plays the piano in prep ar to let out her frustrations brought on by her surrounding characters. Lucy is brought up to be proper and non extrovertive or passionate. George will eventually show her how to be passionate and open to new ideas. George is a man that breaks the chains of conformity to free Lucys spirit and he does this efficiency.George kisses Lucy for the second time and he explains that love exists between them. He tells Lucy that she can not marry Cecil because he does not translate women and will never understand Lucy. George to a fault explains that Cecil only thinks that he loves just now in actuality only wants he r for an or formnt. George, on the different hand, wants her as his match in the slap-up adventure of life. Lucy has lied to herself and to everyone else around her until she is eventually cornered into tear deary admitting her love for George. A Room with a View is a love story round a young proper women who is engaged to a proper man she does not love, and the frantic efforts a former(a) young man to her reveal what love is and that she loves him. Lucy struggles between what is expected of her and what she really wants. By the end of the novel, George will rent offered Lucy a status out of the window of her life. George will have opened a window for her.British societal comedy examines a young heroines struggle against straitlaced Victorian attitudes as she rejects the man her family has encouraged her to marry and chooses, instead, a socially unsuitable fellow she met on holiday in Italy. Classic exploration of passion, human nature and social convention.A Room with a Vie w was published in 1908. It was one of Forsters soonest novels, and it has become one of his close to famous and popular. E.M. Forster was twenty-nine at the time of publication cardinal rather novels, Where Angels Fear to Tread and The Longest Journey, had been short(p)ly received. A Room with a View was blessed with wide reviews, tho it would not be until 1910 and the publication of Howards End that Forster would have his first major success.The novel deals with a group of British characters in two major strike outtings Part One and the final chapter be set in Florence, Italy, and Part dickens is set mostly in a quiet part of Surrey, England. Forsters characters, analogous Forster himself at the time of the novels writing, live in the time of the British Empires zenith. With possessions in every part of the globe, the British Empire was as insofar untouched by the difficulties of the two world wars. The monarch of England was also the fag of Canada and the emperor of India English citizens enjoyed the fruits of a system of exploitation and oppression that touched the far corners of the world.The remnants of Victorian sensibilities were still very oftentimes alive. Prim and proper Brits confused approximately refinement, the virtue of young girls, and the control of the passions. just now it was also a time of change. Women began to clamor more loudly than ever for equal salutarys. Socialists were challenging nonagenarian ideas nigh class and religion, and artists and thinkers began to challenge Victorian attitudes just about emotion and sexuality. A Room with a View was one of those challenges. The story of young Lucy Honeychurchs choice between propriety and love, the novel casts Socialists as heroes and prim spinsters as antagonists. Lucys dramatic choice at the end of the novel is not only a victory for passion, exclusively for cleaning ladys independence.It was common for British citizens, particularly young men and women, to deliv er the grand tour of Italy. The idea was for educated Brits to expose themselves to the work of Renaissance and Roman artists and architects, but like tourists doneout the ages, many travelers only had a superficial experience of Italy. They stayed with other British travelers, looked big bucks on the Italians, and went to museums and ancient churches with their books of art criticism in hand. Forster criticizes this considerate of tourist, but with some gentleness and a good deal of humor. A Room with a View is wonderful social commentary, but it is no acrid satire. The novel prefers to laugh lovingly at its subjects, and in the end the good in people matters much more to Forster than their shortcomings.The novel deals with Lucys growth toward self-awareness by the end, she has learned the importance of expressing passion honestly. At the time, Forster was at the departning of his first most-valuable descent. A Room with a View is dedicated to H.O.M., Hugh Meredith, Forsters first love and the model for George Emerson. Throughout the novel, Forster speaks with great insight on the subject of repressed passion and the war between desire and societys conventions. His experiences as a gay man at the beginnings of his first relationship undoubtedly had a great influence on the writing of the novel. His lack of sexual experience also explains some of the novels shortcomings although he writes well-favouredly about the beginning stages of the courtship between Lucy and George, in the final chapter he go forms less certain, less insightful. Still, the book is an accomplished and beautiful love story, full of cutting but ultimately generous insights. And there are unforgettable moments the first kiss between George is Lucy, passionate and unexpected on a hillside covered with violets, is one of the finest kisses in modern literature.Propriety and ire The conflict between social convention and passion is a central account of the novel. Lucys match with Geor ge, by social standards, is alone unacceptable. But it is the only match that could make her happy. Her match with Cecil is far more conventional, but marriage to Cecil would destroy Lucys spirit. The Emersons are real unconventional people. They care almost zero for propriety. Mr. Emerson, a Socialist, speaks with great feeling about the importance of passion and the dish of the human body. The British characters of the novel have very strong ideas about the need to repress passion and control young girls. To achieve gratification, Lucy will have to fight these standards, many of which she has internalized, and learn to appreciate her own desires.The beauty of human beings A Room with a View is social commentary, but Forsters depictions of people are ultimately generous. He gently mocks the Honeychurches for their bourgeois habits, but he does not shy from depicting their strengths. They are loving and sincere, generous with guests and with to each one other. Cecils greatest dent is that he is entirely to a fault critical of people. He cannot appreciate the good in the simple sphere gentry with whom Lucy has grown up. Even Charlotte, the prim spinster who is a major obstacle to the love between Lucy George, is allowed to have a moment of grace. In the end, Forster appreciates his characters goodness much more than he mocks their faults.Travel and the idea of Italy Travel is a powerful force in the novel, and at its best it can be a life-altering experience. The heart of travel is to allow a place to get under ones skin staying at British awards and scorning Italian peasants do not the constitute the best experience one can get out of Italy. Italy gives Lucy insights into her life back at blowy Corner. It changes her perspective of herself. Although her experiences there confuse her, in working through the confusion she becomes a self-assured and independent young woman.The beautiful and the delicate Lucy asks in the first chapter if beauty and deli cacy are really synonyms. One of Lucys important lessons is that beauty need not be not mediocre(p) much is beautiful in the gesture of kindness that oversteps propriety, or the act of passion that ignores convention. Lucy has to learn to checker beauty in things that her society scorns or condemns.Womans position and independence The Emersons are fervent believers in the equating of men and women. Lucy is not a rebel at heart, but she is often frustrated by the confinement put on her sex. Her marriage to Cecil could never be one between equals. Cecil is not so much in love with Lucy as he is in love with some idea of what a woman is supposed to be. He constantly compares her to a work of art, which, although it may be flattering, also objectifies her and ignores that she is a musical accompaniment person. What Lucy needs, although she does not know it, is a relationship between equals. She has no desire to be protected or instructed.Connection between nature and man One of Mr . Emersons convictions is that man and nature are inextricable from each other, and only the mistakes of civilization separate man from his natural state. Closely connected to the theme of passion and the body, this theme runs throughout the novel. Forster emphasizes it by having the weather often mirror the thoughts of his characters. He also connects George and Lucy to the land at tonality points.Passion and the body If nature and man are inextricable from each other, it follows that there should be no shame for the body or passion. Societys conventions try to hide both. The body must be hidden, a thing of which one should feel ashamed passions must be controlled and regulated by rules tied to class and gender. Lucy has to smite these conventions if she is to allow herself to love George.The Medieval/the Renaissance/the Classical Forster uses time periods to represent characters and their attitudes. Uptight Cecil is always associated with the knightly George is associated with the myths of the classical world. Italy is the land of both the classical Roman world and the Renaissance, and Forster uses these eras as symbols of beauty and passion.Music Lucys relationship to her music is an important insight into her character. Her playing is an indication that she has untapped reserves of passion Mr. Beebe remarks that one day Lucy will live as well as she plays. Lucys music also articulates her feelings better than her words can, and after playing she is more certain of what she wants.The Muddle Forster constantly uses the word raft to describe Lucys state of mind. The muddle arises when everything that one has been taught suddenly is thrown into doubt. It is one of the marks of growing up. Lucys muddle is frightening and confusing, but in working through it she will become a stronger and wiser person.Class snobbery Class snobbery is a constant feature of A Room with a View. The Emersons, because they are not refined, are the most haunt victims of this snobb ery. Country gentry look down on those who work hard for a living Cecil looks down on the suburban ways of province gentry. Lucy has to overcome the class bigotry that she has been taught.Short SummaryLucy Honeychurch, a young English woman, is passing with her cousin, Charlotte bartlett pear, at an Italian pension off for British guests. They are vacationing in Italy together, and currently they are in Florence. While bemoaning the poor views outside their windows, Lucy and Charlotte are interrupted by another(prenominal) guest, an old man by the name of Emerson. Mr. Emerson offers them a dwell swap he and his son George are both in styles that offer beautiful views of Florence. Charlotte refuses for a woman to accept such an offer from a man would make her indebted to him. It would be a serious breach of propriety. But later that evening, after the intercession of another guest, a clergyman named Mr. Beebe, Charlotte accepts the offer.Their stay in Florence continues, and Luc y continues to run into the eccentric Emersons. They are socially unacceptable by the snobbish standards of the other guests, but Lucy likes them. One day, while Lucy is walking totally in Florence, she witnesses a murder. George happens to be there, too, and he catches her when she faints. On the way home, they have a strange, intimate dialogue as they walk a pine the river. But George stirs up feelings in Lucy that she is not ready to face, and she resolves not to see him again. However, later that week, they both end up on a carriage ride into the hills near Florence. The respective(a) British travelers disperse and wander around the hills, and Lucy finds herself alone. She stumbles onto an earth terrace covered with violets, and finds herself face-to-face with George. He kisses her, but the kiss is interrupted by Charlotte. The next day, under Charlottes signalion, Lucy and Charlotte leave for Rome.Part 2 begins after the transit of several months. We are back at tiresome Corner, the Honeychurch home in Surrey, England. In Rome, Lucy spent a good deal of time with a man named Cecil Vyse. The Vyses and the Honeychurches are on friendly terms, but Cecil and Lucy only knew each other superficially before Italy. In Italy, Cecil proposed to Lucy twice. She rejected him both times. As Part 2 begins, Cecil is proposing yet again. This time, she accepts.Now that they are engaged, Cecil and Lucy must spend time with Lucys various neighbors. Cecil, an aristocratic Londoner, despises the ways of the country gentry. He also dislikes Lucys brother, Freddy, and is not overly fond of Lucys mother. But Lucy puts up with it. At Charlottes request, she has never told anyone about her kiss with George.But before too long, the Emersons move into Cissie villa, a home not far from aerial Corner. Lucy is forced to face George Emerson again, but she manages to deal with him at a distance. She continues her engagement to Cecil, even though signs augur that she is anxious a bout the marriage on a ambiguous psychological level. To the reader, it is obvious that they are completely unsuitable for each other, but Lucy persists in the engagement. Soon, things come to a head Charlottes boiler is broken, and she comes to stay as a guest at Windy Corner. And during her stay, Freddy, who has befriended George, invites George to come play tennis. It is all to take place on Sunday, and Lucy is terrified of what great power happen.On Sunday, Cecil refuses to play tennis and pesters everyone by reading aloud from a bad British novel. Lucy soon realizes that the novel is written by put down lucullan, a woman who stayed at their pension in Florence. Cecil reads a particularly humorous passage aloud, but Lucy sees nothing humorous about it it is a fictional recreation of her kiss with George. The names are different, but the situation is unmistakable. She realizes that Charlotte told Miss large what happened. George is also present for the reading of the passage. On the way back to the house, George catches Lucy alone in the garden and kisses her again.Lucy confronts Charlotte angrily about her indiscretion. She resolves to put George in his place. She has Charlotte sit in the room as support and witness, and she orders George never to return to Windy Corner. George argues with her passionately. He tells her that Cecil is stifling and unsuitable for her Cecil will never love her enough to want her to be independent. George loves her for who she is. Lucy is move by his words, but she stands firm. George leaves, heartbroken. However, later that night, Cecil refuses again to play tennis with Freddy. Something in his refusal makes Lucy see him truthfully for the first time. She breaks off the engagement that very night.But Lucy still cannot admit to anyone, including herself, her feelings for George. Rather than stay at Windy Corner and face George, she resolves to leave for Greece. But one day not long before she is supposed to leave, she goe s to church with her mother and Charlotte and meets Mr. Emerson in the ministers study. Mr. Emerson does not know that Lucy has broken off the engagement, but Lucy realizes before long that she cannot lie to the old man. She talks with him, and Mr. Emerson realizes that she has deep feelings for George. He presses the issue, forcing her to confront her own feelings. Finally, she admits that she has been fighting her love for George all along.The novel closes in Florence, where George and Lucy are spending their honeymoon. Not having her mothers consent, Lucy has eloped with George. Things are difficult with her family, but there is believe that it will get better. Whatever happens, George and Lucy have each other, and their life together promises to be full of happiness and love.We open in Florence at the grant Bertolini, a pension for British travelers. Young Lucy Honeychurch and her cousin, Charlotte bartlett, are bemoaning the poor rooms that they have been given. They were pr omised rooms with views. The two women sit at dinner in their pension, along with the other guests. Lucy is disappointed because the pension hostess has turned out to be British, and the dcor of the pension seems lifted right out of a room in London. While Miss Bartlett and Lucy talk, an old man interrupts them to tell them that his room has a nice view. The man is Mr. Emerson he introduces his son, George Emerson. Mr. Emerson offers Miss Bartlett and Lucy a room swap. The men will take the rooms over the courtyard, and Lucy and Charlotte will take the more pleasant rooms that have views. Miss Bartlett is horrified by the offer, and refuses to accept she begins to ignore the Emersons and resolves to switch pensions the next day.Just then, Mr. Beebe, a clergyman that Lucy and Charlotte know from England, enters. Lucy is delighted to meet someone she knows, and she shows it now that Mr. Beebe is here, they must stay at the Pension Bertolini. Lucy has heard in letters from her mother t hat Mr. Beebe has just accepted a position at the parish of spend Street, the parish of which Lucy is a member. Mr. Beebe and Lucy have a pleasant talk over dinner, in which he gives Lucy advice about the sites of Florence. This vacation is Lucys first time in Florence. Soon, almost everyone at the table is giving Lucy and Miss. Bartlett advice. The torrent of advice signifies the espousal of Lucy and Miss Bartlett into the good graces of the pension guests Lucy notes that the Emersons are outside of this fold.After the meal, some of the guests move to the gulp room. Miss Bartlett discusses the Emersons with Mr. Beebe Beebe does not have a very high opinion of Mr. Emerson, but he thinks him harmless, and he believes no harm would have come from Miss Bartlett accepting Mr. Emersons offer. Mr. Emerson is a Socialist, a term that is used by Mr. Beebe and Miss Bartlett with clear disapproval. Miss Bartlett continues to ask Mr. Beebe about what she should have done about the offer, an d if she should apologize, until Mr. Beebe becomes annoyed and leaves. An old lady approaches the two women and talks with Miss Bartlett about Mr. Emersons offer. Lucy asks if perhaps there was something beautiful about the offer, even if it was not delicate. Miss Bartlett is baffle by the question to her, beauty and delicacy are the same thing.Mr. Beebe returns he has arranged with Mr. Emerson to have the women take the room. Miss Bartlett is not quite sure what to do, but she accepts. She takes the larger room, which was occupied by George, because she does not want Lucy to be indebted to a young man. She bids Lucy goodnight and inspect her new quarters, and she finds a piece of wallpaper pinned to the washstand that has an enormous note of interrogation scrawled on it. Though she feels threatened by it, she saves it for George between two pieces of blotting paper.AnalysisLucy is young and nave she is bright but not shiny, although she has enough imagination and compassion to b egin to look beyond the social conventions of her class and time.Forsters novel is full of insightful social commentary on the stuffiness of British social conventions. Modern readers are often surprised by Miss Bartletts deep anxieties about accepting a room trade with the generous but socially outcast Emersons. Miss Bartlett is acting under social pressures from several different directions. For one thing, Lucys mother has paid for Miss Bartletts travel expenses, and Miss Bartlett therefore feels responsible for guarding Miss Honeychurch from any possible harm. For Miss Bartlett, life is lived in accordance with what are arguably very valued and ridiculous concerns. Nothing is worse than a scene, and she must also guard Lucy from feeling obligation to a young man. Sex is a first of terrible anxiety for the British of this period, and a young womans reputation must be guarded at all costs.Lucy brings up an important theme of the novel when she asks about the delicate and the beau tiful. Lucy wonders if delicacy and beauty might be different things, while Charlotte assumes that they are synonymous. As her social world defines beauty and delicacy, the two qualities are one and the same beauty is found in politeness, in circuitous and subtle conversation, in dodging of direct confrontation or over-earnest expressions of emotion. There is not beauty, therefore, in Mr. Emersons generous offer of a room trade. But Lucy is more imaginative than her cousin, and she is able to see that there is beauty in Mr. Emersons socially uninformed but generous offer. He is completely unaware of the anxiety he is causing Miss Bartlett either that or his is completely unconcerned about it. The important thing to him is the generosity of his offer. He does not intend to put Lucy or Charlotte under obligation. He sincerely thinks that a room with a view should go to the one who most enjoys the view. Lucy will have to learn to come to her own understanding of beauty.We see more of Lucys sensitivity and naturally sympathetic and sensitive disposition when she realizes that she and Charlotte have been accepted by the other guests of the pension. She sees that Mr. Emerson and George have not been accepted, and this knowledge makes her feel sorry for them. But Lucy is not strong enough yet to affect the world around her. Note that Charlotte handles all the details of the room trade, and Lucy is not yet sure-footed enough to articulate her doubts about the stuffiness and petty concerns of her social world.Italy and travel make another important theme. The heart of this theme is a new places ability to get under the skin of the traveler, transforming her. Though she is not yet fully aware of it, Lucy longs for this kind of experience. She is deeply disappointed by the Pension Bertolini, which to her seems like another piece of England. She wants to go out into Italy and feel it fully, as richly as she can, away from the safety of British dcor and sensibilities. Th e pension is juxtaposed to the world outside the inside of the pension is decorated like a room in London. British social conventions are preserved and protected from the foreign country that surrounds the pension on all sides. The pension protects the guests from Italy, and so it prevents the transforming experience that is the best result of travel. Italy is also a direct challenge to the idea of beauty and delicacy being identical. Italys beauty is refined and sophisticated, but there is nothing delicate about its colossal Roman ruins, dramatic countryside, or rustic peasants.Lucys longing for a room with a view is a metaphor for her longing to connect with Italy and the new experiences the country offers. Instead of a view of the courtyard, she wants a view of the country. The window opening out into Florence symbolizes Lucys openness to a new world.Chapter Two In Santa Croce with No BaedekerSummaryLucy looks out her window onto the beautiful scene of a Florence morning. Miss Ba rtlett interrupts her reverie and encourages Lucy to begin her day in the dining room, they argue politely about whether or not Miss Bartlett should accompany Lucy on a bit of sightseeing. Lucy is eager to go but does not wish to tire her cousin, and Miss Bartlett, though tired, does not want Lucy to go alone. A clever lady, whose name is Miss Lavish, intercedes. After some discussion, it is agreed that Miss Lavish and Lucy will go out together to the church of Santa Croce.The two women go out, and have a lively (but not too involved) conversation about politics and people they know in England. Suddenly, they are lost. Lucy tries to consult her Baedeker travel guide, but Miss Lavish will have none of it. She takes the guide book away. In their wanderings, they cross the Square of the Annunziata the buildings and sculptures are the most beautiful things Lucy has ever seen, but Miss Lavish drags her forward. The women eventually reach Santa Croce, and Miss Lavish descry Mr. Emerson a nd George. She does not want to run into them, and seems disgusted by the two men. Lucy defends them. As they reach the steps of the church, Miss Lavish sees someone she knows and rushes off. Lucy waits for a while, but then she sees Miss Lavish wander down the path with her friend and Lucy realizes she has been abandoned. Upset, she goes into Santa Croce alone.The church is cold, and without her Baedeker travel guide Lucy feels unable to correctly view the many famous flora of art housed there. She sees a child hurt his foot on a tomb sculpture and rushes to inspection and repair him. She then finds herself side-by-side with Mr. Emerson, who is also helping the child. The childs mother appears and sets the boy on his way. Lucy feels determined to be good to the Emersons patronage the disapproval of the other pension guests. But when Mr. Emerson and George invite her to join them in their little tour of the church, she knows that she should be offended by such an invitation. She tries to seem offended, but Mr. Emerson sees immediately that she is trying to behave as she has seen others behave, and tells her so. Strangely, Lucy is not angry about his forwardness but is instead somewhat impressed. She asks to be taken to look at the Giotto frescoes.The trio comes across a tour group, including some tourists from the pension, led by a clergyman named Mr. impatient(predicate). Mr. Eager spews commentary on the frescoes, which Mr. Emerson heartily disagrees with he is skeptical of the praise and romanticizing of the past. The clergyman icily leads the group away. Mr. Emerson, worried that he has offended them, rushes off to apologize. George confides in Lucy that his father always has that effect on people. His earnestness and dullness are repellent to others. Mr. Emerson returns, having been snubbed. Mr. Emerson and Lucy go off to see other works. Mr. Emerson, sincere and earnest, shares his concerns for his son. George is unhappy. Lucy is not sure how to fig ht back to this direct and honest talk Mr. Emerson asks her to befriend his son. She is close to his age and Mr. Emerson sense much that is good in the girl. He hopes that these two young people can learn from each other. George is deeply saddened by life itself and the transience of human existence this cerebral sorrow all seems very strange to Lucy. George suddenly approaches them, to tell Lucy that Miss Bartlett is here. Lucy realizes that one of the old women in the tour group must have told Charlotte that Lucy was with the Emersons. When she seems distressed, Mr. Emerson expresses kindliness for her. Lucy becomes cold, and she informs him that she has no need for his pity. She goes to join her cousin.AnalysisAlthough Miss Lavish prides herself on being original and unconventional, Forster subtly shows that her radicalism is polite, precious, and limited. She disapproves of the Emersons just as much as everyone else does, and though she pretends to be worldly and well traveled (she takes away Lucys Baedeker guide), she gets the two women lost. Nor does she understand the value of getting lost she is so fixated on getting the women to Santa Croce that she rushes past the beautiful Square of the Annunziata without noticing a thing. Her attitude toward the Italians is patronizing in the extreme she defines democracy as being kind to ones inferiors. Although Forster is writing incisive social commentary on the stuffiness of British society, he uses Miss Lavish as an example of a certain kind of false rebelliousness. She is ultimately as snobby and precious as everyone else, and her brand of radicalism tends to reinforce stuffy conventions rather than challenge them.Lucy is not a brilliant girl, and she lacks the originality and self-confidence to make her own judgments about art. In Santa Croce, she longs for her Baedeker guide so that she can know good art from bad. She lacks the confidence to just look at the paintings she wants to know which frescoes have been pronounced by the critics to be truly beautiful. Lucy has some generosity of spirit and often feels uncomfortable with stifling social conventions, but she is not a genius or revolutionary. She is still young and very nave by the novels end she will be a much wiser and independent person. Part of Forsters brilliance is his restraint. He resists the temptation to make Lucy into a brilliant firebrand, and instead makes her to be, in many ways, a very typical girl for her class and education. She is often caught between convention and an inner sense of what is beautiful rather than delicate.She is unquestionably drawn to George Emerson. In Santa Croce, she notices that his face is baffling and handsome, and she also notices the strength and physical attractiveness of his body. But his melancholy attitude puzzles her, and his angst seems humorous to her in some ways. Mr. Emerson compares him to the child that stumbled and hurt his toe on a tomb statue of Santa Croce. The tomb bec omes a symbol of mortality, and George has stubbed his too George is upset by mortality and the transience of human existence. Life itself hurts and puzzles him.Mr. Emersons social awkwardness and earnestness commix to make him a very unpopular man. Even Lucy rebuffs him at the end of this chapter, resenting his pity for her. But we can see from his attempted apology to Mr. Eager that he does not mean to offend in fact, he earnestly desires that everyone should always have a nice time. And his criticism of Mr. Eagers romanticizing of Giottos art and time has its own reasoned perspective, although Mr. Emerson has difficulty expressing his ideas tactfully.Cha