Helen.
Helen's significance in the novel is somewhat hard to understand. Helen and her sister represent their part of the middle class, and besides that Helen serves as a link between the middleclass and the lower-middleclass. By giving birth to a child from both classes she does not seem to be a character with great significance on her own.
She is not described enough to be completely understood by the reader as is the case with Margaret. In the beginning Helen and her sister seem to be the two heroines or main characters of the narrative, and they both share many qualities, and therefore appear as very similar characters. This is true and continues through the story. Together, Helen and Margaret influence each other and become very vimsical. They do the same things, have the same ideas, and same kind of behaviour until Margaret becomes engaged to Henry Wilcox. It seems like Margaret changes her opinions and become more conservative, while Helen stays the same. Helen might see the sister's change as a betrayal, and therefore the special bond we see in the beginning breaks. One can only guess this is the reason, because it is not directly said that she does not trust her sister, but she does run away only telling her brother about it. This is also where Helen becomes more of an extra character to the story than a main character. As the story goes on, the narrator chooses to not let the reader into Helens mind, and focuses more on her actions and Margaret's reactions to what she does. This is a nice way to create suspense and surprise in the story, but it does not serve well to Helens character. Judging by the letters and the way she is narrated, she is a very impulsive and sensitive person. In her letter to her sister, she tells Margaret how she has fallen in love, and a few moments later she has changed her mind. Another example of her being impulsive is when she drags the Basts to the wedding without thinking about what she wants to accomplish by doing so. Her impulsiveness and sensitiveness is what makes Helen coherent in relation to the other characters. The way she acts when she escapes to Germany after having intercourse with Mr. Bast, does not make her less coherent as a character, but it does contradict with her relationship with her sister. This is also the only time Helen surprises us in the story. If we are to analyze Helen as Homo Fictus and not Homo Sapiens, she can be seen as a flat character. This is because Helen appears to be more of a type of a character; she is the impulsive little sister. Helen does not develop during the story, and as above, she only surprises us one time which seems rather flat, but because of her thoughts and the little of her inner life we get to know, allows her character effect to make her seem more complex than she is.
Sources:
Aspects of the Novel and related writings, E.M Forster, Edward Arnold, 1974, p30-57.
Howards End, E.M Forster, Penguin Classics, 2000.
I've got it approved, so I guess it's safe to post here now:) It's my words, I've only used Forsters own criteria to judge his characters:) But adding the sources just in case. This is for the ENG2303 at NTNU. For your own sake, do not copy it, but feel free to be inspired. I truly love this course, not only because we get to read books and get study points for it(there is a written exam as well, but that part I hate, because it's in 4hours, and I need more time to write good papers.), but I learn so much about writing while reading and also doing our OA's:)
Published Feb 28, 2014
