Reply to comment

To me it seems that in Howard's End the characters place too strong an emphasis on the importance of culture and intellect, and to teh extend that it is overrated and almost frivolous, though such things are not.

When Mrs. Munt found out about Helen and Paul she questioned about the Wilcoxes, saying "Could they appreciate Helen....Do they care about Literature and Art? That is most important when you come to think of it. Literature and Art. Most important." (23) Upon reading that I couldn't help but think what a silly, shallow, pretentious woman she is for there are much more important things in a mate than being culture, such as things like integrity, kindness, etc.

 I feel like the girls also share the same thinking. Margeret once expressed that she would support Helen even if she loved someone poor, but I think that is only because she failed to take into consideration that someone poor would most likely not have the luxury of time to invest into being cultured. The correlation in lack of culture and poverty is most pronounced in the situation of the young man she met at the concert. while her talk of culture was "fluttering away from the young man like birds" (52) he was thiknin " Oh, to acquire culture!....But it would take one years. With an hour at lunch and a few shattered hours in the evening, how was it possible to cath up with leisured women, who had been reading steadily from childhood."