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When Levi comforts his mother after Carlene Kipps’ funeral his comments remind me of the quote “Only connect…” at the beginning of Howard’s End. Levi says, “But sometimes it’s like you just meet someone and you just know that you’re totally connected. Even if they don’t, like, recognize it, you feel it. And in a lot of ways it don’t matter if they do or they don’t see that for what it is-all you can do is put the feeling out there.” Pg. 304

Levi recognizes that it is random that his mother and Carlene forged such a strong connection in such a short amount of time but, he still respects the bond they made. In direct contrast to Levi’s respect for his mother’s friendship, the Kipps family actively resists the friendship. But, in not fulfilling Carlene’s wishes the Kipps family actually disgrace her memory. Carlene may not have been able to explain the bond she felt with Kiki but, she recognized that there was something there and acted upon it. If the Kipps family really cared about Carlene they would have fulfilled her wishes and made sure that Kiki got the painting. Carlene put her feelings “out there” when she left a painting to Kiki that meant a lot to her. She made the decision to connect with Kiki and the painting was symbolic of the connection she was trying to forge with her. While it was very generous of Carlene to give the painting to Kiki I am not convinced that the act  of wanting to connect was enough. Is only connecting enough? Or is there something more needed?