A Room With a View (vol. III)

I think that Forster’s A Room With A View qualifies as a bildungsroman but the transformation of Lucy is so seemingly natural the work stands in contrast to the other works we have read. Lucy faces no undefeated wizards who seek to kill her nor does she face the challenges of the mighty Mississippi. Rather, Lucy’s challenges take place in a literary world not too distant from our own. Lucy’s character is not one with hidden power to save the world, but a hidden power to save her soul. Lucy exists in a world of convention and social structure designed to make life pleasant and easy. Whether at home or abroad, Lucy’s world works to ensure that no discomfort befalls her. However, much like Huckleberry Finn, Lucy discovers that the world of convention does not contain the truths of the soul or the key to true happiness. Indeed, an entire world of love and passion has been condemned by her society. Lucy’s greatest growth and victory is to leave the common world of the safe to venture into the dangerous world of passion.