Howards End

Only connect...

Howards End is an English novel by E.M. Forster, published in 1910. It deals with class differences in post-Victorian society. In 1992, it was adapted into a film starring Emma Thompson, Anthony Hopkins, Vanessa Redgrave and Helena Bonham Carter.

The two main characters are Margaret and Helen Schlegel, who become involved with the upper-class Wilcox family, who own the eponymous house, and with Leonard and Jacky Bast, who are on the verge of poverty. As the story progresses, the three families intersect in many different ways.

Tropes used in Howards End include:

• Adaptational Attractiveness: Margaret is described, more or less, as "the one with the teeth" in the novel; she's just not that attractive. In the film, she's played by Emma Thompson, who is by no means unattractive (and her teeth are perfectly normal!).
• Arc Words: Only connect...
• Butt Monkey: Leonard Bast
• Chekhov's Gun: The sword mentioned throughout the novel causes the death of Leonard at the end of the novel.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Helen
• Cool Old Lady: Mrs. Wilcox, in the early chapters.
• Double Standard: Lampshaded by Margaret.
• The Edwardian Era
• Precious Puppies
• Freudian Trio:
  • Margaret - The Superego
  • Helen - The Id
  • Tibby - The Ego
• He-Man Woman Hater: Mr. Wilcox
• Henpecked Husband: Leonard
• Heroic BSOD^[context?]
• In Vino Veritas: When Jacky gets drunk, she reveals that she and Henry were lovers.
• Jerkass: Charles and to some extent Henry Wilcox
• Little Old Lady Investigates: Mrs. Munt
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Helen's baby is known only as "baby" in the last chapter.
• Poor Communication Kills^[context?]
• Redemption Equals Death: Leonard
• Soap Opera Disease^[context?]
• Will: Mrs. Wilcox's request, promptly rejected by the survivors, that Howards End be left to Margaret.
• Twice-Told Tale: Zadie Smith's On Beauty, which resets the novel in contemporary academia.
• You Can't Fight Fate^[context?]
• Your Cheating Heart^[context?]