An Ecocriticism And Culture Reading Of E.M. Forster’s Howards End

Edward Morgan Forster is a famous English writer in the 20 th century. He lives in the Victorian and Edwardian era. It is an era full of changes. England moved from agricultural society into industrial society after industrial revolution. There are great changes and conflicts emerge.Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster first published in 1910. It is about social conventions, codes of conduct, and personal relationships in turn-of-the-century England. Style of Forster’s work is fresh and elegant. Although the character’s personality is very easy to grasp, the fate is often unpredictable. Forster’s desire to pursuit harmony is expressed through out the novel naturally.Ecocriticism is a kind of newly-emerged western literary criticism trends and perspectives. It is a study of culture and nature. Nowadays, the worsening ecological crises give more importance to the ecological reading of Forster’s Howards EndMatthew Arnold’s view on culture is expressed in Culture and Anarchy. His view of culture is mainly represented by sweetness and light. In Howards End, the Schlegel sisters represent culture. Forster wants the two sisters to shoulder the mission of culture in order to solve social problems.This thesis aims to discuss the novel from a perspective of ecocriticism and culture by analyzing harmony between man and himself, harmony between human which is fully expressed by connect, harmony between human and nature and the significance of harmony.In general, this thesis is to elaborate the following questions:1. What is ecocriticism in Howards End?2. What is the writer’s view towards harmony?3. How does the writer describe connect from the perspective of culture in his novel?The thesis is divided into six chapters.The first chapter is a general introduction. It mainly introduces E. M. Foster and his works especially Howards End, the significance of the study and then the organization of the thesis.The second chapter focuses on literature review from abroad and home.The third chapter analyzes theoretical foundation of the thesis, which is ecocriticism and culture.The fourth chapter elaborates how the writer expresses ecocriticism in Howards End.The fifth chapter interprets how the writer expresses culture in Howards End from the perspective of ecocriticism.The last chapter is the conclusion, including a summary of the whole study andits limitations.