5th Blog Entry

If A Room with a View is a novel about Lucy's personal development, what role does Italy play in telling this story?

In A Room with a View, Italy played the role of assisting Lucy in transforming from a typical tourist to a traveler. When Lucy first arrived in Italy, she was bounded by social conventions and she was unable to see the natural beauty in people and things. Italy’s charm could be felt even at the very start of Lucy’s journey. When visiting Santa Croce, Lucy at first walked around “disdainfully, unwilling to be enthusiastic over monuments of uncertain authorship or date”(23). She would not accept things not recognized by conventions, and she did not even bother to look at them let alone appreciate them. However, “the pernicious charm of Italy worked on her, and, instead of acquiring information, she began to be happy” (23). She started to gain interest in the notices, the tourists and the prayers in the church. She even engaged in conversation with the Emersons, whom she had previously despised and her cousin had warned not to get close to. Although Lucy returned to her old self as soon as she heard that her cousin was nearby, this little episode in Santa Croce serves as a sign for greater changes to come that eventually led Lucy to become a traveler that was not afraid of breaking conventions to pursue her passion and love.

Forster, E. M. A Room with a View. New York: Barnes and Noble Classics, 2005. Print.