Where Angles Fear To Tread

Summary

Where Angles Fear To Tread,is a complex novel,written by E.M.Forster. Many themes have  been dealt in this novel. First of all, there is a contradiction of two cities as England and Italy.The events take place in two countries in  this novel which are alike in their magnificence and power but different in their customs,traditions and the way of life. Sawston is a typical small English town “full of crowd, good manners and crime too”. Life is not attractive,it is dull. People pretend to be “virtuous” but they are more about keeping up appearances than actually doing the right things there, this is exactly how the Herritons family looks. Italy in the novel is “a museum of art”, “the land of beauty”, and it is a pleasure for both the body and soul to visit it at least once in life. The life there is not so sweet as it may seem from the first sight. The problem with Monteriano, the place, where Lilia came, is that even though it is beautiful for its landscapes and views,it is hard to say whether its dwellers are morally good people. So, this theme lies in differences of cultural background of these two countries and how do these differences affect people, who live there, their manners, behavior and attitude of life. Spiritual activities of both cities are to be at front to view. 

                   She couldn’t live in a metaphorical "box" that limited her options of her life. She was always told what to do and how to behave to become a member of upper class society and when she thought that marrying Gino will bring her freedom then she was cheating herself because her family life was also a box, but not so beautiful and exquisite as she used to live before. Her zeal for freedom was a mirage, she didn’t want it because freedom means responsibility and it was not her cup of tea therefore,just change the one box into another.

  It's another theme;Marriage is an important step in the life of a person and it should be thoroughly (what a nonsense, thought Lilia married Gino having known him for a few weeks). The man had to be mature and had enough money to provide his family with all facilities which they needed for a comfortable life, what achieved these two fools at the end? Naturally, nothing good, they tortured each other and wherever  they were unhappy. As it happened, passion is not enough for happy family life, there must be a responsibility, care, resources and love.

                 Fatherhood is also another theme of this novel. The theme of fatherhood is leading in the story. We know much about the connection between mother and a child and their relationships but what does the father feel when the child is born,and how does his care look like? The book is not a guidebook for young daddies, it opens the readers another aspect of fatherhood where the love and care are important but not vital and decisive in upbringing. These things are more useful for us in our society nowadays. Gino longed to have a child although he was a child himself (when Lilia told him that he said that he can be a brother for his son that is very mature position) and he was so proud of himself that he didn’t even noticed Lilia’s death, it was not important anymore because now he has a child – the continuer of his family, a little creature not bigger than his foot that makes him happy. But the child died and now Gino feels devastation as if the part of himself has gone easily. Instead of that,he wants to have a baby again and in the nearest future, it may be strange and wild for the reader but Gino is more pragmatic in this aspect and he knows that things which made once him happy, will make him happy again, it is not the question of love or devotion, it is the question of emotions and delight. It is considered to be a magic pill for him and his lover. Human society has different directions to go to get pleasure. Individualism is also another important theme in this novel. 

Society runs the individual, society dictates the rules of life for individual identity, it is a great power of communal thought and imposed values. The one who will dare to rebel, will be dismissed. She tried to rebel against the British society, but she couldn’t confront against the Italian one because it was much strict and cruel. Italians didn’t care what other people think or say about them and British do, but they are more passionate, headstrong and hard to manipulate.  Both societies have different ways to learn. They have different types of caring attitude. It is a traditional patriarchic society where the husband is the head of the family and woman must obey the guardian. So,She appeared to be a misfit in both societies. She lost the battle and the war, she couldn’t be happy in England so she was unhappy in Italy, her struggle was in vain because the society is a hard nut to crack. Really, the customs of the society are very hard to change. Helplessly people have to follow continuously. In this novel, we can see clashes on two cultures, one from England and another from Italy.