An Analysis Of George And Views

Submitted By hanschans
Words: 689
Pages: 3

George and Views
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We first meet George at the Bertolini during dinner. He is introduced to both the reader and to Charlotte and Lucy by his father, who shouts across the table ‘This is my son...he has a view, too’. This is significant because the ‘view’ throughout the novel is used as a motif for someone whose personal outlook on Edwardian life is different to that which
Lucy has experience. In this novel if someone has a view they tend to be youthful, vibrant and have a lust for life that Lucy rarely experiences back in England. George is introduced to the reader straight away as having a room with a view to offer to Lucy, both literally to lend her at the Bertolini and later on symbolically when he shows her a new perspective on life. George lending her the room is therefore important because it is a subtle foreshadowing of later events by Forster.
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When Charlotte initially refuses the rooms Mr Emerson thumps his hand on the table ‘like a naughty child’ and turns to his son for help, to which George replies ‘It’s so obvious they should have the rooms...there’s nothing else to say’. The first description of
George describes his voice as ‘perplexed and sorrowful’ and ‘he did not look at the ladies as he spoke’. This gives the reader the impression that George is a somewhat rude or indignant character. He does not help the women even though they outwardly appear to be uncomfortable because of his father, nor does he seem interested in their conversation in the first place.
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However the readers impression of George should be changed a short while later when Mr Beebe describes George as a ‘nice creature...with brains’, though Mr Beebe retorts that ‘he hasn’t learnt to talk yet’. It is clear from this small encounter that Mr Beebe likes George, because he speaks very highly of Mr Emerson too. Mr Beebe’s arrival is enough to convince Lucy to stay at the ‘dreadful’ Bertolini, so the reader can assume that his opinion of people is highly regarded. His opinion later even convinces them that they should swap rooms with the Emerson's.
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The next time Lucy and George meet is at the Pizza Signoria, where George catches her as she falls and faints at the sight of a man being stabbed. A significant part of this scene is where George throws her photographs in to the stream because he ‘didn’t know what to do with them’ when he discovered they were covered in blood. In truth, the bloodstains frighten George because they remind him of the fragility of life. He tells her ‘It has happened...and I