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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Baedeker's Handbook:
In the first half of the novel, Lucy and the other characters seek and struggle to engage with the "true" Italy. As such, the popular guidebook Baedeker's Handbook to Northern Italy features prominently in the novel and comes to be a motif that represents the contradictions inherent in an outsider's quest for an authentic experience of a foreign place.
The reader first encounters the Baedeker in the first chapter, when Lucy picks up the book to memorize Florentine history, because she is "determined to enjoy herself on the morrow." While the narrator is making fun of Lucy in this sentence, it is still central in framing the role of the Baedeker in the novel. In the second chapter, titled "In Santa Croce with no Baedeker," Miss Lavish takes Lucy's Baedeker to "emancipate" her. This leaves Lucy feeling helpless:
Tears of indignation came to Lucy’s eyes — partly because Miss Lavish had jilted her, partly because she had taken her Baedeker. How could she find her way home? How could she find her way about in Santa Croce? Her first morning was ruined, and she might never be in Florence again
Related Themes:
Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—The Effect of Music:
In A Room with a View, the motif of music is closely connected to Lucy's character development. Forster suggests that exposure to Italian art and architecture opens her mind. Before her trip to Italy, however, piano already exists as an established part of her life, serving as one of her only emotional outlets and platforms for self-expression.
Until Italy pushes her to begin thinking for herself, Lucy is, according to the narrator and Mr. Beebe, repressed at all times besides while playing the piano. Lucy enters "a more solid world" when opening the piano—it makes her intuitive, expressive, free, and independent. Just as the narrator claims that Lucy would be worshipped and loved if she could translate her musical "visions into human words" and her "experiences into human actions," Mr. Beebe says that if Miss Honeychurch "ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting — both for us and for her." He expands on this idea in the eighth chapter, in a conversation with Cecil:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I’m only thinking of my pet theory about Miss Honeychurch. Does it seem reasonable that she should play so wonderfully, and live so quietly? I suspect that one day she will be wonderful in both. The watertight compartments in her will break down, and music and life will mingle. Then we shall have her heroically good, heroically bad — too heroic, perhaps, to be good or bad.
Related Themes:
Chapter 6
Explanation and Analysis—Baedeker's Handbook:
In the first half of the novel, Lucy and the other characters seek and struggle to engage with the "true" Italy. As such, the popular guidebook Baedeker's Handbook to Northern Italy features prominently in the novel and comes to be a motif that represents the contradictions inherent in an outsider's quest for an authentic experience of a foreign place.
The reader first encounters the Baedeker in the first chapter, when Lucy picks up the book to memorize Florentine history, because she is "determined to enjoy herself on the morrow." While the narrator is making fun of Lucy in this sentence, it is still central in framing the role of the Baedeker in the novel. In the second chapter, titled "In Santa Croce with no Baedeker," Miss Lavish takes Lucy's Baedeker to "emancipate" her. This leaves Lucy feeling helpless:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Tears of indignation came to Lucy’s eyes — partly because Miss Lavish had jilted her, partly because she had taken her Baedeker. How could she find her way home? How could she find her way about in Santa Croce? Her first morning was ruined, and she might never be in Florence again
Related Themes:
Chapter 7
Explanation and Analysis—Violets:
Violets appear frequently in A Room with a View. Whether prominent in the setting or invoked in the dialogue, the motif of violets comes to be associated with uninhibitedness and love.
The first time violets appear in the novel is in the third chapter, when Miss Alan and Mr. Beebe discuss "the business of the violets," in reference to an event that took place beyond the frame of the novel. It remains unclear to the reader what exactly happened, but it is evident that the Emersons did something with violets that shocked the prim Miss Alans. The "business of the violets" goes unexplained until the tenth chapter, when Mr. Beebe tells the story of a "great scene over some violets":
Unlock with LitCharts A+They picked violets and filled all the vases in the room of these very Miss Alans [...]. Poor little ladies! So shocked and so pleased. It used to be one of Miss Catharine’s great stories. “My dear sister loves flowers,” it began. They found the whole room a mass of blue — vases and jugs — and the story ends with “So ungentlemanly and yet so beautiful. It is all very difficult.” Yes, I always connect those Florentine Emersons with violets.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—The Effect of Music:
In A Room with a View, the motif of music is closely connected to Lucy's character development. Forster suggests that exposure to Italian art and architecture opens her mind. Before her trip to Italy, however, piano already exists as an established part of her life, serving as one of her only emotional outlets and platforms for self-expression.
Until Italy pushes her to begin thinking for herself, Lucy is, according to the narrator and Mr. Beebe, repressed at all times besides while playing the piano. Lucy enters "a more solid world" when opening the piano—it makes her intuitive, expressive, free, and independent. Just as the narrator claims that Lucy would be worshipped and loved if she could translate her musical "visions into human words" and her "experiences into human actions," Mr. Beebe says that if Miss Honeychurch "ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting — both for us and for her." He expands on this idea in the eighth chapter, in a conversation with Cecil:
Unlock with LitCharts A+I’m only thinking of my pet theory about Miss Honeychurch. Does it seem reasonable that she should play so wonderfully, and live so quietly? I suspect that one day she will be wonderful in both. The watertight compartments in her will break down, and music and life will mingle. Then we shall have her heroically good, heroically bad — too heroic, perhaps, to be good or bad.
Related Themes:
Chapter 10
Explanation and Analysis—Violets:
Violets appear frequently in A Room with a View. Whether prominent in the setting or invoked in the dialogue, the motif of violets comes to be associated with uninhibitedness and love.
The first time violets appear in the novel is in the third chapter, when Miss Alan and Mr. Beebe discuss "the business of the violets," in reference to an event that took place beyond the frame of the novel. It remains unclear to the reader what exactly happened, but it is evident that the Emersons did something with violets that shocked the prim Miss Alans. The "business of the violets" goes unexplained until the tenth chapter, when Mr. Beebe tells the story of a "great scene over some violets":
Unlock with LitCharts A+They picked violets and filled all the vases in the room of these very Miss Alans [...]. Poor little ladies! So shocked and so pleased. It used to be one of Miss Catharine’s great stories. “My dear sister loves flowers,” it began. They found the whole room a mass of blue — vases and jugs — and the story ends with “So ungentlemanly and yet so beautiful. It is all very difficult.” Yes, I always connect those Florentine Emersons with violets.
Related Themes:
