The youngest child in the Wilcox family, Paul has a brief, failed romance with Helen Schlegel when she stays at Howards End. He goes to Nigeria to make his fortune off of England’s colony there. When Charles goes to jail, he comes back to England to run the family business in African rubber. He resents giving ownership of Howards End to Margaret Schlegel and treats her rudely.
Paul Wilcox Quotes in Howards End
The Howards End quotes below are all either spoken by Paul Wilcox or refer to Paul Wilcox. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 4
Quotes
“When I saw all the others so placid, and Paul mad with terror in case I said the wrong thing, I felt for a moment that the whole Wilcox family was a fraud, just a wall of newspapers and motor-cars and golf-clubs, and that if it fell I should find nothing behind it but panic and emptiness.”
Related Characters:
Helen Schlegel (speaker), Margaret Schlegel, Paul Wilcox
Related Symbols:
Cars and Walks
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
“The truth is that there is a great outer life that you and I have never touched—a life in which telegrams and anger count. Personal relations, that we think supreme, are not supreme there. There love means marriage settlements, death, death duties. So far I’m clear. But here my difficulty. This outer life, though obviously horrid; often seems the real one—there’s grit in it. It does breed character. Do personal relations lead to sloppiness in the end?”
“Oh, Meg—, that’s what I felt, only not so clearly, when the Wilcoxes were so competent, and seemed to have their hands on all the ropes.”
Related Characters:
Margaret Schlegel (speaker), Helen Schlegel (speaker), Paul Wilcox
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
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Paul Wilcox Character Timeline in Howards End
The timeline below shows where the character Paul Wilcox appears in Howards End. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...Tibby, who is suffering from hay fever. Helen writes that the Wilcox children—Charles, Evie, and Paul—and their father, Henry, all suffer from hay fever as well, but are more stoic about...
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...Helen’s last, brief letter, she tells her sister that she has fallen in love with Paul.
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Chapter 2
...Helen. When Margaret returns home, she finds a telegram from Helen saying her fling with Paul is all over, but it’s too late to stop Mrs. Munt.
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Chapter 3
...Howards End. He offers to drive her back with him. Unfortunately, she mistakes him for Paul and begins to talk to him about Helen’s news. He is shocked to hear that...
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Chapter 4
...and their robust, sensible arguments against all her idealistic beliefs. She fell in love with Paul simply because he embodied the charisma of his family and his home, and he was...
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...should cause such horrible “telegrams and anger” in the hands of people like Charles and Paul Wilcox. They question whether this life, “a life in which telegrams and anger count,” is...
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Chapter 7
...have moved into the house next door. Aunt Juley is anxious that a proximity to Paul may rekindle Helen’s disastrous infatuation, but Margaret declares that there can be no great risk...
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Chapter 8
...trouble that occurred last summer. She apologizes for the discourtesy, claiming only that Helen and Paul should not meet again.
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...Margaret should not have written such a letter, because she had called to say that Paul has left for Nigeria. Margaret feels terrible for having forgotten that Paul would be leaving...
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Chapter 12
...recent visit and interview at Oxford. It has been barely six months since Helen and Paul’s ill-fated engagement.
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Chapter 13
...‘not to be married’ was a hundred years ago,” she declares. She expresses admiration for Paul Wilcox, who has worked so industriously in Nigeria. Tibby scoffs.
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Chapter 19
...the flaws in the Wilcox mentality that became painfully apparent in the terrible debacle with Paul: “‘Panic and emptiness,’ sobbed Helen. ‘Don’t!’” Margaret admits that she does not love Henry but...
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Chapter 20
...help it. They settle that Henry’s money must go to his children, Charles, Evie, and Paul, foremost, while Margaret continues to live off of her own generous means. “We’ve none too...
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...hurried away as if ashamed, and for an instant she was reminded of Helen and Paul.”
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Chapter 34
...her sister has become unduly fixated on the Wilcoxes ever since the whole crisis with Paul four years ago. Tibby also finds Helen’s refusal to see them highly unusual and suggests...
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Chapter 39
...in Ducie Street. Charles is badly prejudiced against Helen, stemming from her disastrous entanglement with Paul. He suspects that she and Margaret are trying to get Howards End, and he feels...
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Chapter 44
Paul calls Margaret into the house, where Henry, Evie, Dolly and he are sitting in an...
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