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Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—Twinkling Arno:
In the third chapter, Lucy's view of Florence from the Pension once again assumes a central role in her character development and the novel's plot. Forster offers the reader vivid imagery of the Arno, this time in the evening:
Evening approached while they chatted; the air became brighter; the colours on the trees and hills were purified, and the Arno lost its muddy solidity and began to twinkle. There were a few streaks of bluish-green among the clouds, a few patches of watery light upon the earth, and then the dripping facade of San Miniato shone brilliantly in the declining sun.
This imagery appears after a drawn-out conversation about the Emersons and their impropriety. Until this point, the third chapter has predominantly consisted of Mr. Beebe and one of the Miss Alans discussing the other guests with a tone of judgment. The incongruity between the conversation and the beautiful scenery offers perspective to the reader, making the conversation and the characters' concerns appear especially insignificant.
Several aspects of the view suggest alleviation and illumination: the brightening of the air, the purification of the colors on the hills, the newfound clearness of the Arno. Lucy finds the Pension stifling—not to mention the conversations that go on within it. As daylight falls and the gradual arrival of evening clears the air, the possibility of going out into the world lightens Lucy's spirit. The narrator's attention to the outside world signals that something—not merely conversation—is about to happen.
The view seems to influence Lucy to take action and to go out into the world. The reminder that she is in Italy gives her agency and rouses her desire for connection. Just after the description of the view, Lucy announces that she will go out. A few lines after this, she exclaims: "Perhaps I shall meet someone who reads me through and through!" This exclamation serves to foreshadow the big event that is to come of her outing and foreshadows her brewing relationship with George. For that matter, the next time the San Miniato church is mentioned in the novel, it forms part of the view on the first evening of their honeymoon at the very end of the book. George says, "Lucy, you come and look at the cypresses; and the church, whatever its name is, still shows." Lucy answers "San Miniato." The novel ends with the two lovers in a room with a view together.
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