Howards End

by

E. M. Forster

Ruth Wilcox Character Analysis

Born Ruth Howard before she married Henry Wilcox, she owns the farmhouse Howards End. Ruth is a devoted wife and mother, and she willingly accompanies her family to London when her husband buys a second home there, but she has a special connection to the idyllic Howards End. She loves the fields and gardens that surround the old farm, and is always pictured sniffing flowers or hay. She seems to possess a special wisdom and spirituality drawn from the history and natural beauty of the farm. She befriends Margaret Schlegel despite having little in common with Margaret’s interests in culture and philosophy, and she decides to leave Margaret Howards End when she dies. She suspects she is ill when the Wilcoxes move to London, but doesn’t tell anyone, and she dies suddenly.

Ruth Wilcox Quotes in Howards End

The Howards End quotes below are all either spoken by Ruth Wilcox or refer to Ruth 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:
Class and Privilege Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

They were all silent. It was Mrs. Wilcox.

She approached just as Helen’s letter had described her, trailing noiselessly over the lawn, and there was actually a wisp of hay in her hands. She seemed to belong not to the young people and their motor, but to the house, and to the tree that overshadowed it. One knew that she worshipped the past, and that the instinctive wisdom the past can alone bestow had descended upon her.

Related Characters: Ruth Wilcox
Related Symbols: Howards End, Cars and Walks
Page Number: 14-15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

“You shall see the connection if it kills you, Henry! You have had a mistress—I forgave you. My sister has a lover—you drive her from the house. Do you see the connection? Stupid, hypocritical, cruel—oh, contemptible!—a man who insults his wife when she’s alive and cants with her memory when she’s dead. A man who ruins a woman for his pleasure, and casts her off to ruin other men. And gives bad financial advice, and then says he is not responsible. These men are you. You can’t recognise them, because you cannot connect… Only say to yourself, ‘What Helen has done, I’ve done.’”

Related Characters: Margaret Schlegel (speaker), Helen Schlegel, Henry Wilcox, Leonard Bast, Ruth Wilcox, Jacky Bast
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 42 Quotes

Margaret was silent. Something shook her life in its inmost recesses, and she shivered.

“I didn’t do wrong, did I?” [Henry] asked, bending down.

“You didn’t, darling. Nothing has been done wrong.”

From the garden came laughter. “Here they are at last!” exclaimed Henry, disengaging himself with a smile. Helen rushed into the gloom, holding Tom by one hand and carrying her baby on the other. There were shouts of infectious joy.

“The field’s cut!” Helen cried excitedly—“the big meadow! We’ve seen to the very end, and it’ll be such a crop of hay as never!”

Related Characters: Margaret Schlegel (speaker), Helen Schlegel (speaker), Henry Wilcox (speaker), Ruth Wilcox
Related Symbols: Howards End
Page Number: 246
Explanation and Analysis:
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Ruth Wilcox Quotes in Howards End

The Howards End quotes below are all either spoken by Ruth Wilcox or refer to Ruth 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:
Class and Privilege Theme Icon
).
Chapter 3 Quotes

They were all silent. It was Mrs. Wilcox.

She approached just as Helen’s letter had described her, trailing noiselessly over the lawn, and there was actually a wisp of hay in her hands. She seemed to belong not to the young people and their motor, but to the house, and to the tree that overshadowed it. One knew that she worshipped the past, and that the instinctive wisdom the past can alone bestow had descended upon her.

Related Characters: Ruth Wilcox
Related Symbols: Howards End, Cars and Walks
Page Number: 14-15
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 38 Quotes

“You shall see the connection if it kills you, Henry! You have had a mistress—I forgave you. My sister has a lover—you drive her from the house. Do you see the connection? Stupid, hypocritical, cruel—oh, contemptible!—a man who insults his wife when she’s alive and cants with her memory when she’s dead. A man who ruins a woman for his pleasure, and casts her off to ruin other men. And gives bad financial advice, and then says he is not responsible. These men are you. You can’t recognise them, because you cannot connect… Only say to yourself, ‘What Helen has done, I’ve done.’”

Related Characters: Margaret Schlegel (speaker), Helen Schlegel, Henry Wilcox, Leonard Bast, Ruth Wilcox, Jacky Bast
Page Number: 221
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 42 Quotes

Margaret was silent. Something shook her life in its inmost recesses, and she shivered.

“I didn’t do wrong, did I?” [Henry] asked, bending down.

“You didn’t, darling. Nothing has been done wrong.”

From the garden came laughter. “Here they are at last!” exclaimed Henry, disengaging himself with a smile. Helen rushed into the gloom, holding Tom by one hand and carrying her baby on the other. There were shouts of infectious joy.

“The field’s cut!” Helen cried excitedly—“the big meadow! We’ve seen to the very end, and it’ll be such a crop of hay as never!”

Related Characters: Margaret Schlegel (speaker), Helen Schlegel (speaker), Henry Wilcox (speaker), Ruth Wilcox
Related Symbols: Howards End
Page Number: 246
Explanation and Analysis: