Howards End

by

E. M. Forster

Howards End: Imagery 14 key examples

Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Swept Away in Time:

This passage from Chapter 2 contains vivid visual imagery that describes the contrast between the natural and urban environments in London. It also outlines and foreshadows the rapid changes to London currently happening and still to come:

One had the sense of a backwater, or rather of an estuary, whose waters flowed in from the invisible sea, and ebbed into a profound silence while the waves without were still beating. Though the promontory consisted of flats—expensive, with cavernous entrance halls, full of concierges and palms—it fulfilled its purpose, and gained for the older houses opposite a certain measure of peace. These, too, would be swept away in time, and another promontory would rise upon their site, as humanity piled itself higher and higher on the precious soil of London.

The visual imagery of the ocean community being “swept away” and reforming itself, and the auditory language of the sound of the waves, evoke a sense of natural continuity and flow. The architecture of London is aligned with the sea in this passage, which like its buildings rises and falls rhythmically. The imagery of the promontory rising and the old houses being swept away also conveys a sense of impermanence and transience in the face of constant change. The promontory in the above passage, with its “expensive flats” and “cavernous entrance halls,” also references the encroachment of the urban world on the natural environment of England. 

Chapter 4
Explanation and Analysis—Clap of Thunder:

In Chapter 4, Forster uses a combination of simile, metaphor, and auditory imagery to compare Helen's sudden infatuation with the Wilcoxes of Howards End to a "thunder clap.” This outlines the suddenness and intensity of her feelings:

[...] Helen was a more serious patient. New ideas had burst upon her like a thunder clap, and by them and by their reverberations she had been stunned.

The truth was that she had fallen in love, not with an individual, but with a family.

The use of auditory imagery folded into the simile of the “thunder clap” reinforces the shocking and sudden nature of Helen’s regard. Rather than falling gradually in love, the feeling “burst” on her, giving the reader a sense of its mighty power. The use of the word "burst" suggests a sudden and explosive release of feeling, while the reference to "reverberations" evokes echoes and aftershocks that continue to thump through her.

Forster also employs the metaphor of illness to describe Helen's condition, portraying her as a "serious patient" who is "sick" with love for the Wilcoxes. This metaphor emphasizes the extent to which Helen's infatuation has taken hold of her, and suggests that she cannot simply shake it off.

The choice of words used to describe Helen's infatuation and her subsequent "illness" also serves to highlight the intensity of her sudden emotions. By using this language, the author emphasizes the overwhelming nature of Helen's feelings, and the fact that they are not easily contained or controlled. She is so overcome with them that they are making her ill. The use of vivid imagery and metaphor creates a powerful impression of Helen's infatuation and its impact on her. The emphasis on the suddenness and intensity of the feeling also helps to create a sense of tension and drama at this early point in the book.

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Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Pale Cast of Thought:

In Chapter 8 of Howards End Margaret Schlegel grapples with the moral dilemma of breaking off her friendship with the Wilcoxes. She tries to do so for the sake of her sister Helen's happiness. The imagery used in this passage highlights the purity of Margaret's intentions, despite the potential social consequences of cutting off Mrs. Wilcox:

The letter that she wrote Mrs. Wilcox glowed with the native hue of resolution. The pale cast of thought was with her a breath rather than a tarnish, a breath that leaves the colours all the more vivid when it has been wiped away.

The visual imagery of light invoked by the "glow" described here connotes warmth, brightness, and energy. The “native hue of resolution” that Margaret feels to sever ties with the Wilcoxes is so strong that it lights the letter up from within. However, the phrase "pale cast of thought" provides a contrast to this image of brightness and warmth. The word "pale" implies a certain fragility or weakness. It suggests that Margaret is aware of the potential consequences of her actions. In getting her thoughts down on paper, she enlivens them and makes them useful, instead of stewing in worry. She feels that in writing she is wiping away the “tarnish” of her anxiety. She uses the “breath” of her thoughts to disrupt and polish away the “tarnish” of the situation, as one might breathe on a piece of metal before rubbing off a smudge.

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Chapter 11
Explanation and Analysis—The Internment:

In Chapter 11, the woodcutter observing Mrs. Wilcox's funeral in the churchyard muses on the majesty of the scene and then departs, leaving the lonely grave. Forster employs visual imagery and the metaphor of a ship to describe the scene of this burial:

After him came silence absolute. [...] Hour after hour the scene of the interment remained without an eye to witness it. Clouds drifted over it from the west; or the church may have been a ship, high-prowed, steering with all its company towards infinity.

The church, rather than the dead woman, is the focal point of the scene. It is described as a ship, “high-prowed” and steered by its crew “towards infinity.” This metaphor emphasizes the role that the church plays in guiding some people through the sea of life. Like a ship, the church is powerful, directed by an unseen force, and offers support in navigating the unknown. Church architecture is also often compared to or styled after that of ships, as it is meant to invoke a sense of wonder, power, and strong shelter. The imagery of clouds “drifting” also suggests the wind in the sails of a ship, heightening the reader’s immersion in the scene. The clouds also give the scene a sense of the ethereal and otherworldly, invoking the afterlife which Mrs. Wilcox has presumably entered.

The woodcutter's fleeting observation of the funeral from a distance also highlights the transience of life and the inevitability of death. Forster’s use of majestic imagery on this grand scale also underscores the significance of the moment, echoing the important role Mrs. Wilcox plays in the novel’s plot even after her death.

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Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Mrs. Wilcox's Death:

Margaret is overwhelmed by Mrs. Wilcox's death in Chapter 12. Forster uses the metaphor of bodies of water and the visual imagery of the ocean to describe the importance of the Wilcoxes' presence in Margaret's life:

She was parting from these Wilcoxes for the second time. Paul and his mother, ripple and great wave, had flowed into her life and ebbed out of it for ever. The ripple had left no traces behind: the wave had strewn at her feet fragments torn from the unknown. A curious seeker, she stood for a while at the verge of the sea that tells so little, but tells a little, and watched the outgoing of this last tremendous tide. Her friend had vanished in agony, but not, she believed, in degradation.

The Wilcoxes are like the ocean in this passage, flowing in and out of Margaret’s life with little control on her part. Mrs. Wilcox, who at this point has a stronger influence on her, is described as a “great wave,” and Paul a “ripple.” Mrs. Wilcox's death is also likened to the outgoing tide, leaving behind flotsam from her life “strewn” at Margaret’s feet.

The use of water imagery in this passage is rich with visual language. Through the diction of ebbing and flowing and of the movement of tides, Forster evokes a sense of fluidity and constant change. The use of the word "tide" to describe Mrs. Wilcox's death here also creates a sense of inevitability and finality. Margaret can do little but stand and watch the “outgoing” of this “tremendous” influence on her life. Like the ocean, Mrs. Wilcox also maintained a sense of mystery and dignity until her death. Though her passing was painful, she still reminds Margaret of a powerful natural force that leaves traces behind.

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Explanation and Analysis—Oxford:

In this passage from Chapter 12 the author depicts Tibby Schlegel’s reaction to Oxford University, where he is going to take a scholarship exam. Forster makes use of allusion, visual and tactile imagery, and personification to give a sense of place for the reader:

The august and mellow university, soaked with the richness of the western counties that it has served for a thousand years, appealed at once to the boy’s taste: it was the kind of thing he could understand, and he understood it all the better because it was empty. Oxford is—Oxford: not a mere receptacle for youth, like Cambridge. Perhaps it wants its inmates to love it rather than to love one another: such at all events was to be its effect on Tibby.

Oxford and Cambridge are two of England’s “ancient universities,” the oldest and most august seats of learning in the country. This allusion emphasizes the national importance of Oxford as a symbol of intellectual and class privilege. The narrator also repeats a common British stereotype of the time in this description. They imply that Oxford is better than Cambridge in a way that can’t be easily explained, saying that “Oxford is—Oxford.” It’s worth noting here that this is sarcasm on the part of the author, as Forster himself went to Cambridge.

The imagery of Oxford is rich and appealing, invoking the golden stone and ancient quadrangles of the Oxford Colleges. Its lushness and warmth is almost something Tibby and the reader can taste. The visual and the tactile are combined as the university is described as being "soaked" with the wealth and effort of the “western counties,” like a sugary fruitcake.

In addition to this voluptuous sweetness, Forster also personifies the University. Oxford is described as a living thing that enfolds its students, and that wants its "inmates" to "love it." Tibby feels that he can “understand” Oxford’s personality on his own terms. This personification suggests that Oxford is more than just a collection of buildings, books, and traditions; it has a character and a spirit of its own.

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Chapter 15
Explanation and Analysis—Chelsea Embankment:

In this passage from Chapter 15, Forster employs romantic visual imagery to describe the Chelsea Embankment, a landscaped walkway along the Thames river. As the Schlegel sisters walk along it, the author conveys a situationally ironic moment where the Schlegels' English and European identities clash:

The lamps and the plane-trees, following the line of the embankment, struck a note of dignity that is rare in English cities. The seats, almost deserted, were here and there occupied by gentlefolk in evening dress, who had strolled out from the houses behind to enjoy fresh air and the whisper of the rising tide. There is something Continental about Chelsea Embankment. It is an open space used rightly, a blessing more frequent in Germany than here.

The narrator, as they describe the Schlegel sisters (who are both "English" and "European"), is struck by the “dignity” of the scene. The “plane-trees and lamps” lend a note of “dignity” that they mention is rare in English cities. This is situationally ironic because the Chelsea Embankment is one of the oldest walkways in London, and its “plane trees and lamps” form a quintessentially English scene. The idea that Germany has a monopoly on the “blessing” of the “open space used rightly,” especially in a novel full of elegant public places and rolling green landscapes, is arch and ironic.

The imagery in this passage is vivid, using visual, auditory, and tactile cues to bring the reader into the scene. It evokes the feel of the damp air and the “whispering” of the ocean, painting a picture of a pleasant night in London with all its sights and sounds. The peacefulness of the scene is emphasized by the “gentlefolk in evening dress” who move calmly, strolling through the twilight. This imagery also invokes detachment from the usual noise and bustle of the city, which Margaret often says she dislikes.

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Chapter 19
Explanation and Analysis—England was Alive:

Helen's musings about England in Chapter 19 weave a rich tapestry of imagery and metaphor. Forster evokes the country’s natural majesty and personifies its geography:

England was alive, throbbing through all her estuaries, crying for joy through the mouths of all her gulls [...] For what end are her fair complexities, her changes of soil, her sinuous coast? Does she belong to those who have moulded her and made her feared by other lands, or to those who have added nothing to her power, but have somehow seen her, seen the whole island at once, lying as a jewel in a silver sea, sailing as a ship of souls, with all the brave world’s fleet accompanying her towards eternity?

The passage is full of vivid visual and auditory details of the ocean. It conjures an intense sense of place, from its “gull sounds” to the "throbbing," vein-like pulses of rivers through estuaries to the sea. England itself is depicted as a "ship of souls," a common phrase at this time of the height of British colonialism.

Forster’s narrator here asks the reader to whom England belongs. They suggest there are two options: it might belong to the people who want to use her power to make her “feared by other lands,” or to those who “have seen her” as a “jewel in a silver sea,” setting a cultural and spiritual example without international menace. The first option seems to be aligned with people like the Wilcoxes, and the second with families like the Schlegels.

Personification also comes into play in this passage, as England is given a gender, emotions, and “complexities.” It is characterized as a living being which can “cry for joy,” and with a multifaceted personality which can be “feared,” admired, or loved. This personification complicates the novel’s narrative of the future “ownership” of England, as the Wilcoxes treat it like inanimate land, but Margaret sees it as a person with emotions and feelings.

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Explanation and Analysis—Swelling Imagination:

In this passage from Chapter 1, Forster’s narrator employs visual imagery and oceanic similes and metaphors to depict the overwhelming experience of looking at England from afar:

How many villages appear in this view! How many castles! How many churches, vanished or triumphant! How many ships, railways, and roads! What incredible variety of men working beneath that lucent sky to what final end! The reason fails, like a wave on the Swanage beach; the imagination swells, spreads, and deepens, until it becomes geographic and encircles England.

The simile of reason being “like a wave” in this passage emphasizes the impossibility of comprehending everything that is happening in the country at once. Forster repeats the phrase “how many” several times, underlining the unimaginable number of things and people that England contains. The metaphor of the imagination "swelling and spreading" refers to the necessity of taking a broad view. Although one can’t get every detail of England, one can expand one's thinking to take in the sheer vastness of the landscape as a whole.

The imagery used in this passage also contributes to the novel’s overwhelming sense of the country's packed fullness. The mention of “villages,” “castles,” and “churches” suggests a rich history that is both visible and hidden. The inclusion of “ships, railways, and roads” also implies a sense of innovation and modernity, which is juxtaposed with the images of older settlements and structures that precede them. The passage conveys a sense of the country's tradition and modernity existing side by side, as well as the diversity of people working to achieve different goals.

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Chapter 20
Explanation and Analysis—Flux of London:

In this passage from Chapter 20 Margaret expresses her distaste for the city of London and its constant movement and change. She uses vivid imagery to compare London to a river, rushing forward relentlessly and formlessly:

I hate this continual flux of London. It is an epitome of us at our worst—eternal formlessness; all the qualities, good, bad, and indifferent, streaming away—streaming, streaming for ever. That’s why I dread it so. I mistrust rivers, even in scenery. Now, the sea—

The metaphor that Forster uses here implies that London is too quick, intense, and indifferent to its citizens for Margaret’s taste. These characteristics align with Margaret’s views on her contemporary England, which she sees as galloping forward into an unpleasant and mercenary future. She is concerned that people don’t “connect” with each other, as she says repeatedly. The “continual flux” of the “qualities, good, bad, and indifferent” that London exemplifies is, to Margaret, “the epitome of English people “at [their] worst.”

Margaret's views on London are contrasted with Henry Wilcox's in the same chapter. Henry takes the opposite view, having a deep admiration for industry, development, and the “constant flux” of cosmopolitanism and modernization. This is one of the central conflicts between these two characters in the novel, as they have different perspectives on their country’s potential and purpose. Margaret's regard for the vast and (comparatively) unmoving sea around England is juxtaposed to Henry’s preference for the “streaming” forward motion of London.

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Explanation and Analysis—Inner Life:

The motif of the "inner life" as it relates to interpersonal connection appears regularly throughout Howards End. In Chapter 20, when Margaret and Henry Wilcox are walking together, the narrator makes the following observation about Henry’s understanding of his wife:

He supposed her “as clever as they make ’em,” but no more, not realizing that she was penetrating to the depths of his soul, and approving of what she found there.

And if insight were sufficient, if the inner life were the whole of life, their happiness has been assured.

When characters talk about "connection," they are referencing the idea of the "inner life." Margaret’s rich “inner life” gives her easy access to her emotions, to understanding other people, and to an appreciation of the world’s beauty. Henry, however, is closed-off, practical to a fault, and oblivious to other people's viewpoints. The “inner life” of emotions, empathy, and deep thought is contrasted with the "outer life" of material things, capitalism, and imperialism in the novel. The “outer” is represented by the Wilcoxes, who are focused on appearance and possessions. The Schlegels are linked to the “inner” because they prioritize connection, education, and feeling. This division between "inner" and "outer" is strongly linked to Margaret’s catchphrase, "Only connect!" This phrase refers directly to connecting the inner life with the outer, and also to prioritizing communication and empathy.

When people cannot “connect” their inner lives to their “outer lives” in Howards End, they are not whole. They are unable to have truly intimate relationships and friendships. When the narrator's focus returns to this pair in Chapter 22, Margaret hopes that she can coax her husband out of his “fear of loving” her and his obliviousness to his “inner life.” Forster uses the visual imagery of light to underline this connection:

[Margaret] might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. With it love is born, and alights on the highest curve, glowing against the grey, sober against the fire. [...] It was hard going in the roads of Mr. Wilcox’s soul. From boyhood he had neglected them.

In this passage, the author connects the “inner life” to poetry, and the “outer life” to prose, making the inner seem lyrical and romantic, and the other steadfast and workaday. Forster links the “inner life” of poetry and emotion to the sensory language of light in this passage. He describes its capacity to generate love as being like a shimmering being “glowing against the grey” of life outside it. Henry Wilcox cannot access this, as he has “neglected” the “roads” to it “from boyhood." He has never prioritized his emotional development, and so is stuck with a life of "fragments."

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Chapter 22
Explanation and Analysis—Inner Life:

The motif of the "inner life" as it relates to interpersonal connection appears regularly throughout Howards End. In Chapter 20, when Margaret and Henry Wilcox are walking together, the narrator makes the following observation about Henry’s understanding of his wife:

He supposed her “as clever as they make ’em,” but no more, not realizing that she was penetrating to the depths of his soul, and approving of what she found there.

And if insight were sufficient, if the inner life were the whole of life, their happiness has been assured.

When characters talk about "connection," they are referencing the idea of the "inner life." Margaret’s rich “inner life” gives her easy access to her emotions, to understanding other people, and to an appreciation of the world’s beauty. Henry, however, is closed-off, practical to a fault, and oblivious to other people's viewpoints. The “inner life” of emotions, empathy, and deep thought is contrasted with the "outer life" of material things, capitalism, and imperialism in the novel. The “outer” is represented by the Wilcoxes, who are focused on appearance and possessions. The Schlegels are linked to the “inner” because they prioritize connection, education, and feeling. This division between "inner" and "outer" is strongly linked to Margaret’s catchphrase, "Only connect!" This phrase refers directly to connecting the inner life with the outer, and also to prioritizing communication and empathy.

When people cannot “connect” their inner lives to their “outer lives” in Howards End, they are not whole. They are unable to have truly intimate relationships and friendships. When the narrator's focus returns to this pair in Chapter 22, Margaret hopes that she can coax her husband out of his “fear of loving” her and his obliviousness to his “inner life.” Forster uses the visual imagery of light to underline this connection:

[Margaret] might yet be able to help him to the building of the rainbow bridge that should connect the prose in us with the passion. Without it we are meaningless fragments, half monks, half beasts, unconnected arches that have never joined into a man. With it love is born, and alights on the highest curve, glowing against the grey, sober against the fire. [...] It was hard going in the roads of Mr. Wilcox’s soul. From boyhood he had neglected them.

In this passage, the author connects the “inner life” to poetry, and the “outer life” to prose, making the inner seem lyrical and romantic, and the other steadfast and workaday. Forster links the “inner life” of poetry and emotion to the sensory language of light in this passage. He describes its capacity to generate love as being like a shimmering being “glowing against the grey” of life outside it. Henry Wilcox cannot access this, as he has “neglected” the “roads” to it “from boyhood." He has never prioritized his emotional development, and so is stuck with a life of "fragments."

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Chapter 23
Explanation and Analysis—A Comrade:

In Chapter 23 of Howards End, the wych-elm tree on the estate is personified and described with intense and paradoxical visual language. Through this, it seems to embody the English life Margaret Schlegel desires, as it makes the tree seem friendly and the house welcoming:

It was neither warrior, nor lover, nor god; in none of these rôles do the English excel. It was a comrade, bending over the house, strength and adventure in its roots, but in its utmost fingers tenderness, and the girth, that a dozen men could not have spanned, became in the end evanescent, till pale bud clusters seemed to float in the air. It was a comrade. House and tree transcended any similes of sex. [...] [T]o compare either to man, to woman, always dwarfed the vision. Yet they kept within limits of the human.

The enormous tree is described as if it is an ordinary English person: a “comrade,” not a “god.” The repetition of the word "comrade" creates an inviting atmosphere, as it implies that the tree (and the house it stands over) are not just inanimate objects but are friendly to Margaret. This personification of the tree suggests that it isn’t separate from the lives of the people who live in Howards End, but rather has a positive and active influence over them.

The description of the wych-elm also uses nationalistic language. Stating that the English do not excel in the roles of "warrior, nor lover, nor god” implies that they do excel at being “comrades.” This seems more desirable here, as the reader knows that Margaret is discontented with the grandiose imperialist ambitions of those around her. She wants to live a simpler, warmer life. Howards End and its surroundings seem to suggest that this is a possibility. This description of the tree invokes a different aspect of English life for Margaret, one that is focused on home and not concerned with colonizing other countries.

The wych-elm is described as being both old and young, strong and soft, presenting the reader with a series of paradoxes. The tactile and visual imagery in Forster’s language presents the tree as “bending over” the house as a “comrade,” while having "strength and adventure in its roots.” The reader gets a sense of its enormity and its fragility through this juxtaposition. Although it is huge, with "girth, that a dozen men could not have spanned," it also has "tenderness" in its "utmost fingers.” Even its roots, which hold it to the ground, have “adventure” in them. Like the idealized England Margaret imagines, it is both ancient and full of new life, rooted to history and able to grow and change.

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Explanation and Analysis—Wilcox Estate:

In Chapter 23, when Margaret arrives at the Wilcox estate by herself for the first time, the scene features vivid visual and tactile imagery as well as simile and metaphor:

Then the car turned away, and it was as if a curtain had risen. [...] Tulips were a tray of jewels. She could not see the wych-elm tree, but a branch of the celebrated vine, studded with velvet knobs, had covered the porch. She had seldom been in a garden where the flowers looked so well, and even the weeds she was idly plucking out of the porch were intensely green.

Forster uses the simile of a "curtain" lifting to describe Margaret's transition from the outside, everyday world to the lush garden. This comparison suggests that the beauty and tranquility of Howards End are hidden from view until the “curtain” is lifted. As the car, which represents her modern life in London, “turn[s] away,” she is faced with a new and more appealing vision.

Forster’s metaphorical language continues with the description of the tulips as a "tray of jewels." This metaphor compares the bright and colorful flowers to precious gems, emphasizing their beauty and value in Margaret’s eyes. The vine on the wych-elm—a plant that’s usually wiry and strangling­—is instead soft and appealing, covered with “velvet knobs.” Even the weeds, usually considered an unsightly aspect of a garden, are described as “intensely green,” further emphasizing the “seldom”-seen fertility and beauty of the estate.

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Chapter 43
Explanation and Analysis—Life was a Deep River:

In Chapter 43 after the tragic accident with Leonard Bast, Margaret mourns for him and reflects on the nature of life and death. She does so through a series of metaphors and images that stack on top of each other. This language is powerful, varied, and sometimes contradictory, which reflects Margaret's complex emotional state:

Here Leonard lay dead in the garden, from natural causes; yet life was a deep, deep river, death a blue sky, life was a house, death a wisp of hay, a flower, a tower, life and death were anything and everything, except this ordered insanity, where the king takes the queen, and the ace the king. Ah, no; there was beauty and adventure behind, such as the man at her feet had yearned for; there was hope this side of the grave; there were truer relationships beyond the limits that fetter us now.

The metaphor of chess that Forster uses here ("the king takes the queen, and the ace the king") highlights the social games played by the Wilcoxes. Although the games are cruel and unthinking, Margaret sees this "ordered insanity" as a contrast to the randomness and unpredictability of life and death. She compares these two things in a long, rapid list to a “deep river,” a “blue sky,” a “house,” a “wisp of hay,” a “flower,” and a “tower.” These images vary hugely in size, scale, and power, conveying a sense of randomness that defies the Wilcoxes' attempts to impose order on the world.

The last part of this passage reveals Margaret’s complicated feelings about the choices she has made, particularly her marriage to Henry Wilcox. She sees her relationship after this as a “limit” that “fetters” her, and as part of the very social order that she is questioning. She starts to think of "hope" beyond her limited, ordered world, and envisions "beauty and adventure" and "truer relationships" that exist beyond the Wilcoxes and their opportunistic greed.

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