Howard's end

[Braceface]

Anyone watching?

What happens to jacky in the book after Leonard dies? I don't think the author says. In real life what would have happened to her, I wonder? But the failure to tell us may demonstrate the author's attitude to her - she is not really important, what he cares about is the resolution of the middle class predicament, not the plight of the poor.

Interesting point a pp made about the danger Helen was in - I had not appreciated that at the time I read the book. Margaret stepped up then it is true. But once you start asking yourself why Helen returned to Howard's End, there's no very good reason plot wise. I can see that she came back to England to see Aunt Juley, but really if she was in such a terrible social situation would she have gone to HE to pick up a few books?

I imagine jacky had to go to a workhouse or beg or turn to prostitution. If she were lucky she may get some odd jobs here and there. Maybe she died. I think she had TB.

So was Jacky a prostitute, or was Henry the cause of her "downfall"?

How did she meet Leonard & why did he feel responsible for her?

I think the story could have been more interesting!

Am I right in thinking that the Basts were not legally married, he was too young and his family had disowned him. I'm not convinced it was helpful to the original sense of class to introduce a racial element into the plot. Iirc Jacky had been a prostitute but how they got together was never explained.

In the book Leonard's relatives who are very respectable give Jacky and Leonard a certain amount every so often. I think you can make the assumption that Helen probably gives Jacky some money, and that she won't have the same scruples as Leonard about accepting it, if the relatives don't bail her out, after all she was his widow, so respectable relatives are not likely to completely abandon her even if they don't like her.

I think the characters stay in the book; what happens next is neither here not there...

I think the film uses Jacky to explore ideas of loneliness and "outsider" ness, rather crudely, when in the book she is not particularily endearing and used as foil for Leonard's character and an example of disagreeable poor people. I don't think in the book we especially care what happens to her next.

The racial element was introduced because the BBC wanted to tick boxes at the expense of historical accuracy and Forster’s intentions.

To anyone who hasn’t seen the film, please do so. The acting and casting were much superior to this TV adaptation, and the screenplay is more powerful.

"Iirc Jacky had been a prostitute"

It's ambiguous isn't it?

Doesn't Margaret say to Henry " you had a mistress"?

So is that a euphemism?

The racial element was introduced because the BBC wanted to tick boxes at the expense of historical accuracy and Forster’s intentions

I think I agree. There wouldn't have been half as many black or Asian faces popping up as there were on this production. Not only that, all the characters seemed to accept it as not even worthy of comment.

I read the book recently. I think Jacky isn't a prostitute until she becomes Mr Wilcox's mistress. When he abandons her to go back to his "respectable" life, it's implied she became a prostitute, but it's still ambiguous.

I liked this overall, they had the opportunity to stretch things out a bit and I liked this Helen much better than the film one (I don't think Bonham-Carter was a great actress at the beginning of her career, and her hair annoys me). Loved Tibby too.

Re the threat of WW1 I think in the book Forster does intimate about changes on the horizon, but more about industry/modernity encroaching? I guess there couldn't have been too many rumours in 1910. I always find these stories set around this time awfully sad, thinking about the future of the men. (esp The Winslow Boy.) Will Paul go to war do you think? Would Leonard have enlisted or would his health have been too bad? Charles maybe did well to be in prison and avoid the whole thing.

Re the threat of WW1 I think in the book Forster does intimate about changes on the horizon, but more about industry/modernity encroaching? I guess there couldn't have been too many rumours in 1910.

Was this part just added for the TV series, but Henry does say to Paul at the end that he might not be in Africa much longer 'the way things are going' or some such, which I took to mean they had some notion of a coming war.

I wonder if the racial element was added to emphasise the imperial aspect of the storyline and to make it cohere with the class/gender aspects in one particular character?

More likely the line about not being in Africa much longer was just a nod to the decline of British colonialism rather than what we now know as WW1.

I wonder if the racial element was added to emphasise the imperial aspect of the storyline and to make it cohere with the class/gender aspects in one particular character?

I doubt it. The book and film are modern classics of their kind and both made the points about class and gender eloquently enough. Also, the BBC have done colourblind casting before in period dramas, in Oliver Twist and Little Dorrit.