1. Attempt to describe/summarize what is happening with the rental of Cissie Villa, and how it ends up that the Emersons are now renting it. Note Cecil's role. If a previous classmate has written something you consider an error, respectfully suggest a correction.
2. What was Cecil's motivation in suggesting the Emersons as tenants to Sir Harry Otway?
3. "He did not realize that Lucy had consecrated her environment by the thousand little civilities that create a tenderness in time . . ." (368): paraphrase, i.e., put this into your own words. If someone else takes this question and you don't disagree but still want to paraphrase it in your own way, please do.
4. Try to explain how Lucy's naming the Emerson's the Harris's continues to matter, if only in s small way.
5. Cecil says, "Anything is fair that punishes a snob" (373) Yet there is evidence to suggest that Cecil himself is a snob. Comment.
6. What what Lucy have been dreaming about on p. 378, and what makes you say so?
7. If none of the above works for you, comment however you like, or ask a question!
Cecil saying "Anything is fair that punishes a snob" makes him a complete hypocrite. His mannerisms include rude comments and conceited actions. He plays a sort of joke on Sir Harry by inviting the Emersons to be tenants. This is quite a snobby move because Cecil claimed to be friendly with the Emersons, though behind their backs he tells Lucy they are the sort of people to annoy Sir Harry and surrounding people because of their differences. Cecil is also trying harder and harder to make Lucy "one of them", as Mrs. Vyse puts it. He is slowly taking the individuality out of Lucy. When Lucy confronts him about inviting the Emersons, he does not listen to her opinion and merely mutters the word "temper" to himself after she leaves. This is completely rude. It is as if he is noting to himself things he needs to fix in his future wife. Or, it sounds like Cecil thinks of Lucy as a child
ReplyDelete"He did not realize that Lucy had consecrated her environment by the thousand little civilities that create a tenderness in time . . ." (368).
ReplyDeleteTo me, this passage means that Cecil did not notice or understand that after Lucy's journey abroad, she had decided that her home and customs were sacred, not in spite of all their quirks and mannerisms, but because of them. These special customs made her world a blessed one, to be cherished. Lucy had decided that even though places like Rome exist and are grand and splendid, that her home is heavenly, and perfect just as it is. In essence, this passage acknowledges that Lucy has reached a place of acceptance that Cecil can not even begin to understand.
Cecil states that his motivation for inviting the Emersons to live on Summer Street as tenants of Sir Harry Otway is to unite the classes. He states that he believes in democracy, which is interesting considering he pays so much attention to how Lucy was brought up and the status of her family. Cecil seems to care about the democracy of others and the integration of classes as long as it does not directly effect him. He probably feels that inviting the Emersons to live on Summer Street can be his good deed for the year, and he can go back to caring about his own life.
ReplyDeleteLucy was dreaming about her kiss with George. She is clearly torn because her kiss with George actually meant something to her, and her kiss with Cecil was a hopeless flop. Cecil is not right for her and she knows it, but she cannot break off their engagement without severely affecting her family's status, not to mention breaking her mother's heart. It would never be acceptable for her to be with George, no matter how much she might love him.
On page 378, Lucy wakes up screaming from a bad dream. She wakes from a nightmare, and Mrs. Vyse comes to comfort her. I get the feeling that all is not well with little Miss Honeychurch. At a first glance, i automatically think that Miss Honeychurch is probably dreaming of Cecil and becoming "one of us," and by that i mean Mrs Vyse effort to brainwash poor Lucy by the life style of the "high" society in England at the time. We learn from chapter ten however that Lucy is one too accept nice people no matter what class they are in as long as they are nice.
ReplyDeleteLucy's bad dream shows her misgivings about the upcoming life that she will be expected to live. She already agreed to marry Cecil and upon hearing that the Emersons were moving in nearby, Lucy defiantly has her doubts. I think that it is evident that Lucy does not love Cecil and still has feelings for George. The very thought of marrying Cecil and living a life where class is the most important thing makes Lucy afraid. Judging by this, I think that Lucy is dreaming about what her life is destined to become if she marries Cecil.
Lucy is upset with Cecil because He invited the Emersons to stay at the house and she had promised the two widows a place to stay and because of this invitation now the widows have no place to go. Lucy had agreed to marry this man when she clearly does not love him, he loves george and know she is upset that cecil unconciously invited him to stay at the house. Lucy feels some what frustated because she cant explain herself, because how can you explain something like this? i mean, how can you tell your fiance you are not in love with him?
ReplyDeleteIn my personal opinion I think that Cecil in fact knows that She is not in love with him. Their relationship foreshadows how unconnected they are as a couple and i think they both know, but are afraid to accept it
I agree with Alix in saying that Cecil is very hypocritical about people being snobbish. A specific time when Cecil's inner snob is shown is when they're at the garden party and people are wishing them luck for their engagement. Instead of graciously accepting their kind words, he comments on how he thinks engagements are very private and people should not speak of them as outsiders to the engagements. Another time that makes Cecil seem like a real snob is when he is talking about Sir Henry and his cottages. He says that Sir Henry is lower than himself and other things that suggest that he thinks he's better than Sir Henry. A lot of Cecil's snobbish behavior suggests that he thinks he's way better than everyone else.
ReplyDeleteWhat would Lucy have been dreaming about on p. 378, and what makes you say so?
ReplyDeleteI think the whole concept of marriage scares Lucy. She has rushed into this so quickly, and she is very uncertain about her feelings for Cecil. They don't get along very well due to Cecil's controlling nature, which juxtaposes Lucy's point of view.
For instance, the two kisses: George vs. Cecil. George's kiss was pure and organic, because he was not blinded by material/ social standing ways. George saw true beauty, which is why the kiss was pure and beautiful.
The love between Cecil and Lucy- if there is any- is false and clouded. Cecil is only doing what he thinks is proper and what is decent of him, or socially correct. I think Lucy realizes that she has made a huge mistake. Also, the fact that her mother must not know of the kiss between herself and George furthers her fear of not doing what is proper. Lucy knows well that if she were not to marry Cecil, her family would deeply disagree. Lucy feels trapped and helpless.
In chapter 11- the reader gains more insight to the see the segregation of Cecil and the Honeychurches. We also see another dissociation, Lucy with everyone involved in the story at the moment; Cecil, her brother, and her mother. We see Cecil's physical detachment when he remains in doors during the outside party. It is interesting to note that the family may not be playing tether ball if Cecil was present.
ReplyDeleteCecil seems to spurn certain aspects of the Honeychurches life. He especially rebuff's things that give the family pleasure. This disdain and snobbish attitude Cecil obtains seems to hold the family back from interacting normally with each other and with Cecil.
This inevitably creates a similar divide between Lucy, causing Lucy to maintain her reputation as not knowing where she stands. Lucy seems to be a bit lost in what she should do. She is separating just like Cecil, but in more of a forlorn sense rather than a voluntary separation.
I think that Cecil's motivation in suggesting that the Emersons be tenants to Sir Harry Otway, was that he wanted some new faces to entertain himself. Cecil mentions meeting and talking to the Emersons, and that he really enjoyed the "old man's" company, but he wants to get George Emerson to talk more. I think Cecil gets bored with people fairly easily. He considers himself of high priority and importance in his society, so I think that he believes he deserves to be entertained, and he deserves to talk to new and interesting people. It seems that he wants to gossip with the interesting, Mr.Emerson, and he wants to bring George out of his shell, for everyone's benefit of the fun.
ReplyDeleteI think Cecil also wants the Emersons to be closer to him because he believes he can mold these men to people he really enjoys spending time with. He wants their social class to be brought up to par, and he wants them to associate themselves, with friends of Cecil, or the "right" people. This is because Cecil doesn't seem to have many, if any, engaging man friends in his life that he's able to hang out with. Perhaps, Cecil is a tad lonely...
I also think that Cecil might actually want to help Mr.Otway find some tenants, so that, in luck, the cottage might be rennovated, restored, and improved. This would make the over-all "look" of the neighborhood much better. It would improve their social setting, and the reputation of the area where Lucy lives. Class, reputation, upbringing, and popularity seem very important points to Cecil.
I think all of those possibilities show what Cecil's intentions are, and for what reasons he wanted the Emersons to move into those villas. In all of these ways, if Mr. Otway had tenants in his cottages, such as the Emersons, Cecil would possibly obtain much benefit for his own selfish enjoyment, and improvement of his life.
On page 378 Mrs. Vyse goes to check on Lucy who had just screamed from a nightmare. I think the implication is that she was dreaming about life with Cecil. It mentions at the very end that Cecil had not heard the cry and continued sleeping. The author clearly wants to make a deal of the fact that he did not wake up when Lucy was uncomfortable. However, Mrs. Vyse mentions that Cecil had been complimenting Lucy when she was asleep. First, this could be an outer facade that Cecil wishes to show to others, and make them think he truly loves her. In addition, it speaks to the fact that he can speak nicely about her, but when it comes to being next to her when she needs comfort he was not there. Instead, Mrs. Vyse goes and checks on Lucy. I think that this is how Lucy's life will always be, cared for by friends but not by lovers.
ReplyDeleteUpon reading these chapters I just became more and more apalled by Cecil Vyse, and just kept feeling more dislike. This guy is just awful. First of all, he is a complete hypocrite. When he makes the comment that, "anything is fair that punishes a snob," he is setting himself up for anything to happen to him, because he is an incredible snob.
ReplyDeleteHe is also manipulative and a bit of a bully. The whole situation with the Emerson's tenancy just rubs me the wrong way. He is only doing it to annoy Sir Harry, and feels no sense of compassion for the Emersons. Anyone who would do this is just a terrible guy.
At the end of chapter 11 of A Room With A View, Lucy is suddenly awoken from her slumber by some sort of startling dream. She assures Mrs. Vyes, who witnesses lucy in her startled state, that there is nothing wrong and she wasn't having bad dreams. A lie if there ever was one. I believe that Lucy is having bad dreams due to the arrival of the Emerson family into her neighborhood. For some time now the thought and memory of George Emerson has haunted Lucy. Back in Italy, Lucy and George shared a brief kiss with each other. One that confused, scared, and excited lucy. I believe that Lucy's heart still harbors feelings for this young man. However, due to Lucy's social standing, and husband, the poor girl is quite unable to feel in such a way. Lucy's dream had to do with George Emerson, and possibly the discovery of her feelings towards him/their history with other people. Perhaps by the hands of Miss Charlotte.
ReplyDeleteLucy is unhappy with Cecil because he decided to invite the Emersons to stay at the place that she had promised the two widows they could stay. Thus the widows will have nowhere to go and this greatly upsets Lucy. Lucy said she would marry Cecil but it is evident that she does not love him. It is obvious that Lucy is in love with George and it worries her that he will be staying in the house. I think Lucy is angry at herself because she is so emotionally confused. She has no way of really explaining herself. She is put in a difficult position now that she is betrothed to a man she does not love. I think Cecil subconsciously knows that Lucy is not in love with him. Their marriage is doomed from the start, and I think they both know that, gut are unwilling to openly admit it.
ReplyDelete