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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Post #5 of my English Class: A room with a view reflection:

A room with a view is a 1985 film based on a novel by E. M. Forster. The novel is about a British young woman  named Lucy Honeychurch, who goes to Italy with her cousin for a weekend. During this vacation, she meet a lot of people, including George Emerson. This girl comes for a very conservative family, and her cousin saw the passionate kiss that Emerson give to Lucy and the cousin arrange their return to their home  very quick because of this. When Lucy returned to her home she get engage with Cecil Vyse, and later on Emerson move close to her. She broke her engagement and married Emerson.
In the movie we can distinguish the tourists from the travelers. The tourists are people who travel for vacations, visiting mainly the most famous and beautiful places and staying in hotels. in the other hand, a traveler is a person who went to another country with the purpose of knowing it internally. They just do not limit their self to a hotel or to a museum, they explore and find out about the culture of the country.  In the movie there is some tourist as:  Charlote Barlett, Miss Catharine and Miss Teresa Alan, The Reverend Mr. Bebee and The Reverend Mr. Eagle. Charlotte is consider as a tourist because she was upset about the room without a view and she was always just seeing museums or pretty landscapes, something exciting or beautiful. Miss Catharine and Miss Teresa Alan were also as tourists because they were commenting about the view and they were traveling to a lot of countries and not for knowing the culture. In the other hand, Lucy, George Emerson and Eleanor Lavish were there as travelers. Lucy and George are travelers because they were always exploring. Miss Eleanor was not complaining about the hotel she was just enjoying each moment peacefully. 



Miss Eleanor said: "Perhaps as a student of human nature by myself". I think this correlates with the idea of the traveler in contrast with the tourist because she is saying that she is not a tourist, that she study the culture, the people of there. Lucy respond "I'm here as a tourist".  Although she said this, I think she was not just a tourist because she explore the places that she goes, she was not just visiting museums or pretty places like Charlotte. Also, Lucy says: "Italians are so kind, so lovable, but at the same time so violent". This reflects that she thought that the Italians were just kind like in the movies, but after she pass through a violent situation she realize that they can be violent too. Therefore, Lucy knows Italy and not just the pretty part of it.

All of this is connected to Jamaica Kincaid's book A Small Place in where she tell that people did not see the reality of the place, they just see the pretty part. This is seen when Charlotte was asking about the view and complaining about the hotel, because she was not there for knowing the country, she was there just for visit some exciting places and to staying in a comfort hotel. Also, they concord when Kincaid says that tourist gaze because Charlotte and Lucy starting finding a view and Charlotte continues searching for landscape and beauty. Moreover, Kincaid mention that tourists are just prepare for wonderful things, but there was a part that Lucy was almost attack but George save her. Although, she pass through to a horrible experience, she get out of the stereotype that she had on her mind about the lovable Italians.


I think that Kincaid would respond to the British women that they are wrong. That if you visit certain place you have to know it, stay in a house instead of a hotel, go to the urban areas and talk to people. If you just stay in a hotel and just want to view some landscapes it is not necessary the traveling thing. If you want this you can stay in your country and going to a hotel there.

4 comments:

  1. I love miss Eleanor's quote "Perhaps as a student of human nature by myself".

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  2. nice job in how you connect it with Jamaica Kincaid's book.

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  3. I believe we can connect the Lucy's quote "Italians are so kind, so lovable, but at the same time so violent" with Puerto Rico as well. Mainly because tourists tend to see how hospitable Puerto Ricans are towards them, but ironically enough, I feel locals can behave very differently towards one another.

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  4. Overall, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I found it quite ironic and romantic. I'm impressed with the analytic comparison you made with Jamaica Kincaid's A Small Place, great job!

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