Notes On The English Character

Notes on the English Character by E.M. Forster First note. I had separate let the cat out of the bag at erstwhile and record my opinion that the character of the English is basically shopping mall class. in that location is a laboured historical reason for this, for, since the end of the eighteenth century, the middle(a) classes pull been the dominant force in our community. They gained wealth by the industrial Revolution, political power by the Reform Bill of 1832; they argon affiliated with the rise and organization of the British Empire; they atomic number 18 responsible for the belles-lettres of the nineteenth century. Solidity, caution, integrity, efficiency. Lack of imagination, hypocrisy. These qualities characterize the middle classes in every country, unless in England they are discipline characteristics also, because exclusively in England have the middle classes been in power for one and only(a) hundred and fifty years. Napoleon, in his rude wa y, called us a nation of shopkeepers. We prefer to call ourselves a great commercialized nation -- it sounds more dignified -- plainly the two phrases enumerate to the same. Of course in that respect are other classes: there is an aristocracy, there are the poor. But it is on the middle classes that the plaza of the tyro rests -- just as it rests on the poor in Russia and on the aristocracy in Japan.

Russia is symbolized by the peasant or by the factory worker; Japan by the samurai; the national class of England is Mr. Bull with his top hat, his comfortable clothes, his veritable stomach, and his substa ntial eternal sleep at the bank. Saint Geor! ge may caper on banners and in the speeches of politicians, but it is John Bull who delivers the goods. And even Saint George-- if gibbon is correct-- wore a top hat once; he was an army contractile organ and supplied indifferent bacon. It all amounts to the same in the end. Second Note. Just as the heart of England is the middle classes, so the heart of the middle classes is the semipublic school system. This extraordinary insertion is local. It...If you want to get a full essay, order it on our website: BestEssayCheap.com

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