A Look and Thoughts on A Room with a View
The need to read A Room with a View came after I had spent some time on social media “showing up” in conversations on racism. Those conversations were painful. They were exhausting. I became angry. I disconnected from my family. I wanted to escape to a world where I didn’t need to have tough conversations and to escape my memories of racism that were resurfacing as I was doing the anti-racism work. So I escaped into the novel of E. M. Forester where I could revel in the critique of British society backdropped by the Florentine landscape and the mentionings of lavender.
But what I would come to find as I read this book is that for one who is aware of the history of colonization, you can’t run away from these issues no matter how humorous or romantic the book is. Though there is no mentioning of slavery or of any persons of color (problematic in itself), the attitude of judging the “other” as many of the characters did to the Italians in this story, was a common attitude of many an early 20th-century English person and it runs deep today in the 21st-century person.
How does one read a novel that references the Victorian Era and not think about how Queen Victoria colonized South Africa? I’ve gone and ruined “The Young Victoria” for you, haven’t I? Sorry, not sorry!
I related to Lucy’s anger when Cecil claims that she is “now speaking with a new voice,” or in other words, speaking her own mind. I am reminded of a conversation I had with a friend earlier in June when our nation was having this grand awakening. After having shared some thoughts on Facebook, a friend called me to “check-in” because to her, I did not seem like myself based on what I had posted. This questioning of my character made me uneasy and it is only now that I can verbalize why.
Lucy speaking her mind when it was common that young women didn’t speak up at all or simply repeated the words of their father or husband, is questioned by a man who embodies the ideals of the Edwardian era. His questioning of her shows just how perplexing it can be to see progress or even to understand that it’s okay that a person can think differently from you. Similarly to my story, this friend who questioned my voice embodies American ideologies that are commonly shared by a certain generation who find it difficult to understand the forward-thinking of our generation. The questioning of my unfamiliar voice is a reminder of how long I have been silent and have tempered my anger regarding racism because I have been censored by social groups that did not allow me to speak my mind. I was always confronted by the following gaslighting retorts:
“Why do you always play the race card?”
“You’re not black, so why do you care?!”
Or even worse, the response of blank stares and silence.
But thank goodness for the friend who was frustrated on my behalf exclaiming, “we are shocked by your anger because we’ve never made it safe for you to speak up! Shame on us!”
And to the other friend who told me to stop apologizing for being angry.
I’m also sharing this experience with you because I’m very aware that right now, many people are canceling white books. Instead of canceling white books that are beloved by many, including people of color, what we can do is to better teach these stories in a more global context, using these stories to critique the ideas that inhabit our era and most importantly to understand where these ideologies came from. Because when I read how these high-class British characters, who had the luxury to vacay as they please, and we’re being racist to Italians and hating on the poor, I was like, “Damn! Rich white people have been doing this for eons!” This is how deep racist attitudes are and that it isn’t just inherent to our place and our time. If we can finally expose this part of our history in every work and then every context we will be better equipped to fight this fight because unfortunately as the work of anti-racism grows stronger so does the work for racism and we can do better to add as many tools to our tool belt!
But I don’t know. Complex emotions surrounding colonialism, racism, invisibility, othering, gaslighting, and the fact that I could nevertheless identify with and learn from its characters notwithstanding, are what I got out of A Room with a View. Maybe it’s just me. Because I’m brown. And all I do is make everything about race.
What I’m wearing:
Avavav Long Ruffle Dress
Gigi Pip Straw Hat
