How far was and is the "Condition of England" a dystopian society? Discuss in reference to "Howard's...

8/6/2019 How far was and is the "Condition of England" a dystopian society? Discuss in reference to "Howard's End" and "S

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How far was and is the Condition of England a dystopian society?

Discuss in relation to Howards End and Saturday.

Unreal city,

Under the brown fog of a winter dawn,

A crowd flowed over London Bridge, so many,

I had not thought death had undone so many.

- T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land


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December 2009

Dystopia', defined in the dictionary says: a society in which everything is bad1. Dystopia in such

novels as A Clockwork Orange, manifests as a broken society, riddled with ultra-violence and

killing2

for pleasure, beyond the reach of prayer3, and a totalitarian government that allows no

choice and has the good imposed. Eliots poem shows a barren depiction of brown land4

to

represent a dead society. However, whilst these texts are widely accepted as dystopic visions, I aim,

here, to discover how close to them we have come in the past and present. Dissecting the societies

depicted in Saturday and Howards End into their irreducible components of social measure

happiness, equality, morality, conflict, purpose will illuminate the overall condition of England then

and now and offer a glimpse of the future. The face of Britain can be seen to change a great deal

over the course of a century, from a commonwealth, a class-driven, rich-white-male-dominant

society, to a scientific climax of brazen, outspoken characters in an American-allied country at war

and under threat from terrorism, yet neither novel really makes a case for having become a better,

stronger country of unity. What might be called utopia is only seen fleetingly, so the question

seems to be whether England is spiralling towards, already in, or clambering out from: dystopia.

Both Forster and McEwans English citizens seldom seem to experience moments of true happiness.

The constant presence of the sea5

, waves6

and the tide7

in Howards Endcan be seen as an

intertextual reference to Dover Beach. In Arnolds picture, the pebbles which the waves draw back,

1COE Dictionary

2A.Burgess,A Clockwork Orange, p92

3Burgess, p76

4T.S.Eliot, The Waste Land, Selected Poems, p48

5E.M.Forster, Howards End, p275

6Forster, p169

7Forster, p241


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and fling/...bring the eternal note of sadness in8. Where the sea is the human misery, the pebbles

are humanity. This links in with an idea of futility in the novels, and portrays an eternal force

restlessly washing society in misery, a key component in dystopia.

Happiness is seen by Perowne in the protest-rally, which, as a display of discontent, is the place

we least expect it. Perowne questions this happiness

9

; but let us explore that itis genuine. The

fundamental human exchange10

, is a moment [of]purity and innocencestripped down to the

essentials of being, bringing people together. Perowne never sustains this connection for very

long, more often feeling that people are close by, unaware of hi[s]isolation. Similarly, something

had come between11

Margaret and Helen, isolating them from each other in unhappy[ness]12

. In

addition the moon, the tides invisible power, draws the book to its climatic centre, illuminating the

night before Basts death. Moonlight streams down the long meadow13

, sparks Henrys long-

overdue epiphany that things are connected with something far greater14, and is a clenched

fistgoing to touch15

Leonard. This essential lunar thread connecting each life to another clarifies

lifes daily gray16

and, as we will see, brings unity to the Schlegel-Wilcox future. Thus the

demonstrators happiness is a product of being together out on the streets17, connecting with

themselves[and] other[s]. They interrupt the attack-waves of traffic18

, highlighting the isolation

of drivers insulated19

behind windows and doors, stuck in six lanes east and west20

of sadness:

dystopia, not merely present, is prolific.

So if dystopia comes from isolation, in connected moments it must dissolve into utopia. The

art21

, literature, and music which spill over the pages, thrust reader and character into this

connectedness, joining musician and listener, artist and viewer, writer and reader in their own

world. Arnolds poem by offering this connection with Daisy, foils Baxters plan. And amidst twelve-

8

M.Arnold, Dover Beach, qtd in McEwan, p2819

I.McEwan, Saturday, p6910

McEwan, p85-611

Forster here and following, p28812

p291-213

p30314

p31715

p31316

p150-117

McEwan, p6918

McEwan, p12219

Winston and Marshall, The Shadows of History: The Condition of EnglandinNice Work, p1120

McEwan, p16821

McEwan, p142


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bar blues22, Schubert23 and Beethoven24, the passion oflife becomes more vivid. Perowne

discovers a coherent world25

, where all conflicts resolve. However even in this utopian

community, no one can ever agree and it is only briefly realised. Again, we hear music (a

wistful Aria26

) when Perowne operates, knowing precisely what hes doing, and here we concede

that such human endeavours gleam as utopia. However, the operating theatre is once more an

isolated bubble, for without even exiting the hospital we can see an example of resignation27

to

dystopia: the hospital toilet, evidently once hopeful that people could simply raise the seat, now

merely offers a number to call when somebody does not. There is rubbish that has been lying there

for months, warnings of thievery, and a timid question rather than a direct instruction to discard

towels. In effect, these signs are asking doctors, possibly amongst the most intelligent stratum of

society, to maintain a minute segment of utopia, but in the impersonal, disconnected form of

graffiti, the answer received is a simple resounding: no. It seems that utopia is not only

unsustainable, but the little pockets in which it is contained are constantly besieged by dystopia.

Replacing happiness is the constant fear28

, parallel to Iraq where terrorhold[s] the nation

together. Much of this is inflicted by the constant invasion29 of news reports floating in the

background: when playing squash Perowne suffers an infection from the public domain, then

driving he is confronted with every device[showing] the Prime Minister30

, and later the lavish

cooking descriptions are interspersed with contrasting sections about the military31

in Iraq. A

reliance upon such daily newslowers his spirits causing anxieties over false scenarios. At the

nursing home the screen above32

Lily details the march and the blackened fuselage,

mentioning a terrorist attack and radical Muslims, pulling Perowne into a deception of

speculation33. This England, with bouncers34 on hospital doors, is one of ever-present pre-

emptive fear. General fear, misery, and isolation in public: clear intimations of dystopia so far.

22McEwan, p170-2

23McEwan, p77

24Forster, p45

25McEwan here and following , p172

26p248-50

27p247

28p64

29p108

30p140

31p178-80

32p166-7

33McEwan, p180


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A constant dystopian theme is the clash between opposing forces instead of harmony. One of the

biggest sources of this clash is what Jeremy Paxman calls small-mindedness, hypocrisy, and

prejudice35

. Ever-present and widely acceptable in Howards End, inequalities separate all manner of

social sectors. An early example of this is the clash between classes when Mrs Bast visits Wickham

Place. Helens extreme excitement36

is like a child at the zoo, admiring the rare species but openly

conscious of her own superiority. Helen shows no regard for the incompetent...admirable

creature[s] grief over her missing husband and having to confront his possible mistress. Henry

expresses societys view of the poor more explicitly, saying they must be kept at a distance37

. This

attitude reflects that the rich have educational, material supremacy, but that the poor are

fundamentally inferior.

Winder discusses racial inequality. Foreign38 soldiers fighting for England in WWI proved

allegiance yet still discrimination was sharp and tactless because of years of longing for home. In

Howards End, although before the war, this same reasoning applies to Pauls disparaging use of

piccaninnies39 deriving from his years stationed in Africa. Although peripheral, often indefinite, it is

dropped like a long accepted fact that the Anglo-Indian ladies were always last40

, their status less

important than the indigenous Wilcoxes or even the German Schlegels. Seemingly race is important,

so perhaps also the underlying resentment: Margaret was as bad as her sister41

due to German

heritage.

Women are consistently undermined by the male masterly ways42

. Those like Dolly do not fight

this, merely waiting to be told43

what to do and think. We see Margaret, who describes it as no

small business to remain herself44, joining Dolly. Although initially fighting the will of men, she

declares she wont45

leave Aunt Juley; jumps from a moving vehicle as a woman in revolt46

;

34McEwan, p244

35J.Paxman, The English, p3

36Forster, p120

37Forster, p150

38R.Winder, Bloody Foreigners, p279-80

39Forster here and following, p331

40p210

41p316

42p185

43p319

44p220

45p191


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informs Henry not to be so chivalrous47; but she eventually submits: she does leave Swanage

saying I do want to see the Charleses48

; she returns from revolt in agreement that she was

naughty49

; and only half expresses her view against chivalry commenting that she knew why... but

said she did not50

. Henry steals little pieces of her, by the end she protest[s] no more...Henry right

or wrong...she must trust him absolutely

51

. Even Helen briefly liked giving in to Mr Wilcox

52

and

writes with excitement: when I said I believed in equality he... gave me such a setting down as I had

never had53

. Openly, the rich belittle the poor and men dominate women, but most disturbingly,

most indicative of dystopia in England, is that it is acceptable to society. It goes further: equality

seems socially unacceptable.

In Saturday, equality appears much less of a problem than in Howards End. Despite the views of

racialists54

like Enoch Powell,55

, men and women of various races56

appear seamlessly integrated

into British society. The Iraqi professor57 is pro-Britain, and Perowne does not differentiate him

and anyone else in his life. Similarly, the dark-skinned58

newsreaders colour is slipped into her

description along with attractive and surprise[d], without diminishing her status. Demonstrating

the strength and freedom of women, male-dominant relationships are inverted as Perowne is said to

belong to59

Daisy, and later she is unwilling to submit to his relativist60

argument. Even the less

fortunate and diseased appear equal as Perowne treats Baxter as a universal patient: [in theatre

the] individualdisappears61

.

However this version of equality is not universal, shown by Paxmans description of malicious

hate-mail he received, saying dont move nigger62

. In this light, closer scrutiny ofSaturday, traces

46p212

47p219

48 p19449

p21350

p21951

p27952

p3753

p2154

I.Aitken, Mr Heath dismisses Mr Powell for 'racialist' speech, The Guardian55

E.Powell; Rivers of Blood speech56

McEwan here and following, p27257

p6258

p6959

p18360

p19261

McEwan p24862

Paxman p19


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inequality sharply into focus. Daisy submits to Grammaticus: allowing him the last word63;

Perowne also inwardly disapproves of her promiscuity: [her pregnancy is] an insult64

, despite her

being in love and ignoring his own sons treatment of his last girlfriend65

and girls before that.

When the aeroplane pilots are arrested, the only question is: are the Russian pilots really radical

Muslims

66

?N

ot: are they terrorists? When it transpires that they are Christians

67

they seem

absolved of any possible terrorism, revealing Islamic discrimination. Additionally, one would expect

equality, if possible, to reside with doctors, because of a mutual respect for the pressure and skill of

their roles. However these colleagues embrace... prejudices... that neurosurgeons arefools68

. If

even the most educated, skilled humans, cannot find equality, how should it be found elsewhere?

Paxman observes that geography matters: it makes people who they are69

, implying the human

condition is to distinguish oneself and naturally use this advantageously, for example Baxter

intimidates using superior strength whilst Perowne uses superior knowledge to gain freedom.

Complete equality seems impossible. Present at both ends of a century, dystopia is alive in England

for those discriminated against.

Money and capitalism are another source of dystopia in England. InHowards End, it is not birthright

which distinguishes class, but hierarchy is defined instead by wealth, higher and lower becoming

leisure and working. Margaret, of the leisure class, with an effortless 600 a year, has no problem

marrying a working-class husband because he too is rich, and thus his class is unimportant. Forster

comments that we are not concerned with the very poor70

, but makes no mention of the

significance of class in this. Moreover the novel admires the workers, saying: if Wilcoxes hadnt

worked and died in Englandthere would be no[thing]to carry us literary peoplejust savagery71.

63McEwan here and following, p201

64p240

65p31

66p167

67p179

68p86

69Paxman p3


71p177


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However despite cohabitation, conflicting ideals lead to a Schlegel-Wilcox battle. From their first

encounter we see Aunt Juley made furious, saying Mr Wilcox... Id box your ears72

; coupled with

the incompatibility of Helen and Paul, the reader is immediately alerted to the clash. Conflict

continues with the constant discord between the romantic literary and the practical business,

between things as they are and as they ought to be

73

.

Henry is rather judgemental against the poor. Class is definitely malleable in his hands, for even

though he, like Leonard, is working class, his dogged pursuit of money allows him all the same

luxuries as the Schlegels and more, for it is they who find themselves without a house and turn to

him for help. The business man thrives at the cost of self-denial74

: he does not have the inherited

freedoms of the Schlegels, nor literary and cultural experience - said to develop the soul75

, and

although he claims to have scruples76

, it is difficult to find a situation where he uses them. He

creates a dystopian world of self-isolation (they knew their own business and he knew his77),

unconnected, as discussed earlier, by avoid[ing] the personal note in life[as] Wilcoxes did78

. He

treats interactions as if they were a business proposition79

, his face unmoved behind his

fortress80.

The Schlegels explore the juxtaposition of rich against poor in their discussion group. However, in

a closed group populated only by the rich, the hypothetical situation of poverty is a mere fantasy,

which does not and will never exist for them. In trying to give the poor a little of the world81

, they

forget...that whats a joke up here is down there reality82

, a distinction made clear by the two

contrasting adventure[s]83

of Leonard. When he is employed, he travels into the North Downs84

to see...outside, in essence, to find a little of the world. Yet his later journey to Howards End is

because of something inside him now85: he is his own reality which he first sought externally, and

72p35

73p229

74p132

75p134

76p278

77Forster here and following p165

78p101

79pp.298-300

80p300

81p134

82p72/3

83p315

84p126-7

85p310


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it is provided by his squalor and tragedy86. Dystopia seems highly evident in a world where the

least fortunate have to deal with the harshest realities, where the rich... squeeze the poor87

and

the whole world [is] pulling88

at already troubled men like Baxter and Leonard, whilst without any

effort and despite bungling withmoney89

, those of leisure such as Helen [become] rather

richer.

Leonard is the representation of the poor90

, moving from a position where he would have died

sooner than confess any inferiority to the rich, to one where he is entering the abyss91

in which

people counted no more, and there is nothing [hes] good enough to do. It is demonstrated that

theres never any great risk as long as you have money92

because it pads the edges of things. For

Leonard, teetering on the extreme verge93

of poverty, there is no stability, and it is the single

interference of the rich which sets him wobbling and swaying until he finally falls and becomes an

indigent wastrel...exploit[ing]94 money from his family. For him, poverty is dystopia, and that the

rich drive through it in plush cars, flaunting their wealth, oblivious to the reality of his situation and

the ever-difficult task of paying bills and buying food, makes his life of little things95

, such as the

lost umbrella and penny96 tram-fares, seem isolated and helpless, only adding to his turmoil.

At the end of the novel, Margaret has learned a little of the poor and the fatality of their position,

and decides to give away...money97

, halving her yearly income. This change in attitude from doing

good to one98

is indicative of a world change. The discussion of Henrys will insinuates the death of

the business mind, and presents the question posed by Winston and Marshall: who will inherit

England99

? The inclusion of the illegitimate child of Leonard and Helen in the inheritance symbolises

that legitimacy and class will no longer play any significant part in Englands future. Furthermore, in

their analysis Winston and Marshall use Kazins astute observation that Pauls use of the word

86p315

87McEwan,, p92


89p252

90p58

91p225

92p72

93p58

94p309

95p236

96p59

97p331

98p134

99Winston and Marshall, p15-6


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piccaninnies100 broadens class ignominy101 into an issue of race. Considering also the

observation that the future England, neither black nor white, will be gray, Forster is making an

extremely modern and intuitive observation: the illegitimate child, playing during this time outside in

the hayfield - whilst the Wilcox family assemble indoors - is more than just a symbol of hope for an

equal future; he is also a symbol a stronger, more powerful future of unity, for his mixed genotype

eradicates the inherent Wilcox weakness which haunts and hinders the family: hay fever102

(retort

of nature). In these hands of the future, Howards End passes to the embodied coexistence of nature

and humanity, rich and poor, men and women; perhaps to flourish in Utopia. However, the business

world, in which the Wilcoxes were the wheels of the machine103

, is stretched in Saturdayinto the

thunderous idling machinery...104

: the entire city is now made up of Wilcoxes, each a part of the

machine, and the cohesive future for which Forster hoped, did not materialise : the rich richer; the

poor poorer dystopian decline.

Absent in Howards End, a reflection of the modern world in Saturday is the exploration of the

ultimate conflict: war. It starts with a re-enactment of the September attacks105 as Perowne

watches the burning plane feeling once again helplessly culpable106

. Further references to the

coming war107

are ubiquitous, even mentioned in the operating theatre. Perowne also recollects

the proliferation of wars and violence percolating human history, listing from the Suez crisis108

to

the IRA. Although the Iraq war is only present by its looming proximity, from a distance we see the

national discontent it causes: the rally features frequently in the news slices and presents an

obstruction109

to Perowne's day. Paxman describes the English as having a remarkable

indifference110, but in Saturday, the two million111 dissenters112 who rallied against the Iraq war

were pushed so far beyond their intrinsic resignation, compelled, they acted against an unheeding

100Forster, p331

101Qtd. in Winston and Marshall, p16

102Forster, p19

103Forster, p220


105p31

106p22

107p248

108p31-2

109p140

110Paxman p132

111BBC news, Million' march against Iraq war, said that organisers put the figure close to two million



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government. However the main representation of war is enfolded into the Perownes personal life,

manifesting as an energetic argument113

with Daisy the appeaser114

. Their heated debate

(hesa hawk) and strong opinions (radical Islam hates your freedom115

) mimic the battle front

in Iraq, as well as the unrest and discontent among the English people. So too does the squash

match, a personal battle arising not only with the American Strauss, and in trying to make an

assertion of his privacy116

, he further enters into the British publics combat117

against the

American war policy. The combatant attitude, serious discontent, and looming war present a

country torn in two by turmoil, a persuasive dynamic for the presence of dystopia.

The representations of youth in Saturday, offer a glimpse into Englands future. Baxter is one such

glimpse, showing a violent disposition118

and instability. These attributes, as discussed by

Scarman, are not confined to Baxter but a growing culture of violence in England, culminating now in

happy-slaps and knife-crimes. This is seen also in Howards Endwith Charles assault on Bast. In

Saturday it is Baxters genotype, defunct due to an error of repetition119

, which causes his

violence (hes waving a knife120), as not only does it impair him, but allows him freedom from long-

term consequence, and disregard for life. He shares these qualities with Alex inA Clockwork Orange;

each breaks into the home of a writer and violently inflicts fear. This correlation is McEwan voicing

that England occupies the same obscene dystopia as Alex: the future is now. Everyday rituals the

repeated structure of twelve-bar blues121

coming backback to the lifting refrain, and later the

pre-surgical routine calm[ing] him122

are indicative of Baxters flawed DNA-repetition inherent in

society, the human mistakes of 1910 continuing in 2003. We are all doomed to dystopia by an

incurable disease irrevocably lodged in our human essence.

Whilst Baxter is one possible future, Saturday presents us with Daisy, who engages in world

affairs with an avid affinity and drive to be the best in her field. Having been to university, she has

113p92

114p193

115p191

116p108

117p112

118Qtd. in Hall, From Scarman to Stephen Lawrence, [via JSTOR]

119McEwan here and following, p93-4

120p226

121p170-1

122p247


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furthered herself, secured a future, is good at standing her ground123, dominated by no one, not

even Baxter breaks her confidence124

and as the two youths battle for the control of Englands

future she outwits the rogue by manipulating his emotions. Grammaticus too tries to lock horns with

Daisy, but she has taken the skills he taught her and honed them; she is no longer a student and her

knowledge has out-grown one more tutor

125

in breadth and accuracy. As the future overtakes the

past we begin to see the crossover of roles. This idea continues with Theo, although he is not as

advanced as Daisy for he is younger. An officialof the electronic age126

, however, he is a talented

musician, playing with exuberance and expertise127

to create [un]usual, unworldly melodies

and rhythms. These glimpses of virtuosic youth contrast the bleak generation which Baxter offers. So

we can see that perhaps Englands future may not only hold dystopia but hope too.

On the other hand, Theo speaks to his father soothingly... and at the end, Perowne is saved by

his son leaping up the stairs128. Although momentary in these instances, through the reversal and

interchangeability of their roles, we see what could be considered the dissecting and reassembling

of a broken society into an unnatural inversion of life. The biggest example of this is a completed

transition between roles: Henry and Lily Perowne. Lily cannot comprehend the present - like her

photographs which only contain the past - and thus the purpose of conversation is not to bring her

news129

, but to offer comfort. Like a baby hearing its mothers voice in the womb, she warms to

the emotional tone of a friendly conversation. The most basal relationship of mother and child is

broken. As we have seen, not only is parent now child, but teacher student, friend opponent, and

public personal. Perhaps this topsy-turvy world of reversed roles is symbolic of a dystopian society.

Religion should provide a moral compass for the individual, but in the novels, as in Arnolds poem,

the sea of faith[is] retreating130

from England. Howards End demonstrates this by the

unspiritual131

Schlegels, repeated use of the word gods132

instead of the Christian singular god,

123p199

124p221

125p201

126p31

127McEwan (here and following), p170

128p227

129p163

130Arnold, Dover Beach

131Forster (here and following), p133


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as well as the belief that achievements not actions will win us immortality and musings on the

sexes code of morality instead of a religious one.

Mr Wilcox is an irreligious figure, for unlike the saints133

he does not love the Infinite and

has neglected his soul in favour of the material (collect[ing] houses134

). He deceives Margaret by

going without her

135

to see Helen, and what he says is not [always] the truth. Scruples

136

seem

to evade his grasp as he remorselessly137

tricked his dying wife into a nursing-home with ethics

from the wolf-pack. It seems that without religion, he has lost his morals.

The decline is further noted when Leonard enters St Pauls partly to avoid the rainpartly to see

a picture138

, not because of any Christian motivation. That the light [is] bad and what educated

him in former years is now ill-placed, imitates the displacement of God in England. Although the

church brings him together with Margaret and the lust for redemption begins here, the suggestion

of Gods involvement is tenuous in context with the novel, and perhaps should be viewed as mere

inspiration of the church.

Conversely, Grammaticus, pondering the BT tower and deducing that anyone from the

eighteenth century would think of it as a religious building139, is completely uninspired. This

epitomises the contemporary state of the sincerely godless140

England, for where this tower would

have been built to reach closer to and commune with God, now its purpose is to communicate with

each othervia the telephone. Are we of the technology-age now the almighty creators?

Saturdaycertainly seems like an argument towards this, for it shows us the power of human

beings. Perowne contemplates how matter becomes conscious, something which might be

considered the ultimate gift from God, but the only kind of faith he has is that the secret will be

revealed by humanity instead. Perowne rests his fingers on Baxters brain with the dream of the

healing touch141

. However it is not a dream; the doctor, god-like, saves lives for a living, and

acknowledges how easy to damage they are. God was the giver and taker of life, and his son the

132p238

133p187-8

134p173

135p280

136p278

137p277

138p310

139McEwan, p197

140McEwan, p32

141McEwan,p254-5


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saviour and healer, but now the creator is childish...142 and Christ an orphan and mankind

occupies those positions.

Religion in Howards Endis collapsing, but the church is still a distant feature in the background.

When we trace this through the course of a century, we are brought to a resounding corollary:

Baxter. In Saturday, he is free enough to kill

143

, showing morality as absent. Where the idea of

God, once inspired remorse144

, now a religious vacuum and genetics cause evil. Religion has

completely relinquished its position to the worship of science and practice immorality, and without

it, characters like Baxter lead England into dystopia.

In the place of religion, it seems that both novels present us with an underlying notion of fate. In

Howards End, Dolly says: ...curious that Mrs Wilcox should have left Margaret Howards End...145

.

What seems curious to Dolly can be seen as fate.

In Saturday, it is said that as soon as it happens, [everything] will seem to fit146

, implicitly

impressing fate upon readers. We see also several mentions of Schrdinger's cat147

, to illustrate

potentials exist[ing] side by side. Perowne perceives, whatever the score, it is already chalked

up148

: the destiny of the cat is predetermined, before the box is even made. When Baxter and

Perowne are in confrontation he is cast in a role149

, drawing parallel with the cat, and

inescapability. This idea of fate draws out the feeling of futility from the novel, for it appears that

whatever we do, there can be no escape from the future. In this crevice, dystopia can be seen

lurking, for we are all Schrdinger's cat, Shakespeare's players trapped in boxes which we label

life: little windows of time which allow us our scripted access to the world.

Henry Wilcoxs belief that personal actions count for nothing, and there will always be rich and

poor150

also suggests a serious futility to life. According to this philosophy, whether the Schlegel

sisters had interfered or not, Basts fate was determined. The name of Leonard's employer,

142McEwan,p122

143McEwan, p226

144Forster, p311

145Forster, p331

146McEwan, p87

147McEwan, p18

148McEwan, p19

149McEwan, p86

150Forster, p249


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Porphyrion151, brings with it distinct connotations of this. The closest word to it is porphyria,

defined as:

A rare hereditary disorder of haemoglobin metabolism

causing mental disturbance, extreme sensitivity to light,

and excretion of dark pigments in the urine.

152

Towards the end of Leonard's life there were a series of unexplainable events: brown rain

descended into vision; his sudden desire to confess; his ...not see[ing the parlourmaids] face; his

disintegrating dialogues with himself; he hallucinated a blue snake, obsessed over sun and

moonlight, and feels a knife...[in] his heart153

. Anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, brown-urine and

chest pains are all symptoms of porphyria. It seems that Basts fate can be accounted for at the

level of a complex molecule154; whether Henry had given him a job, or the Schlegels had never met

him, his genetic code had already condemned him.

We have to die155

, Helen says, and she is right. Whilst the life of Bast is futile, far worse is

Baxter's, for he is aware of his fixed and easily foretold156 future, and has to continue living with

the knowledge that he is heading towards a meaningless end. With this future, death would be

bliss, and it seems futile of Perowne to save him. But when we dissect the truth behind Baxters

bleak outlook, it is not that different from our own. The single certainty on Earth is that everyone

has to die, and anyone could contract a fatal disease like Ruth Wilcox, or be hit by a bookcase or

slowly descend into old-age and dementia. So for Henry, saving Baxter's life is as futile as saving

anyone.

One of the clearest examples of futility is Perowne observing the road-sweeper, pink-faced157

through his efforts against a rising tide of rubbish, spreading thickly..., a daily blizzard of litter158

.

Later, when the demonstration is over, Gower Street is even deeper with mounds of food...and

151Forster, p139

152COE Dictionary

153Forster, p311-5

154McEwan, p91

155Forster, p236

156McEwan, p93-4

157McEwan, p73

158McEwan, p74


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discarded placards159. After a whole day behind the broom, they may have only just begun.

However another facet of futility arises from this scene, as by the next day the statesclean up

having erased all evidence that the rally took place. The futility of life, of going against the system, of

trying to avoid fate; these breed discontent, and hopelessness, all contributing to the dystopia of

England and a resignation to it.

In conclusion it seems whichever stone we upend, there is at least a morsel of discontent, inequality,

or conflict, which culminates in much bigger events, such as the war and rally, the plane crash and

invasive media, all propagating fear and unhappiness leading us into an unseen future. All of the

wider issues facing England are reflected in Perowne's life with arguments and games. In both

novels, futility festers when all are diagnosed with death and fate steals freewill. Wealth, as seen in

Howards End, favours the fortunate, whilst the poor get decidedly less fortunate. Religion falls into

disrepute in Howards Endand non-existence in Saturday, society domineered instead by science,

technology and culture. But whilst these expand and thrive, sotoo do violence and immorality, and

control hands to knife-wielding children. Saturday demolishes Forster's positive outlook for the

future, showing the transpired reality, and entangling Englands future with Baxters; he interrupts

Perownes leisure, invades his family-home, and calls him away to work he is the inescapable truth,

buffeting against every door of Perowne's life, infecting the very country with the incurable disease

buried deep in his essence.

Howards End is a warning to England, advice of how things were, and how to fix them. But

Saturday, most pertinent to our times, is what they are. It is difficult to solidify an answer to the

question of whether we are in dystopia, for it is a relative term: whilst Baxter and Bast, and their

representations of Englands future, are clearly dystopic, Perowne and Wilcoxs predicaments leave

more to interpretation. It depends also on the person, for example Alex in A Clockwork Orange

misses dystopia when he can be part of it no more, implying that for him, dystopia is utopia. The

question perhaps should be: can we ever not be in dystopia? For at any given point, someone's

experiencing nothing good is in their life. Is dystopia, when not confined to England a human

159McEwan, p243


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condition? Perhaps dystopia was too strong a word for the world of 1910, or even 2003, but it is

certain that England was, and is still, declining towards it. Returning to our original comparison, we

can see that England is not quite the dystopia of Alexs malenky160

world, but given how much

closer it is in Saturday than in Howards End, if we continue the decline, another century could

obliterate the memory that there even was an England where dystopia was an avoidable potential. If

we are able to pull back from the brink, remains to be seen, and relies on whether this next

generation with more willing hearts and brighter intellects than have gone before, can learn from

the mistakes of history.

Word count: 5463

160Burgess, p24


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Bibliography:

AITKEN, Ian. Mr Heath Dismisses Mr Powell for 'Racialist' Speech, The Guardian. 22 Apr 1968.

ARNOLD, Matthew. Dover Beach. (reprinted at the end ofSaturday)

BBCN

EWS. Million March Aga

inst Iraq War. < http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2765041.stm> (16 Feb 2003)

BURGESS, Anthony.A Clockwork Orange. Penguin: 1972.

ELIOT, T.S. The Waste Land, Selected Poems. Faber: 2002.

FORSTER, E.M.; Howards End, ed. Oliver Stallybrass. Penguin: 2000.

HALL, Stuart. From Scarman to Stephen Lawrence, History Workshop Journal, 48. Oxford: 1999. [via JSTOR]

Learning about Porphyria

MARSHALL, Timothy; WINSTON, Robert P. The Shadows of History: the Condition of England in Nice Work,

Critique: Studies in Contemporary Fiction, 44.1. 2002.

MCEWAN, Ian. Saturday. Vintage: 2006.

PAXMAN, Jeremy. The English. Penguin: 2007.

POWELL, Enoch. Rivers of Blood speech. April 20 1968.

Quoted on

ROTH, Andrew. Enoch Powell: ToryTribune. Macdonald: 1970.

WINDER, Robert. Brothers in Arms, Bloody Foreigners. Abacus; 2005.

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