“For a moment, [George] stared at it, as if it had fallen from the sky. He saw radiant joy on her face, he saw the flowers beating against her dress in blue waves. The bushes above them closed. He quickly came forward and kissed her” (Forster 55). This scene from Room with a View by EM Forster triggers a deep internal struggle within Lucy Honeychurch, the novel's protagonist, initiating her quest for true passion and independence. Indeed, this scene illustrates the way in which Forster uses motifs – notably light versus darkness and exterior spaces versus interior spaces – to develop the novel's themes. Throughout A Room with a View, the author uses the motifs of exterior and interior locations, light versus darkness, and Renaissance versus medieval to illustrate themes of freedom from social conventions, value honesty and contrast between the Victorian and Edwardian eras. social ideas. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the original essayForster uses the motif of interior and exterior locations, or rooms and views, to illustrate the shift from traditional Victorian ideals to values Edwardian and to demonstrate the beauty of breaking free from social restrictions. From the beginning of the novel, the narrator associates progressive characters with “opinions.” For example, the first words spoken by Mr. Emerson in the novel are, "I have a view, I have a view," meaning that Emerson's room at the Pension Bertolini has a picturesque view (Forster 4 ). When Lucy Honeychurch enters her room, she opens the window and breathes in "the pure night air", but when Miss Bartlett enters a room, she immediately closes the shutters and locks the door (Forster 11). By pairing modern, progressive characters with views and more traditional characters with rooms early in the novel, Forster indicates that the interior spaces symbolize restrictive social conventions, while the large exterior spaces and views reflect open-mindedness and innovative ideas. This motif takes on even greater significance in light of England's shift in the early 20th century from traditional Victorian society to more modern Edwardian culture. Therefore, throughout the novel the contrast between exterior and interior spaces parallels the contrast between socially conservative, older characters such as Miss Bartlett and Mrs Honeychurch and avant-garde Edwardian era characters such as George and Mr. Emerson. The pattern of the rooms in relation to the views also accentuates the value of freedom from social conventions. Cecil, the embodiment of upper-class snobbery and small societal values, is compared to a “parlor” with no view (Forster 86). In contrast, during one of the novel's most refreshing scenes, George, Freddy, and Mr. Beebe frolic in the open air near the Sacred Lake, a place symbolic of freedom from social conventions (Forster 106). When the three undress, they shed the burden of social conventions, and their joy in frolicking around the lake illustrates the happiness found in liberation from the norm. Therefore, the motif of outside versus inside allows Forster to contrast Victorian ideas with Edwardian ones and highlight how the absence of social conventions can bring true joy. In addition to using this motif, Forster also uses the motif of light versus darkness to communicate his theme of honesty versus deception. One of the clearest examples of this motif occurs when George kisses Lucy, 1995.