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

1
December 2009

‘Dystopia', defined in the dictionary says: “a society in which everything is bad” 1. Dystopia in such

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

killing”2 for pleasure, “beyond the reach of prayer” 3, and a totalitarian government that allows no

“choice” and “has the good imposed”. Eliot’s poem shows a barren depiction of “brown land” 4 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 McEwan’s English citizens seldom seem to experience moments of true happiness.

The constant presence of the “sea” 5, “waves”6 and the “tide”7 in Howards End can be seen as an

intertextual reference to Dover Beach. In Arnold’s picture, the “pebbles which the waves draw back,

1
COE Dictionary
2
A.Burgess, A Clockwork Orange, p92
3
Burgess, p76
4
T.S.Eliot, ‘The Waste Land’, Selected Poems, p48
5
E.M.Forster, Howards End, p275
6
Forster, p169
7
Forster, p241

1
and fling/...bring the eternal note of sadness in” 8. 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 it is genuine. The

“fundamental human exchange”10, is a “moment [of]…purity and innocence…stripped 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 between”11 Margaret and Helen, isolating them from each other in “unhappy[ness]” 12. In

addition the moon, the tide’s invisible power, draws the book to its climatic centre, illuminating the

night before Bast’s death. Moonlight streams “down the long meadow” 13, sparks Henry’s long-

overdue epiphany that things are “connected with something far greater” 14, and is “a clenched fist…

going to touch”15 Leonard. This essential lunar thread connecting each life to another clarifies “life’s

daily gray”16 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 streets” 17, connecting with “themselves…[and]

other[s]”. They interrupt the “attack-waves of traffic” 18, highlighting the isolation of drivers

“insulated”19 behind windows and doors, stuck in “six lanes east and west” 20 of sadness: dystopia,

not merely present, is prolific.

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

“art”21, 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

8
M.Arnold, Dover Beach, qtd in McEwan, p281
9
I.McEwan, Saturday, p69
10
McEwan, p85-6
11
Forster here and following, p288
12
p291-2
13
p303
14
p317
15
p313
16
p150-1
17
McEwan, p69
18
McEwan, p122
19
Winston and Marshall, ‘The Shadows of History: The “Condition of England” in Nice Work’, p11
20
McEwan, p168
21
McEwan, p142

1
world. Arnold’s poem by offering this connection with Daisy, foils Baxter’s plan. And amidst “twelve-

bar blues”22, “Schubert”23 and “Beethoven”24, the “passion of…life becomes more vivid”. Perowne

discovers a “coherent world”25, 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 Aria”26) when Perowne operates, “knowing precisely what he’s 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 “resignation” 27 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 fear” 28, parallel to Iraq where “terror…hold[s] the nation

together”. Much of this is inflicted by the constant “invasion” 29 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 Minister” 30, and later the lavish

cooking descriptions are interspersed with contrasting sections about the “military” 31 in Iraq. A

reliance upon such “daily news” “lowers his spirits” causing “anxieties” over false scenarios. At the

nursing home the “screen above”32 Lily details “the march” and “the blackened fuselage”,

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

22
McEwan, p170-2
23
McEwan, p77
24
Forster, p45
25
McEwan here and following , p172
26
p248-50
27
p247
28
p64
29
p108
30
p140
31
p178-80
32
p166-7

1
“speculation”33. This England, with “bouncers” 34 on hospital doors, is one of ever-present pre-

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

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

prejudice”35. 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. Helen’s “extreme excitement” 36 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 society’s view of the poor more explicitly, saying they must be kept “at a distance” 37. This

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

fundamentally inferior.

Winder discusses racial inequality. “Foreign” 38 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 Paul’s disparaging use of

“piccaninnies”39 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 last” 40, 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 sister” 41 due to German

heritage.

Women are consistently undermined by the male “masterly ways” 42. Those like Dolly do not fight

this, merely waiting to be “told” 43 what to do and think. We see Margaret, who describes it as “no
33
McEwan, p180
34
McEwan, p244
35
J.Paxman, The English, p3
36
Forster, p120
37
Forster, p150
38
R.Winder, Bloody Foreigners, p279-80
39
Forster here and following, p331
40
p210
41
p316
42
p185
43
p319

1
small business to remain herself”44, joining Dolly. Although initially fighting the will of men, she

declares she “won’t”45 leave Aunt Juley; jumps from a moving vehicle as a “woman in revolt” 46;

informs Henry not to be so “chivalrous” 47; but she eventually submits: she does leave Swanage

saying “I do want to see the Charleses” 48; she returns from revolt in agreement that she was

“naughty”49; and only half expresses her view against chivalry commenting that “she knew why... but

said she did not”50. 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 had”53. 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

“racialists”54 like Enoch Powell,55, “men and women of various races”56 appear seamlessly integrated

into British society. The “Iraqi professor” 57 is pro-Britain, and Perowne does not differentiate him

and anyone else in his life. Similarly, the “dark-skinned” 58 newsreader’s 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 to”59 Daisy, and later she is unwilling to submit to his “relativist” 60 argument. Even the less

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

the] individual…disappears”61.
44
p220
45
p191
46
p212
47
p219
48
p194
49
p213
50
p219
51
p279
52
p37
53
p21
54
I.Aitken, ‘Mr Heath dismisses Mr Powell for 'racialist' speech’, The Guardian
55
E.Powell; ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech
56
McEwan here and following, p272
57
p62
58
p69
59
p183
60
p192
61
McEwan p248

1
 However this version of equality is not universal, shown by Paxman’s description of malicious

hate-mail he received, saying “don’t move nigger” 62. In this light, closer scrutiny of Saturday, traces

inequality sharply into focus. Daisy submits to Grammaticus: allowing him the “last word” 63;

Perowne also inwardly disapproves of her promiscuity: “[her pregnancy is] an insult” 64, despite her

being “in love” and ignoring his own son’s treatment of his “last girlfriend” 65 and “girls” before that.

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

Muslims”66? Not: ‘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 are…fools” 68. 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 are” 69, 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. In Howards 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 poor” 70, but makes no mention of the

62
Paxman p19
63
McEwan here and following, p201
64
p240
65
p31
66
p167
67
p179
68
p86
69
Paxman p3
70
Forster here and following, p58

1
significance of class in this. Moreover the novel admires the workers, saying: “if Wilcoxes hadn’t

worked and died in England…there would be no[thing]…to carry us literary people…just savagery” 71.

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

encounter we see Aunt Juley made “furious”, saying “Mr Wilcox... I’d box your ears” 72; 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-denial” 74: he does not have the inherited

freedoms of the Schlegels, nor literary and cultural experience - said to develop the “soul” 75, and

although he claims to have “scruples”76, 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 his” 77),

unconnected, as discussed earlier, by “avoid[ing] the personal note in life…[as] Wilcoxes did” 78. He

treats interactions as if they “were a business proposition” 79, his “face unmoved” behind “his

fortress”80.

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 world” 81, they

“forget...that what’s a joke up here is down there reality” 82, a distinction made clear by the two

71
p177
72
p35
73
p229
74
p132
75
p134
76
p278
77
Forster here and following p165
78
p101
79
pp.298-300
80
p300
81
p134
82
p72/3

1
contrasting “adventure[s]”83 of Leonard. When he is employed, he travels into the “North Downs” 84

“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 now” 85: he is his own reality which he first sought externally, and

it is provided by his “squalor and tragedy” 86. Dystopia seems highly evident in a world where the

least fortunate have to deal with the harshest realities, where “the rich... squeeze the poor” 87 and

“the whole world [is] pulling” 88 at already troubled men like Baxter and Leonard, whilst without any

effort and despite “bungling with…money” 89, those of leisure such as Helen “[become] rather

richer”.

Leonard is the representation of the “poor” 90, moving from a position where he “would have died

sooner than confess any inferiority to the rich”, to one where he is entering the “abyss” 91 in which

people “counted no more”, and “there is nothing [he’s] good enough to do”. It is demonstrated that

“there’s never any great risk as long as you have money” 92 because it “pads the edges of things”. For

Leonard, teetering on the “extreme verge” 93 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 things” 95, such as “the

lost umbrella” and “penny”96 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...money” 97, halving her yearly income. This change in attitude from doing

83
p315
84
p126-7
85
p310
86
p315
87
McEwan,, p92
88
Forster here and following, p226
89
p252
90
p58
91
p225
92
p72
93
p58
94
p309
95
p236
96
p59
97
p331

1
“good to one”98 is indicative of a world change. The discussion of Henry’s will insinuates the death of

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

England”99? 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 England’s future. Furthermore, in

their analysis Winston and Marshall use Kazin’s “astute observation” that Paul’s use of the word

“piccaninnies”100 broadens “class ignominy”101 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 fever” 102 (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 machine” 103, is stretched in Saturday into 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 attacks” 105 as Perowne

watches the burning plane feeling once again “helplessly culpable” 106. Further references to “the

coming war”107 are ubiquitous, even mentioned in the operating theatre. Perowne also recollects the

proliferation of wars and violence percolating human history, listing from “the Suez crisis” 108 to “the
98
p134
99
Winston and Marshall, p15-6
100
Forster, p331
101
Qtd. in Winston and Marshall, p16
102
Forster, p19
103
Forster, p220
104
McEwan here and following, p168
105
p31
106
p22
107
p248
108
p31-2

1
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

“obstruction”109 to Perowne's day. Paxman describes the English as having a “remarkable

indifference”110, but in Saturday, the two million111 “dissenters”112 who rallied against the Iraq war

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

government. However the main representation of war is enfolded into the Perowne’s personal life,

manifesting as an “energetic argument” 113 with Daisy the “appeaser”114. Their heated debate (“he’s…

a hawk”) and strong opinions (“radical Islam hates your freedom” 115) 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

privacy”116, he further enters into the British public’s “combat” 117 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 England’s future. Baxter is one such

glimpse, showing a violent “disposition” 118 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 End with Charles’ assault on Bast. In

Saturday it is Baxter’s “genotype”, defunct due to an “error of repetition” 119, which causes his

violence (“he’s waving a knife”120), 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 in A Clockwork Orange;

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

109
p140
110
Paxman p132
111
BBC news, ‘Million' march against Iraq war’, said that “organisers put the figure close to two million”
112
McEwan here and following, p243
113
p92
114
p193
115
p191
116
p108
117
p112
118
Qtd. in Hall, ‘From Scarman to Stephen Lawrence’, [via JSTOR]
119
McEwan here and following, p93-4
120
p226

1
that England occupies the same obscene dystopia as Alex: the future is now. Everyday rituals – the

repeated structure of “twelve-bar blues”121 coming “back…back to the lifting refrain”, and later the

pre-surgical routine “calm[ing] him”122 – are indicative of Baxter’s 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

furthered herself, secured a future, is good at “standing her ground” 123, dominated by no one, not

even Baxter breaks her “confidence” 124 and as the two youths battle for the control of England’s

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 official…of the electronic age” 126, however, he is a talented

musician, playing with “exuberance and expertise” 127 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 England’s 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 stairs”128. 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

news”129, but to offer comfort. Like a baby hearing its mother’s voice in the womb, she “warms to …
121
p170-1
122
p247
123
p199
124
p221
125
p201
126
p31
127
McEwan (here and following), p170
128
p227
129
p163

1
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 Arnold’s poem,

“the sea of faith…[is] retreating” 130 from England. Howards End demonstrates this by the

“unspiritual”131 Schlegels, repeated use of the word “gods”132 instead of the Christian singular ‘god’,

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 saints” 133 he does not “love the Infinite…” and

has “neglected” his soul in favour of the material (“collect[ing] houses” 134). 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 “remorselessly”137 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 rain…partly to see

a picture”138, 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

God’s 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 building” 139, is completely uninspired. This

epitomises the contemporary state of the “sincerely godless” 140 England, for where this tower would
130
Arnold, Dover Beach
131
Forster (here and following), p133
132
p238
133
p187-8
134
p173
135
p280
136
p278
137
p277
138
p310
139
McEwan, p197
140
McEwan, p32

1
have been built to reach closer to and commune with God, now its purpose is to communicate with

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

Saturday certainly 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 Baxter’s brain with the “dream of the

healing touch”141. 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

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

occupies those positions.

Religion in Howards End is 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 “remorse”144, 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 fit” 146, implicitly

impressing fate upon readers. We see also several mentions of “Schrödinger's cat” 147, to illustrate

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

up”148: the destiny of the cat is predetermined, before the box is even made. When Baxter and

141
McEwan,p254-5
142
McEwan,p122
143
McEwan, p226
144
Forster, p311
145
Forster, p331
146
McEwan, p87
147
McEwan, p18
148
McEwan, p19

1
Perowne are in confrontation “he is cast in a role” 149, 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 Schrödinger'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 Wilcox’s belief that “personal actions count for nothing, and there will always be rich and

poor”150 also suggests a serious futility to life. According to this philosophy, whether the Schlegel

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

“Porphyrion”151, 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 parlourmaid’s] face”; his

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

“moonlight”, and feels “a knife...[in] his heart” 153. Anxiety, paranoia, hallucinations, brown-urine and

chest pains are all symptoms of porphyria. It seems that Bast’s fate “can be accounted for at the

level of a complex molecule”154; whether Henry had given him a job, or the Schlegels had never met

him, his genetic code had already condemned him.

“We have to die”155, 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 foretold” 156 future, and has to continue living with

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

149
McEwan, p86
150
Forster, p249
151
Forster, p139
152
COE Dictionary
153
Forster, p311-5
154
McEwan, p91
155
Forster, p236
156
McEwan, p93-4

1
bliss, and it seems futile of Perowne to save him. But when we dissect the truth behind Baxter’s

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-faced” 157

through his efforts against a rising tide of rubbish, “spreading thickly..., a daily blizzard of litter” 158.

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

discarded placards”159. 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 state’s…clean 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 End and non-existence in Saturday, society domineered instead by science,

technology and culture. But whilst these expand and thrive, so too 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 England’s future with Baxter’s; he interrupts

Perowne’s 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.

157
McEwan, p73
158
McEwan, p74
159
McEwan, p243

1
 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 England’s future, are clearly dystopic, Perowne and Wilcox’s 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

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 Alex’s “malenky” 160 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

160
Burgess, p24

1
Bibliography:

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

ARNOLD, Matthew. ‘Dover Beach’. (reprinted at the end of Saturday)

BBC NEWS. ‘Million’ March Against 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 <http://www.genome.gov/19016728#al-2>

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 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech>

ROTH, Andrew. Enoch Powell: Tory Tribune. Macdonald: 1970.

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