How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #7
"If they wanted to marry, why shouldn't they do so? Why shouldn't she break with the deadening life where she had got into a groove, and would go on in it, getting more and more—worse than unhappy—apathetic till she died? Of course I was wrong. She only changed one groove for another—a worse groove." (5.68)
In an attempt to defend her actions to Philip, Miss Abbott explains that she thought Lilia had every right to rebel against the dull, conventional life she had led in Sawston. But in the same breath, Caroline also admits that she was wrong, that Lilia hadn't found real happiness after all. On the one hand, Forster seems to applaud Lilia for rejecting the arbitrary duties of widowhood. But on the other hand, we see that Lilia doesn't find what she was looking for in her new marriage to Gino.
Quote #8
"The child came into the world through my negligence," replied Miss Abbott. "It is natural I should take an interest in it." "My dear Caroline," said Mrs. Herriton, "you must not brood over the thing. Let bygones be bygones. The child should worry you even less than it worries us. We never even mention it. It belongs to another world." (5.133)
Miss Abbott is convinced that it's her duty to help the baby, since he was born in part due to her own involvement in Lilia's marriage. But where's the separation between duty and just plain meddling? Is Miss Abbott simply trying to ease her own guilty conscience?
Quote #9
"None the less she is showing me my duty. If I can rescue poor Lilia's baby from that horrible man, who will bring it up either as Papist or infidel—who will certainly bring it up to be vicious—I shall do it." (5.152)
This quote is a great example of the merging of two major themes in the novel, hypocrisy and duty. Mrs. Herriton is being completely hypocritical when she claims that she's doing her duty in rescuing the baby, but she doesn't care in the least about the baby's welfare. Her motives here are morally questionable, at best, and Malificient-caliber at worst.