Student Essay on Artificial and Authentic Personal Values in "Where Angels Fear to Tread"

Essay provides an examination of the conflict between artificial and authentic personal values in E.M. Forster's "Where Angels Fear to Tread."

The central idea of Where Angels Fear to Tread arises from E.M. Forster's beliefs that one must avoid being influenced by societal conventions exclusively and must pursue one's unique, personal views. In his essay entitled "What I Believe", he states his disapproval of social beliefs such as those that lead to religious and racial persecution in the name of "community standards": "The people I admire most are those who are sensitive and want to create something or discover something, and do not see life in terms of power..." (Forster, p.12) In other words, Forster encourages the values of individualism, where one detaches oneself from cultural influences and strives to find one's authentic, independent enjoys, as opposed to those championed by some as universal values upheld by society. He expresses these ideas most directly through the main.....