Reader Response Theory - Maurice by E.M Foster

Once I entered into my middle teenage years I noticed that some of the boys and girls at school never seemed to have a girlfriend respective boyfriend (it was after all the norm to have a physical relationship with a person of the opposite sex) and they often gathered together in small same sex groups of two or three. This behaviour didn’t disconcert me as I was still quite happily totally unaware of physical same sex relationships. I just thought that these individuals were rather odd because they very rarely mixed or even tried to assimilate themselves into, what I considered to be, the normal life of a teenager.

It is hardly surprising that young men and women who attend all male and all female schools and universities become so close in their relationships; this is as true today as it was when Forster first wrote the book. Denied the presence and the social interaction of the opposite sex, these young people require an outlet for their sexual tensions and hang-ups, an outlet that they can only find in the loving comfort of their closest companions. The major difference being that in the contemporary world these relationships are for the most part met, not with the scorn and derision of the past, but with an understanding and acceptance that people can love each other irrespective of their gender.

With these thoughts in mind one would have naturally thought that I would be extremely resistant to a book such as Maurice, however this was not the case. I admit that when I first started reading the book it was with some reticence, but this turned into acceptance as I read further, what I was reading was not a story about homosexuals, but instead a story about the development of two adolescents, Maurice and Clive.

When Clive one day announces to Maurice that he is to be married a new dimension in their relationship develops. Clive has openly stated with his intentions that the way in which their relationship has been conducted in the past is now at an end and that he and Maurice, although still best of friends, must hold that close friendship at arms length.

Some of the young males will most likely find the book very difficult to read, not because of the language that Forster has used, but instead because of the book’s contents and implications and their own homophobias. For t

Some topics in this essay:
Maurice’s Clive’s, Forster Growing, Maurice Clive, physical relationship, opposite sex, maurice clive, platonic love, boys girls, sex discovered, class difference, read book,