Reply to comment

The social order in On Beauty is not nearly as defined as in Howards End.  I think this is mostly due to Mr. Kipps’ (whose character is comparable to Mrs. Wilcox in Howards End) and Kiki’s (whose character is comparable to Margaret in Howards End) husbands both being professors.  With both men making roughly the same amount of money and money being one of the major distinctions between social classes, it is hard to place the families in their corresponding social classes, which were previously set in Howards End.  The author of On Beauty Zadie Smith might have purposely blended the social classes in her book to possibly show how class distinction since Howards End’s era has become hazy.  I rather liked the social structure in Howards End and had hoped when reading On Beauty that Smith would be setting the story at present day, while keeping with one of the most important themes in the book she reproduced, Howards End.

Andrea Zambetti