"If you own things, what's their effect on you?"That's the question E.M. Forster poses in his essay "My Wood." He comes up with several answers based on his own experiences with owning property and material goods. Considering of your own experiences in this regard, how would you answer the question? Do your experiences exemplify some (or all) of the consequences Forster lists in his essay? Are there other consequences of ownership not mentioned by Forster that you can identify?
By the way, here's a web page where someone has annotated Forster's essay, explaining many of his allusions.
2 comments:
The most interesting part of Forester's essay for me was when, in paragraph five, he speaks of manifesting himself in his land, even if the manifestation is not beautiful or produces money. I've thought on this desire before which seems to exist in almost everybody. Interestingly, the average person needs this desire to be fulfilled in order to be happy, or satisfied. However, the desire seems to be stronger among rich people with large amounts of spare time. The short description of Forester preceeding the essay describes him as that type of person.
I found it relatively easy to relate to Forster when he mentioned how property makes people feel "heavy." I have always felt that the more stuff you have the more you become attached and worried about material possessions.
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