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Message: [QUOTE="Brian Ahern, post: 265774, member: 136735"] The book and the movie are both simply beautiful. The book especially I would fail to do justice to. Sashka, another reason I find Maurice interesting is that it deals with the contrasts between the upper classes (the Durhams) and middle classes (the Halls) more than Howards End does. Martin, I've taken note of those recommendations. Thank you. And, as it happens, I have in idle moments pictured the Wilcoxes and Schlegels on the Titanic. When you think about these richly drawn characters placed in that context, it drives home the endless number of ways in which the disaster was a horrible, complex human event. I think Charles Wilcox (he of the "What's the point of being kind to servants? They don't understand it.") would have taken a seat in a lifeboat as his right if he'd had the chance at one. If on dry land, however, he would have been singing the praises of the upper class Anglo Saxon males who, of course, dutifully and bravely met their deaths. With Henry, it could have gone either way, IMO. I think Margaret and Helen ultimately would have done as they were told and taken their seats in a lifeboat (it was only feminists on dry land who said Titanic's women had done all women a disservice by following the 'women and children' first rule). But it would have created all kinds of emotional turmoil for them. I think Margaret especially would have been horrified to leave Tibby behind (who would have quite happily hopped into a boat if allowed to, but unlike Charles would not have had the cojones to jump into one on his own initiative a la Hugh Woolner). Margaret also admires masculinity and gallantry(and even Helen starts off thinking Tibby would benefit from the Wilcoxes' influence). Oh, and Martin, this might sound obligatory but everybody with an interest in dialogue brings something to the board, even if their body of knowledge [i]isn't[/i] as extensive as yours. Look at the discussions you've created and furthered already. This is what I tell myself when feeling like a piggybacking hack because most of my research is conducted on Google. [/QUOTE]

Verification: In which year did the Titanic sail?