A Room With a View · Chapter
In Santa Croce with No Baedeker explained
Lucy Honeychurch, abandoned by Miss Lavish in the Piazza Santa Croce and left without her Baedeker, enters the church feeling lost and humiliated.
What happens
Lucy Honeychurch, abandoned by Miss Lavish in the Piazza Santa Croce and left without her Baedeker, enters the church feeling lost and humiliated. She encounters the Emersons, who help a fallen child and offer to guide her. A confrontation with a lecturer, Mr. Eager, ensues when Mr. Emerson loudly criticizes the frescoes. Lucy struggles between social propriety and a growing attraction to the Emersons' sincerity.
Themes in this chapter
Social Conformity vs. Individuality
Lucy's internal conflict between proper behavior (waiting for Miss Lavish, being offended by the Emersons) and her genuine attraction to their unconventional sincerity.
Art and Truth
The clash between Mr. Emerson's raw, emotional response to Giotto's frescoes and the lecturer's formal, historical interpretation highlights differing views on artistic truth.
Self-Discovery and Growth
Lucy begins to question her learned responses and feels the 'pernicious charm of Italy' working on her, hinting at personal transformation.
Characters to notice
- Lucy Honeychurch
Feels abandoned and humiliated after Miss Lavish leaves her; enters Santa Croce without a guidebook; is drawn to the Emersons despite her social training.
- Miss Lavish
Abandons Lucy in the Piazza to chase a 'local-colour box'; takes Lucy's Baedeker with her.
- Mr. Emerson
Helps a fallen child in the church; criticizes the frescoes loudly; apologizes to Mr. Eager; invites Lucy to join them.
- George Emerson
Speaks to Lucy for the first time; suggests she join them; shows a somber, teacher-like demeanor.
- Mr. Eager
Lectures on Giotto in Santa Croce; is interrupted by Mr. Emerson and leaves the chapel with his flock.
- Miss Alans
Briefly seen among the congregation leaving the Peruzzi Chapel.
Key passages
“She stood in the Square of the Annunziata and saw in the living terra-cotta those divine babies whom no cheap reproduction can ever stale.”
Lucy was struck by the beauty of the original terra-cotta sculptures, far surpassing any reproductions she had seen.
Highlights Lucy's genuine aesthetic appreciation, contrasting with her later frustration.
“They walk through my Italy like a pair of cows.”
Miss Lavish dismisses the Emersons as crude, unappreciative tourists.
Reflects Miss Lavish's pretentious and snobbish attitude toward travel.
“Built by faith indeed! That simply means the workmen weren’t paid properly.”
Mr. Emerson cynically reinterprets the pious claim about the church's construction as exploitation of labor.
Shows Mr. Emerson's iconoclastic and socially conscious perspective.
“I would rather go up to heaven by myself than be pushed by cherubs; and if I got there I should like my friends to lean out of it, just as they do here.”
George prefers a personal, unassisted spiritual ascent and values human connection even in heaven.
Reveals George's independent and humanistic worldview.
“You are pretending to be touchy; but you are not really. Stop being so tiresome, and tell me instead what part of the church you want to see.”
Mr. Emerson sees through Lucy's feigned offense and urges her to be honest about her desires.
A pivotal moment where Mr. Emerson challenges Lucy's social pretenses.
