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Part II

Galsworthy’s style undoubtedly reflects his approach to the characters, and thus - to general problems of man in society. Galsworthy takes sides, yet shows mercy to both sets of sinners. He attacks a Forsyte as a social being, yet shows compassion and often a great deal of respect for the human being.

The second part gives us a description of Soames's actions after his coming home. Here we can see explanations of his wife why she is leaving him and perhaps, giving at least a slight hope for her coming back. There are many key words and phrases such as: "…he went into the dining-room, her room was dark and cold, a great illumination with candles, pacing up and down, searching for some message, some reason, some reading, drawer after drawer was untouched, perhaps...it was only a freak, it was her duty as a wife, she did belong to him, she was evidently not quite right in her head, the jewel box had the key in it.” Soames is full of different kinds of emotions. On the one hand he loves and understands his wife  completely but on the other Irene is a part of his property. We can see how Mr. Soames values his property (painting, home, etc). He likes the beauty of his paintings and home but just as inanimate things. Even he also expects that his wife is like his property too, that should be taken care as a property not as human who has feelings and emotions. All Soames’s principles are destroyed. And physical and spiritual riches become more necessary than just money or jewels. Maybe in the inmost recesses of his heart Soames understood that it was wrong. But being a man of property, a strong and reasonable husband he wouldn't listen to his inner voice saying things controversial to the sense of all his material things. 

 (By Tanya)

Let’s consider now Book 2 of "The Man of Property”. In this book the plot development is not rapid as well. All the action is focused on one conflict, so to say, a love square. Soames and Irene are living together, June and Bosinney have just been engaged. But Irene and Bosinney are dating with each other. June is worried about it a lot. She can’t simply bear it.

As we see, Soames, Irene, June and Bosinney are four major characters of this part of "The Forsyte Saga”. Let’s analyze their relations couple by couple, beginning with Soames and Irene.

Soames and Irene are an unlucky couple. He loves her greatly, but she rejects him. That’s why Soames is trying to dominate, to "enslave” her. Such actions cause quite an opposite effect. Irene is unwilling to adjust, to bend. And what does she do? She betrays Soames and starts new relationships with Bosinney.

Irene and Bosinney will be the next couple to discuss then. These are the only two characters in "The Forsyte Saga” who do not belong to the Forsyte family. They are different from them. That’s why it seems quite natural that they finally meet each other and recognize similar, close souls.

Bosinney and June.They have just been engaged. But nevertheless Bosinney prefers Irene to June. June is a young and nice girl. She hasn’t done him any harm. And when she understands what is going on, she can’t behave naturally. She is depressed. But unlike Irene and Soames, their relations at least seem to be normal.

Irene and June. Not much is said about their relations, but still there is an episode of June’s coming to Irene and talking to her about the existing situation. These were extreme measures, but even they didn’t help. And at the end of the Book Irene leaves Soames for Bosinney, leaving both Forsytes unhappy.

And now the last pair of characters to analyze: Soames and Bosinney. Their relations are developing as well. They don’t influence the plot-line greatly but I suppose they will play their role later. What are these relations based on? On money, of course! Everything, where the Forsytes are involved, is based on money. What’s the problem then? Bosinney is an architect. He is building and decorating a house for Soames. But he wants to have "a free hand”. And it does not appeal to Soames. Soames does not want to let him spend an extra penny. They keep writing each other letters, which are endowed by Galsworthy with irony. He is mooching at Soames. "If you think that in such a delicate matter as decoration I can bind myself to the extra pound, I am afraid you are mistaken. I can see that you are tired of the arrangement, and of me, and I had better, therefore, resign”. And the answer of Soames then: "I did not mean to say that it should exceed the sum named in my letter to you by ten or twenty or even fifty pounds there would be any difficulty between us”. Really, Soames sound so funny! Soames wants to have everything: love, money, excellent property,… But he does not want to sacrifice anything. Even for the sake of prosperity.

So, these are major conflicts taking place in Book 2 in brief. As I have already mentioned, there is one main conflict in this book, but the others still add to it. Or, maybe, we’d better say that that there are many minor conflicts that make up a major one.

This is all I wanted to tell you about Book 2 of "The Forsyte Saga”.
(By Asya)


In the second part the author continuous telling us about the Forsyte family. Soames invests all his money into building a new house for Irene. He loves his wife very much though, but he tries to minimize the expenses. Bosinney who is now controlling the building of this house does not pay attention to Soames’s requests, argumentating  it in a way that several more pounds will not change his material state at all. Finally Soames learns that Irene cheats on him with Bosinney and that breaks his heart because Irene is everything for him and even a slight thought that he can remain without her makes him feel very depressed and frustrated.

There is one more person who suffers from an unhappy love affair. And this person is young June who has just been engaged to Bosinney. She realizes that Irene is a woman who has just broken her life and future forever; but still she prefers not to tell her anything about it now.

So, as far as we can see, in this part the author focuses mainly on the relationships between Irene and Soames, Irene and Bosinney, June and Irene, June and Bosinney.
The affair between Bosinney and Irene has just begun and it seems that there will not be any bad circumstances. But nothing can stop Irene now. She does not love her husband and the dialogues between the spouses prove us that very idea very well. Irene reminds her husband about their conversation before the marriage that if she is unhappy with Soames then she can be free whenever she wants. But certainly Soames regards that stupid conversation as an idle talk and he is not ready to put up with the very idea of losing his beloved wife. But the fate does not want to be on Soames’s side. Irene being quite a confident woman thinks that she will be able to live and be quite happy and independent with her lover. So she leaves Soames without taking any jewellery and money.
The fate brings new changes into the life of all members of this dignified family…
(By Luck)

"I believe you are made of stone...”

The whole second part of the novel is devoted to the relations between Irene and Bosinney – they become more obvious for the members of the Forsyte family. The first chapter of the second part begins with the conversation between Soames and Bosinney. The architect insists on the additional money necessary for the house to be completely built and decorated. Soames understands that the house of his dream is slowly turning into the burden on his shoulders, he is blaming Bosinney for all the troubles it causes. He's so obsessed with the idea of this new cottage that becomes unable to see obvious things – that his own wife's behaviour is changing radically, that June is getting more and more suspicious and that Bosinney's visits are mostly connected with his attitude towards Irene rather than his project. Actually, Soames seems to be even reluctant to see what is happening in his own house. Being afraid of the thought that his wife can leave him, Soames prefers to play the role of a blind husband... ("...he hardened himself to play the part of the serene and trusting husband”)just till the moment when he is rejected.
What is the role of all the other members of the family in this so-to-say "love-story”? They become silent witnesses of these relationships, they are watching the story developing, being curious but at the same time noble enough not to ask questions. As James tends to repeat again and again: "nobody tells me anything”, but that doesn't prevent him from knowing everything.
So, what are the main events that take place in the second part of the novel? June finds out what Bosinney feels towards Irene, she is suffering and accusing herself, then she moves to the seaside with old Jolyon. Bosinney continues to court Irene. Soames is overwhelmed with jealousy. The whole narration orbits the axis which is represented by Irene-Bosinney's relations. Actually, these chapters are not rich in events. They were considered to reveal the inner state of the characters, their attitudes towards the situation. The most emotionally tense moment is the event that takes place in the last chapter when the relationships between Irene and Soames seem to be absolutely ruined and the understanding of fatal end comes to Soames' mind. "She must really hate him, then! He had never believed it yet. He did not believe it now. It seemed to him incredible. He felt as though he had lost for ever his power of judgement. If she, so soft and yielding as he had always judged her, could take this decided step—what could not happen?”. At this moment Soames seems to be pitiful, lost and rejected, weak and miserable. Does he really deserve his wife? - that's the question the author asks us. But I'd like to paraphrase it – does Irene really deserves to be loved by this man? A woman whose charm has magically influenced all the male characters in the story – who is she? An egoistic, selfish and vainglorious woman, who has married not a man, but his money, who is trying to look like an unprotected victim of her cruel husband but fails and seems to be nothing more but a banal intriguant. The woman who was supposed to become a lovely fairy with gorgeous beauty is just a pretty girl without self-respect, unable to be strong and honourable, playing with the feelings of those who love her. When she agreed to marry Soames, whom she loathed, this woman sold her dignity, if she had had any. The only one emotion I feel towards her is aversion. "I believe you are made of stone” - tells her Soames, miserable and betrayed.
"A man of property” is a story about a man who is wasting his love on the woman who doesn't deserve his sacrifices.
(by Rina)

In the first chapter it seemed that there is something between Irene and Phillip Bosinney, and in the chapter II our suppositions came true. From the very beginning of this chapter (June and Phillip visited Soames and Irene) we see that Irene and Phillip had some feelings to each other each other, and they already didn’t conceal them. And when June and Phillip were in the theatre she after all understood that he was not her property more. Soames realized it too, but he didn’t intend to part with his property – Irene. At first he tried to be polite and kind with Bosinney, she thought, that if Irene he would behave that way, Irene would become softer with him, he would break the ice of their relations. But unfortunately it didn’t work. I think that if Irene changed her attitude towards Soames, he would close his eyes to her adultery. She loved her, and all he wanted to be with her: to live under one roof and to tell her about his work in the evening. His demands were not high. But she fall in love and lost a common sense, she was too pure and sensitive to live with unloved husband. Soames understood it, but didn’t reconcile himself to the situation. So he was doomed to change his strategy. He started a correspondence with Bosinney in order to send him a firm signal that he could hold his own. And it of course hurt Irene’s feeling.

The theme of relation between Soames and Irene runs through the whole chapter and concerns every member of the family. At the Zoo old Jolyon told the story to his son, and young Jolyon remembered his love with his second wife, his sufferings and expectations. At Timothy’s the atmosphere is hot, we feel that the scandal is unavoidable, a Forsyte is undermined and there is no return way. There is a funny description of what was going on there: when Swithin and old Jolyon left the house, those 6 people who remained sat silent and "each one of them knew for a fact that he or she never talked scandal, each one of them also knew that the other six did; all were therefore angry and at a loss”. I don’t want to say that someone wanted to do harm to the other, no. They tried to avoid the Theme and to smooth the problem, but they were just people! If there was something to discuss, they would do it.

That’s why, I think, Winifred and her husband Montague Dartie invited Irene and Bossiney "to make up a little party and drive down to Richmond”. Winifred thought that she did it in order to dispel Family’s fears, but I think that curiosity prevailed. Maybe Mrs. Dartie was really guided by good intentions, but in fact it led to truth that hurts.

Soames understood that he might lose but he decided "to play the part of the serene and trusting husband”. He invited Bossiney for dinner and behaved as if everything was all right, as every Forsyte would do.

It seems to me that every member of the family have its own play in the script made by rules of behaviour and laws of society, and they couldn’t change anything if they want to belong to this very community. And sometimes they really find love and support there. We see a number of families that look and are happy. In conclusion I want to say that to be a man of property doesn’t mean to be unhappy. I don’t think that Soames is cruel and rude, he just want to be loved by Irene.

(by Ayayulia)

The second section of the book mainly focuses on relationships between, Irene, Soames, Bosinney and June. The thing is that the young architect, Bosinney falls in love with Soames’ beautiful wife Irene, and naturally there is no way out to conceal his feelings, so he begins relationships with her. Irene feels return affection and their affair is developing secretly from everybody. But everything has its end and finally their relationships are revealed. Soames at firsts suspects his wife in adultery, but he has no proves. Finally he finds out everything, and he’s in rage actually, as well as June, the bride of Bosinney. He feels not very well about all this, but she’s not as upset as Soames. Still she comes to Irene and tries to regulate the conflict. 

It seems natural that Soames is the last to learn about Bosinney. All the family obviously knew about it, but all were just watching in order to feel the intrigue in there. The focus on the relationships between Bosinney and Irene is made in order to reveal Irene’s and Soames character. We see how much she hated Soames, and how she betrayed him. We can’t justify her marriage with him, because it was her own decision – she has other ways out. The first time she had a chance to fall in love – and she did it. And Soames looks really miserable trying to reconcile with an ocean of feelings tormenting his soul bringing pain that he can hardly stand. We read the story of how they met, and slowly understand that this marriage was caused by hopelessness of Irene and passion of Soames. Its fate was predetermined beforehand probably. I can’t say that some of them are not right, but the fact is that this is their fate that they should follow. Actually their fate is all the following events that happen in consequence of this drama. 


by 8davids8

The second book is more interesting than the first one. The author still speaks and continues to describe the clan Forsyte with all its scandals, mysteries and love triangles.  The whole chapter two shows us the problem of love triangle. The second chapter described us actions that took place after four years passed and the main characters here are young Forsyte and their relationships between each other.
 First of all the author described Soams – the son of Emili and James, he is a lawyer. He loves his wife Irene very much and can’t imagine his life without her and he did everything for her, for example, he built a new house special for his wife. But Irene fell in love with Bossini and Soams and Irene decided to get divorced.
 Another one character in this love story is June – a young and very nasty girl, the daughter of old Djolion. In the first chapter we saw that Bossini and June were engagement but in the second chapter June knew about relationship between her fiancé and Irene and her heart was broken. She decided not to tell Irene that fact, that she knows everything about them but it was hard for her. 
 To conclude I must say, that the whole second chapter concerned four people. We saw how their relationships developed and changed. The old Djolion worried about his daughter and could not imagine how to tell June about Irene and Bossini. The second chapter finished by the death of the head of the clan Forsytes – old Djolion. His death was calm, he just slept in his armchair.
(by Megastarosta)

In the second part of the book the majority of events touch upon Soames, his wife
Irene, Bossiney and the house at Robin Hill. Bossiney, who had been hired to rule the project at Robin Hill exceeds the estimate, and spends far more money than Soams had
planned – the "extras” come to seven hundred pounds more than they ought. Soames is furious – as a true man of property he doesn’t want more money than he expected to be spent. But there is another thing – Bossiney and Irene are dating. They seem
to have strong feeling towards each other, despite the engagement of Bossiney and June Forsyte. Soams tries to be calm and friendly with the architect, when he finds out that he and his wife like each other, he thinks that it will represent him as a sensitive and
understanding person, and Irene will feel it but all in vain. The relationships of Soames and Irene are being ruined, as well as the relationships between the architect and his fiancée June Forsyte. Poor June doesn’t understand what happens and tries to resolve
the situation. So to put it in a nutshell, the second part of the book is a kind of description of a love-triangular or even square.
(by Alex)

"The advantages of the stable home are visible, tangible, so many pieces of property; there is no risk in the
status quo. To break up a home is at best a dangerous experiment, and selfish into the bargain”.

All the apprehensions that were gradually foregrounded in the first part of the novel are taking shape of the real dangers threatening the peaceful and hasteless life of the Forsytes. Those entangled relationships between Soames and his wife become exhausted and worn out. Her visible affection towards Philip Bosinney puts the whole family into a flutter. This gives rise to countless talks and equivocal gossip about the real state of Soames’ marital affairs. It seems everyone finds a bit of gamy pleasure in discussing close friendship of the married woman to the penniless architect whose prodigality in the matters of building a house for the couple is maddening Soames.

The whole set of events described in the second part is nurturing the general atmosphere of the book – helplessness and decay. Even the high and mighties are not able to alter the course of events, to charge and refresh relationships. Soames understands his ‘sense of property’ is mortally wounded as his wife is no more his possession. He cannot reconcile himself to this but he has no plan to gain his wife back. He behaves like an animal at bay, his feelings hurt, but his mind still aware of the outcomes. "It would be unbearable to contemplate the necessity of making his marital relations public property”. Soames is bothered both by piqued ambitions and the thought of being ridiculed. But he still refuses to believe that his wife has enough courage to turn herself adrift in the world. "And suddenly <…> he reflected that Irene had no money either. They [Irene and Bosinney] were both beggars. This gave him a strange satisfaction”. It is in the Forsyte’s nature to judge the situation by its material superventions; but Irene is different and even she can be justified. She has not a slightest intention to go on like this any more – she does not love her husband (and has never loved him, by the way) and realizes her life is not worth keeping his company.

What strikes the eye most of all when reading the novel is that it contains no lightness. The sense of the clouds piling up above the characters does not leave the reader. But it is not a storm yet. Some details featuring the background of the events give a strong feeling of the imminent peril. "The sunlight still showered on the plane-trees, and in the breeze their gay broad leaves shone and swung in rhyme to a barrel organ at the corner. It was playing a waltz, an old waltz that was out of fashion, with a fateful rhythm in the notes; and it went on and on, though nothing indeed but leaves danced to the tune”. It might easily be assumed that this description bears a certain portion of joy in it; taken away for its context it does. But in fact it represents an explicit derision on the seeming stability of Soames’ family life. It fulfils the role of a warning to late to have been made.

(by MissJane)

The second part of the book "The Man of Property” shows us the stratagem of the relationships in the Forsyte family. The relationships between Bossiney and Irene are developing. And this is one of the main plot-lines in the second Part.  These very relationships straight or marginally influence the state of the whole family. The death of Aunt Ann has become only the first event in the sequence of troubles for the Forsytes.
But how could it happen? How could the principles and grandeur of the Forsytes stagger? I tend to think that Irene has become a key-character in this situation. The fact is that the main principles for the Forsytes are commercialism, conservatism and common sense and assumption. So what about Irene? She is a very emotional person. Her way of life is to love and to be loved. Yes, Soames loves her, but she doesn’t feel anything to him. But for some time this situation has been quite normal. And now Bossiney, the Buccaneer, appears. Irene meets him and realizes that he is the man who will love her, and whom she will love.
Irene is a very freedom-loving person. And one of the displays of it is her inner wish to express her emotions, to live without any control. But Soames almost totally controls her. She hates it, but for some time she could stand it. Bossiney gives Irene this very emotional freedom.
But at the same time Bossiney has relationships with June. The only question that exists in my mind is why he decided to marry her. He actually doesn’t love her. The Buccaneer has many things in common with the Forsytes. But still there is something unusual for the Forsytes. Bossiney lives not only ruled by his mind, but also by his heart and feelings. And it seems that in questions of love he doesn’t care about regulations and prohibitions. I think that is one more thing that attracted Irene.
Irene, Bossiney, Soames and June. Two victims: Soames and June. But Soames made himself a victim. He could let Irene go many times and find another woman who would love him, but still he didn’t do this. And only June is too naïve and gullible. She is an innocent victim of the passion of two lovers, Irene and Bossiney.
So what do we realize reading the second Part of the book "The Man of Property”? The calm, measured and sensible life of the Forsytes has been demolished by the two passionate lovers, Irene and Bossiney. What will be the next?..
(by Seagull)
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