From Liberalism to Communitarianism: The Double Ironies in The Road from Colonus

Abstract

E. M. Forster’s The Road from Colonus is a marvelous story showing the author’s artistic
use of double ironies and contradictory ideas of liberalism and communitarianism. This paper
intends to analyze how the double ironies lead readers to a shift in understanding from cheated to
thematic. Through the analysis I find that the father Lucas is not really selfish, while the daughter
Ethel is selfish instead. The father has reverence for the divine and mercy on life and human
culture, while the daughter cares only about a successful trip. Lucas’s forced conversion by Ethel
from liberalism to communitarianism displays Forster’s conformity and nonconformity with the
social and cultural reality