The Man of Property by John Galsworthy Review (Школьные сочинения)

You may own a great house yet be indifferent to its beauty. It takes something more special to feel and enjoy the beauty. You can surround yourself with lots of things and forget about their main purpose.

Such a trouble might happen to the man of property – someone keen on collecting, and getting more and more from this property even when he is content with his life he goes on earning more money just from the force of habit.

The Man of Property is the title of the first novel of the Forsyte Saga trilogy by John Galsworthy. The Forsytes are the symbol of the modern business persons, they are the main people of the economic system of those times. These people once managed to raise above the crowd. They are probably the richest men in England, the 10 Forsyte brothers managed to earn a lot by simply following own rules in order to succeed.

Now they cannot choose between their passion of getting money – the thing that they mentally depend on – and the feeling of lack of the ordinary human emotions.

The younger generation flirts, falls in true love, the middle age representatives visit zoological gardens and build houses in the country, while old men can only put things straight and find solace in the future generations’ heritage.

And everything went in a noble manner until some unexpected factors appeared.

Jolyon Forsyte’s love to his own scandal son that he tried to hide from himself for some 14 years finally gets freedom and makes the old man do things opposite to his past beliefs, the family standards, and the previous plans.

Once unsatisfied passion of Irene who tried to escape from loneliness and poverty and married the main man of property of the story Soms Forsyte – blows up when she meets the informal architect Bosinney. The new feeling tears to pieces her decent marriage. Unfortunately, it doesn’t lead to anything good, but death of the young man.

Nevertheless, some positive tendency can be seen by changing behaviour of old Jolyon in his mid 80s. The amazing novel proves that neither family rules, nor family standards, or that property can stand the chaos or the real life that

beauty and Passion bring.