How we cite our quotes: (Chapter. Paragraph)
Quote #10
She had thought so much about this baby, of its welfare, its soul, its morals, its probable defects. But, like most unmarried people, she had only thought of it as a word—just as the healthy man only thinks of the word death, not of death itself. The real thing, lying asleep on a dirty rug, disconcerted her. It did not stand for a principle any longer. It was so much flesh and blood, so many inches and ounces of life—a glorious, unquestionable fact, which a man and another woman had given to the world. (7.31)
Okay, so this passage doesn't describe Italy the country, but it does shed light on how Miss Abbott's English values are challenged when she come face to face with a new culture. In this scene, we see how Miss Abbott has been treating the baby as a "word", a "principle," an abstract idea. But when Miss Abbott meets the child, she realizes that the baby is a "real thing" of "flesh and blood," full of "life." The fact that she encounters the baby on Italian soil is important. Forster portrays Italy as more substantial, more real than England— Italians are somehow more human and compassionate in their relationships.