After reading "The Other Side of the Hedge" by Edward Morgan Forster, one may get the impression that the author's message to his readers is that life is a long and hard journey. The main character in this story goes through an ordeal that is interpreted to be the passage of life to that of after death. When a person dies it is often wondered what it is that happens to their soul. Forster interprets this by having his main character give up on life and transfer into another world or a heavenly state. The narrator says, "I slid off the milestone into the road, and lay there prostrate, with my face to the great parched hedge, praying that I might give up" (Forster 39). This is showing how he is leaving his current state of being. In this story, Forster uses setting and symbolism to show the transition of the main character from life on earth to heaven.
             Forster picks a unique setting for this short story in a way such that a similar object can be used to represent different things. The narrator of this story starts out on a road in this dark dead environment. The road is covered in dust and is heading in the same direction. After the man passes through the hedge, the setting has changed; however, there is still a path, or a road if you will. This new path doesn't lead anywhere, and the overall setting is much brighter. The hedge is no longer brown. The narrator says, "The hedge was green on this side- its roots showed through the clear water [...]" (40). This new setting represents heaven and is so much more peaceful compared to the world on "the other side of the hedge." At the beginning of the story, people are passing him on the road. However, once on the bright side of the hedge, the narrator is passing people that are relaxing, doing things they seem to enjoy doing such as running and singing (41).
             There are actually three different settings in this story. You have both sides of the hedge that are each a separate setting,...