A passage to india themes
A Passage to India by E.M. ForsterWhen Adela Quested and her elderly companion Mrs Moore arrive in the Indian town of Chandrapore, they quickly feel trapped by its insular and prejudiced Anglo-Indian community. Determined to escape the parochial English enclave and explore the real India, they seek the guidance of the charming and mercurial Dr Aziz, a cultivated Indian Muslim. But a mysterious incident occurs while they are exploring the Marabar caves with Aziz, and the well-respected doctor soon finds himself at the centre of a scandal that rouses violent passions among both the British and their Indian subjects. A masterful portrait of a society in the grip of imperialism, A Passage to India compellingly depicts the fate of individuals caught between the great political and cultural conflicts of the modern world.
In his introduction, Pankaj Mishra outlines Forsters complex engagement with Indian society and culture. This edition reproduces the Abinger text and notes, and also includes four of Forsters essays on India, a chronology and further reading.
A Passage to India Opening Credits
A Passage to India
Cultural misunderstanding or clash is the main theme of this novel. Fundamental differences in race, language, sexual equality and religion separate the Indians from the British sent to govern them. Several Anglo-Indians consider Adela a race-traitor for admitting that she was wrong about an Indian Dr. Aziz sexually assaulting her. The Indians resent the British rule and their foreign customs and attitudes.
by E.M. Forster
All rights reserved. Set in India at a time when the country was a British colony, Forster's novel is an obvious critique of the British Empire. For more on the historical context of the novel, check out "Setting. While the novel is certainly a critique of the British Empire see our discussion of "Power" , it is not a wholesale rejection of everything British, European, and "Western. Well, Western civ In A Passage to India, life in Chandrapore, and indeed throughout the British Empire, is deeply fissured along racial lines, with the white Europeans on one side, and everyone else on the other. In addition to race, gender also divides colonial society.
A Passage to India begins and ends by posing the question of whether it is possible for an Englishman and an Indian to ever be friends, at least within the context of British colonialism. At the beginning of the novel, Aziz is scornful of the English, wishing only to consider them comically or ignore them completely. Yet the intuitive connection Aziz feels with Mrs. Moore in the mosque opens him to the possibility of friendship with Fielding. Through the first half of the novel, Fielding and Aziz represent a positive model of liberal humanism: Forster suggests that British rule in India could be successful and respectful if only English and Indians treated each other as Fielding and Aziz treat each other—as worthy individuals who connect through frankness, intelligence, and good will. The strains on their relationship are external in nature, as Aziz and Fielding both suffer from the tendencies of their cultures. Aziz tends to let his imagination run away with him and to let suspicion harden into a grudge.