11 E M Forster: A Passage to India

Dr. Asha N. Rubb

1. Introduction

 About E. M. Forster (1879 – 1970)

Edward Morgan Forster was born in London in 1879. In 1911 he went to India with G. Lowes Dickinson, his mentor at King’s College. He returned to London as a journalist. In 1921 he again went to India to work as secretary to the Maharajah of Dewas State Senior. His first trip lasted six months and inspired him to write A Passage to India. He was influenced by Italian renaissance and Greek paganism in his youth. Orientalism inspired him in his adulthood. During this visit, he also travelled to Bankipore in the Bengal region. It is the basis of Chandrapore of the novel.

Forster’s Works

Forster was a good friend of many well-known writers like J. M. Keynes, Virginia Woolf, Leonard Woolf, Russell and others who later became the integral part of the Bloomsbury group. Forster’s initial articles and short stories were published in The Independent Review, a Bloomsbury journal. It was his novels, however, that attracted attention. His works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Largest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908), Howard’s End (1910), The Celestial Omnibus (1911), Maurice (1911), Alexandria: A History and a Guide (1922), A Passage to India (1924), Aspects of the Novel (1927), The Eternal Moment (collection of short stories, 1928), Abinger Harvest (a collection of reprints of reviews and articles,1936), Two Cheers for Democracy (1951), The Hill of Devi (an uneven collection of letters and reminiscences of his experiences in India, 1953), and the biographies of Galsworthy Lowes Dickinson (1934) and Marianne Thorntar (1956). The Life to Come (1972) was published posthumously. During World War II he broadcast many essays over the BBC. He has written a pageant play – England’s Pleasant Land, a film – Diary for Timothy, a libretto for Benjamin Britten’s opera – Billy Budd with Eric Crozier, and numerous essays.

2. About the Novel

Introduction to the Novel

A Passage to India (1924), a modernist psychological novel, was selected as one of the 100 great works of 20th century English literature by the Modern Library. The novel is also included in “All Time 100 Novels” list by Times Magazine. It won the 1924 James Tait Black Prize for fiction. The novel is based on Forster’s experiences in India. He borrowed the title of his novel from Walt Whitman’s poem Leaves of Grass (1870). Based on the novel David Lean directed the drama film A Passage to India in 1984. In 1960 Santha Rama Rau was inspired by the novel to dramatise it.

A Passage to India (1924) was written during 1912-1924 in both India and England. It is set specifically in the Indian cities of Chandrapore and Mau against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian Freedom Movement in the 1920s. An unnamed third-person narrator relates the story of the novel. This narrator is omniscient and attuned both to the physical world and the inner states of the characters. The major theme of the novel is the difficulty of West-East relationship / English-Indian friendship i. e. human relationships, the unity of all living things and the negligence of British colonial government.

Summary of the Novel

The story revolves around four characters: Dr. Aziz, Mr. Cyril Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Miss Adela Quested. The novel is divided into three parts titled “Mosque”, “Caves” and “Temple” roughly representing Muslims, the English and the Hindus respectively. The first part “Mosque” begins with a description of the city of Chandrapore. The physical separation of the city indicates the separation that exists between the Indians and the English. The reader is first introduced to the protagonist Dr. Aziz, a surgeon who practices at the government hospital in Chandrapore under the supervision of Major Callendar. In the opening chapters Aziz and his friends are shown discussing the English officials who govern under the British Raj in India.

Among the English side, who also discuss the Anglo-Indian relationship, are Mr. Turton, the Collector; Major Callendar, the English doctor; Mr. McBryde, the police magistrate; and Ronny Heaslop, the city magistrate and the latest official to assume duties in Chandrapore. Outside these groups are Cyril Fielding, the English principal of the government school, whose allegiance belongs to neither group; Mrs. Moore, mother of Ronny Heaslop, who has come to India; Professor Godbole, a Hindu who is separated from the Muslims by his religion and from the English by his religion as well as nationality; and the English missionaries, Mr. Graysford and Mr. Sorley share none of the arrogance of English officialdom as they attempt to convert the Indians to Christianity.

Dr. Aziz is an intelligent emotional Indian Muslim doctor at the Government Hospital. He attempts to make friends with Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore and Cyril Fielding. Later, Adela falsely accuses Aziz of attempted rape after an expedition to the Marabar Caves, but the charges are dropped after Adela’s testimony at the trial. Two years later, Dr. Aziz and Professor Godbole are found living in Mau, a town several hundred miles west of the Marabar Hills and which is currently celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna. Dr. Aziz learns that Fielding, along with his wife is coming to Mau on business. Fielding had sent him a letter explaining all the details about his wedding to Stella Moore, Mrs. Moore’s daughter, but Aziz never read it. He still thinks that Fielding has married Adela. All misunderstandings are finally cleared up when they meet, but Aziz does not care who Fielding has married; his heart is now with his own people and he wishes no Englishman or Englishwoman to be his friend.

Later that day, Fielding and his wife borrow a boat in order to watch the religious procession. Aziz helps them, thereby repeating the gesture of hospitality he had intended to make through the visit to the Marabar Caves two years earlier. At the height of the ceremony,  the two boats collide and all are thrown into the water. The accident erases all bitterness between Fielding and Aziz. A few days later, they go for a ride in the Mau jungles and Aziz gives Fielding a letter for Miss Quested in which he thanks her for her fine behaviour two years back. They talk about politics and Aziz foresees the day when India shall be free from British rule they will be friends.

3. Major Topics

3.1 Cultural Clash, misunderstanding and Separateness

The novel exhibits the cultural clash and the feeling of separateness between two fundamentally different cultures of East and West, and also among the two religions – Muslims and Hindus. Fundamental differences in race, language, sexual equality and religion separate the Indians from the British.

Forster emphasises that one of the major effects of colonisation is cultural misunderstanding. Different cultural ideas and expectations regarding hospitality, social proprieties and the role of religion in daily life are responsible for the misunderstanding between the English and the Muslim Indians, the English and the Hindu Indians, and between the Muslims and the Hindus. The Anglo-Indians i. e. the British administrators and their families in India represent the West residing in Chandrapore. All Englishmen separate themselves from the Indians with their racial prejudice and pride, except Mrs. Moore who changes her attitudes later. Initially Mrs. Moore senses that India is full of – mystery and muddle – that the Westerners cannot comprehend. Adela shows her ignorance of Indian customs when she asks Dr. Aziz how many wives he has. Mr. Turton, the highest ranking British official in Chandrapore, arranges a Bridge Party to bridge the gulf between East and West, but this event brings out the awkwardness that exists between the two cultures. He wishes to provide a chance for Mrs. Moore and Adela to know India. The Indians resent the British rule and their foreign customs and attitudes. There is obviously a tension and a failure of communication between the colonial power and the subject races which produces pathos and also comedy. The Bridge Party is an ironic comment on the attempt to make East meet West and explore the areas of friendship.

The culture clash, however, is visible also between two distinct groups of Indians – Muslims and Hindus. The narrative makes it clear that these two groups have very different traditions. Dr. Aziz is proud of his Muslim heritage and considers the Hindus to be almost alien. Though he is conscious of being an Indian, Aziz has a sentimental affection for Persia, the land from which Muslim culture originally spread to India. To some extent the Muslim- Hindu divide closes when a Hindu attorney, Mr. Amritrao, is called in to defend Aziz. After the trial, Hindus and Muslims alike celebrate Aziz’s acquittal. But the final section of the novel shows how Aziz regards himself as an outsider, though living in a Hindu state. Forster demonstrates how these repeated misunderstandings become hardened into cultural stereotypes and are often used to justify the uselessness of attempts to bridge cultural gulfs.

Colonialism

Colonialism is a practice of dominion which involves the subjugation of some people to another. The British colonised India and left an impact on different levels of life and culture. The novel, referring to colonialism, explores the relationship between the colonised Indians and the British colonisers who see themselves as superior and the colonised as inferior but compelled to live side by side and deal with each other directly. The novel talks about the British colonisation of India in the city of Chandrapore at the time of the British Raj.

Though Forster has stated that the novel is not really about politics and the incompatibility of East and West, the novel attacks the traditional justifications for British domination and existence in India. The novel shows how colonisation frustrats friendship between the English and the Indians under the coloniser and the colonised status-quo.

The crisis of identity issue surfaces in colonialism. Colonialism changes the social structure and makes the colonised lose his cultural identity too. The analytical reading bears witness that the coloniser is victim too because he also faces the same problem of one’s fading identity. The coloniser’s identity comes into conflict with the colonised one.

Forster shows how colonialism affects the possibility of having a friendship between the coloniser and the colonised. The novel begins with Dr Aziz, Mahmoud Ali and Hamidullah discussing whether it is possible to be friends with the colonisers. They conclude that it is impossible to happen in colonised India. The novel ends with Fielding and Aziz leaving each other because such a friendship is not possible under British occupation. The English and the Indians can become more intimate but the problems of cultural differences and colonisation prevent the possibility of having a real friendship.

Under colonial government, the colonisers and the colonised native peoples are encouraged to view this relationship as good for everyone. But once the colonisers gain political and economic power, they become the exploiters and privileged usurpers. Throughout the novel, Forster explores the barriers to inter-racial friendship in the colonial context. In the novel Aziz asks if it is fair that an Englishman holds a teaching position when qualified Indians are available. Fielding cannot present the proper answer. Instead he says that he is delighted to be in India because for him and other Britishers India is a comfortable place to enjoy. The main motive in colonisation for England is wealth that is gained through the exploitation of the natives.

That the colonialism leads to colonisers’ instability and to their own failure is evident in the novel which is due to the rigidity of the system. Either complete assimilation or revolt is the only option to change the condition. Unable to change their condition in harmony and communion with the colonisers, the colonised try to reclaim their liberty by force and by revolt. The novel begins and ends with a question whether the colonised Indians and the coloniser English can be the friends, and at the end of the novel, the answer appears to be, “No, not yet” (Forster 289). At this juncture the only redeem from colonialism is through revolting and sending the colonisers out. Many situations as these in the novel describe the tension between the coloniser and the colonised and the difficulty in dealing properly with each other.

Forster shows how colonialism affects the public and the private life of colonisers. The various attempts at friendship are frustrated not only by cultural differences but also by the demands of public life and duty of the colonisers. These demands are strongest among the British officials of Chandrapore. The characters such as Turton, Callendar, McBryde and Ronny put their jobs above their personal desires. The Bridge Party organised by the Turtons is more a diplomatic exercise than truly personal. McBryde, the Superintendent of Police, prosecutes Aziz because it is his duty to do so. Ronny breaks off his engagement with Adela partly because her actions in the court are seen by the Anglo-Indians as public disgrace. He rethinks his marriage with her since it offends the members of his community, who disapprove of Adela because of her behaviour at the trial. Cyril Fielding, the Principal of the Government College, by speaking up for Aziz goes against the public behaviour which is expected of him and is considered as letting down his people. As a consequence, he is expelled from the English Club at Chandrapore.

Though colonised, Dr. Aziz too is torn between his private dreams and his public life as a doctor at a government hospital. When he attempts to transcend the distinction between the public constraints and his private wishes, troubles encounter him. It is only because he challenges the spirit of the Indian earth. It is only in the case of Professor Godbole and his prayers that the dividing line between his public and private life seems blurred. Thus the colonisation thereby imperialism, imposed on many Indians, directly or indirectly regulates the way Anglo-Indians, Muslims and Hindus act, react and interact. The wide impact of colonisation reveals different religious, social and cultural propensities which arise from varied value systems.

Feminist Approach

E. M. Forster brings up two important concerns of feminism in his novel. The first one is the double-colonisation of Indian women, which is expressed through the interaction of English and Indian women on one hand, and the inferior looks of Indian men towards their women on the other. The feminist approach to this novel depicts also the way the women of colonised as well as the coloniser countries suffer double colonisation by patriarchies and imperial ideologies. It helps to broaden the analysis of the gender through multicultural identity formation. The novel presents an account of two British women – Mrs. Moor and Miss. Quested – who question the standard behaviours of the English towards the natives and consequently suffer from an unsettling experience in India. The female victims in this novel are not a third-world black women or Dalit women, but white British women who fail in their quest to see the real India. Though the whole story revolves around these two women, the emphasis is more on their failure than on their success.

Forster depicts the attitude of the British women towards native Indians. Mrs. Turton, the stereotype of the snobby, rude and prejudiced English colonial wife, represents the attitude of most Englishwomen in India, explicitly regarding themselves superior to all Indians in seemingly every respect. She tells Miss. Quest at the party that she is superior to Indians except one or two of the Ranis. This depicts the western women’s view towards native women which is devoid of the feeling of “sisterhood”. They are overwhelmingly racists.

Besides the story of British women, the double colonisation of Indian women is also obvious in this novel. They are the victims of patriarchy and imperialism in their society. The behaviour and even the thought of Dr. Aziz toward his belated wife are accompanied by a sense of inferiority. He tells Mr. Fielding that his wife was not a highly educated woman or even beautiful and of no importance. His speech reveals that no doubt women are the focus of the men’s conversation but they are simply a medium of exchange between the men.

Symbolism

Forster uses symbols to give additional meaning to his novel. Being a modernist novelist, Forster has used those symbols to give a clear and deep meaning through objects. The novel contains a great amount of symbolism, but there are four main symbols; the cave, the sky, the green bird and the wasp. Forster’s novel is based on his experiences of India during two visits he made. Between these visits First World War had taken place, which undoubtedly affected Forster’s view on life and therefore the rest of the novel has its effect. The most obvious symbols are the titles of three sections – “Mosque”, “Cave” and “Temple” which are also organised by the three seasons in India. “Mosque” takes place during the cool weather, “Cave” during the hot weather and “Temple” during the rainy season. These sections set the tone of the novel.

In the first section “Mosque”, people meet each other at various social functions. They meet one another calmly, coolly and friendly. The first meeting of Aziz and Mrs. Moore takes place in the mosque at night. The mosque is a symbol of refuge and peace, a place of sanctuary. Mrs. Moore has gone to the mosque because she is bored with the play she has been attending at the Chandrapore club. The mosque therefore suggests the possibility of understanding between people of different religions. However, as the later chapters show, there are many powerful forces that interfere with this worthy goal.

The section “Cave” contains the climax of the novel which takes place during the hot weather. Symbolically the emotions of the people are inflamed and are unable to think coolly and rationally. Critics have argued about the symbolic meaning of the cave as standing for misunderstanding or what Mrs. Moore calls muddle. Mrs. Moore’s hold on life was threatened by her experience of meaninglessness within the cave.

The Marabar Caves play a significant role in shaping the events of the novel as well as symbolically representing many crucial aspects. They represent the nothingness and the futility of trying to build relationships between the British and Indians, and the muddle and mystery of India and its culture. They represent the mysterious depths of Indian spirituality which can not be grasped by the Britishers. They profoundly change the lives of the characters by driving both people and cultures apart.

The section “Temple” attempts to bring solace to the people with its pouring rains. In keeping with the symbol of Hindu temple, the chapter celebrates the Hindu principle of the oneness of all things. It presents the popular Hindu festival, Gokul Ashtami, celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna. The mosque is depicted as a place of cross-cultural friendship and so too is the Hindu temple. The festival produces a wave of good feeling that embraces even Aziz, the Muslim, and also leads to the reconciliation between Aziz and Fielding.

Being a modernist novelist, he has used modernist device i.e. the wasp to create a modernist mood in his novel. At the beginning of the novel, when Mrs. Moore comes back from the club, she observes a small wasp asleep on a coat peg. It becomes a symbol of the unity of all living creatures as is reflected in the Indian religious tradition according to which even an insect is an embodiment of godliness. Though Mrs. Moore is not aware of this she is sympathetic to the insect as a part of the universe and in tune with these thoughts. Her peaceful regard for the wasp signifies her own openness to the Hindu idea of collectivity, and to the mysticism and indefinable quality of India in general.

The sky is prominent among other symbols. It recurs in many chapters. It is personified to such an extent that the sky becomes almost a character. As the sky embraces everything, it could be considered a symbol of inclusiveness and as a symbol of the vast expanse of British imperial control and vastness of India itself.

Just after Adela and Ronny agree to break off their engagement, they notice a green bird sitting in the tree above them. For Adela, the bird symbolises the unidentifiable quality of all of India because just when she thinks she can understand any aspect of India, that aspect either changes or disappears. In this sense, the green bird symbolises the muddle of India.

The novel presents a series of bad parties – the Turtons’ Bridge Party, Fielding’s tea party and Aziz’s picnic. They are organised in order to bring the colonisers and the colonised together but they fail miserably. These unsuccessful parties symbolise the cultural clash in the British Empire in general.

Reference

• Chanda, S. M A Passage to India: A Close Look in Studies in Literature. Atlantic Publisher: New Delhi, 2003.
• Bradbury, Malcolm. Ed. E. M. Forster, A Passage to India: A Casebook. London: Macmillan, 1970.
• Ganguly, Adwaita P.India, Mystic, Complex, and Real: A Detailed Study of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1990 .
• Herz, Judith Scherer. A Passage to India: Nation and Narration. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1993 .
• Lago, Mary. E. M. Forster: A Literary Life. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995 .
• May, Brian. The Modernist as Pragmatist: E.M. Forster and the Fate of Liberalism. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1997 .
• Sarkar, Sunil Kumar. A Companion to E. M. Forster. Atlantic: New Delhi, 2007.
• Stone, Wilfred. The Cave and the Mountain: A Study of E.M. Forster. California: Stanford University Press, 1966 .