Appearance
A Passage to India
A classic that kids shouldn't be assigned to read in 10th grade, as I was. I truly hated this book, didn't understand it at all, at all. The symbolism, the racism, the class system, the whole period of the British raj - it all went right over my head. Then, to discover it in adulthood! Well, it was an awakening. It was as if I'd never read it before, and indeed on most levels, I hadn't. What really happened in the Marabar Caves? Was it an assault? A dream or hallucination? An actual rape? Nothing? A case of mistaken identity? This mystery, unanswered at the end, lies at the heart of A Passage to India. We have Muslims, Hindus, and the British Christians mixing within the society. Dr. Aziz is a good and gentle man, a friendly, open-minded, highly educated Indian who is eventually accused of assaulting a British women - and that sort of thing doesn't go over well with the high-mucky-mucky of the era. According to the political sensitivities of the era (1920s), there's always bound to be trouble when you mix the races within society.Passage to India presents British colonialism at its worst with a marvelous and deeply-layered cast of characters. This is probably Forster's best book.
A Passage to India
Set in the British colonial outpost of Chandrapore, this novel begins slowly ,examining the complex relationship between the British community and the native Indian population. The underlying arrogance and prejudice of the club membership Brits is established early on through the eyes of two newly arrived women who are insistent on seeing the "real" India. They have stepped into a situation that they don't quite understand and the delicate balance of the community is nearly shattered by events which occur during an innocent enough day trip to a nearby attraction.Forster's book is a serious fictional account of how people of different backgrounds can live in close proximity but still have little understanding of each other when the cultural divide is kept intentionally wide. One of the better novels I've read on the subject of British Imperialism.
A Passage to India
I kept waiting for this novel to begin. Forster sets the scene, develops the characters, creates tension (not dramatic tension; just tension), and then...And then the characters realize that the tension isn't going to be easily resolved and decide that the best course of action is to abandon the effort and drift aimlessly for the last 100 pages or so towards an unsatisfying dénouement. I was almost finished with "A Passage to India" when it dawned on me that the novel's climax was long past and I'd somehow missed it. I still was waiting for the story to begin. I eventually resigned myself to the fact that Forster's intent in "A Passage to India" is to describe a situation rather than tell a story. Yes, there is a plot of sorts, but Forster's real aim is to depict two cultures at an impasse at a particular point in history: 1) indigenous Indians chafing under British occupation in the early 20th century, yearning for independence but unable to envision a unified nation of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs; and 2) British colonists determined to maintain the status quo, and genuinely convinced that their presence in India is necessary because the natives are incapable of ruling themselves. Forster's refusal to provide the reader with a sense of resolution serves a symbolic purpose, emphasizing the impossibility of bridging the cultural divide so long as the relationship between the British and the Indians remains one of ruler-and-ruled. The novel's unconventional structure (the climactic moment takes place relatively early on; the novel's chief dramatic complication is never worked out; loose ends are not tied up) also serves a purpose, underscoring Forster's view that there are no easy answers to the complex racial and cultural issues examined in the novel. However, though these elements may be useful from a symbolic perspective, they make for frustrating reading.The novel's action takes place in the fictional Indian city of Chandrapore, which is under British colonial rule. There is a great deal of latent hostility floating around Chandrapore. The native Indians resent the presence of the Anglo-Indians and engage in subtle acts of rebellion against them while maintaining a surface-level politeness. There is friction between Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus, who do not understand each other. The British colonists, most of whom regard the native inhabitants as inferior beings, are deeply suspicious of the few Brits who treat the Indians with respect. Finally, there is painful awkwardness in each and every attempt at social interaction between the friendly Anglo-Indians and the natives. Courteous gestures are misinterpreted and come across as insulting or gauche. Conversation is strained, rife with blunders and cultural misunderstandings. The tension is palpable. Reading about these social failures becomes agonizing after a while and the reader begins praying for a reprieve, hoping for just one successful picnic or party or even a few moments of stress-free small talk. But the prayers go unheard. Forster is unrelenting, and there is no relief. One-third of the way through the novel, I began developing a nervous tic.Often in my book reviews, I complain that the author didn't spend enough time on character development. Forster certainly cannot be accused of this, particularly when it comes to his Indian characters. If anything, these characters have too many layers, too many contradictory qualities; they are too multi-dimensional to be quite believable. I got the impression that Forster was trying to embody the characteristics of an entire country in a handful of characters, to convey all of the nuances, complexity, and contradictions of India herself through them. It doesn't quite work. For example, the character of the Indian physician Dr. Aziz tells us much about Forster's view of Indian Muslims - they are emotional, touchy, mercurial, proud, fond of practical jokes, impulsive, insecure, wary of outsiders, pious, tied to their land and culture, etc. - but Aziz as a person, as an individual, is lost along the way. He becomes too diffuse to seem real. Forster achieves more success with the character of Cyril Fielding, a British man who tries to maintain a friendly relationship with the native Indians. Fielding's personality undergoes subtle and not necessarily positive changes during the course of the novel. These changes, which are connected to the novel's larger themes, are revealed in a deft, understated manner which highlights Forster's skill as a writer.I am glad that I read this novel. It certainly was not a waste of my time and it gave me some insight into what life was like for both Indians and the British during this particular period of British colonial rule (tense!). However, I'm a little puzzled as to why it is hailed as one of the greatest books of the twentieth century. To me, this is the weakest of the Forster novels I have read.
A Passage to India
Two well-meaning English women - Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested - go to India some time during the first two decades of the last century with the desire to see and experience the real India. They do not share the disdain for the natives that prevails (except for the schoolmaster and freethinker Cyril Fielding) throughout the community of British administrators who govern and run the nondescript town they visit, and they accept an overture of friendship from a Moslem, Dr. Aziz, in the form of a tour of a local geological curiosity, the Marabar Caves. But the expedition to the Caves goes awry in numerous ways, culminating in a mysterious insult to Adela Quested, which leads to charges against Dr. Aziz, a trial, civil unrest, and further polarization of the British and their colonial subjects.The most common and most facile reading of A PASSAGE TO INDIA is as a critique of imperial Great Britain, its colonial policies, and its treatment of the native Indians. And in fact the novel is an understated but nonetheless searing indictment of British imperialism as well as exposé of British racism. It is one of the foremost "anti-colonialist" works of literature. But it is much, much more. It is one of the richest, deepest, and most multi-faceted novels I have ever read - and one of the very best.E.M. Forster borrowed the title from Walt Whitman. In 1868, Whitman, excited by the soon-to-be-completed Suez Canal (and similarly excited by the transcontinental railroad in the United States and the undersea transatlantic cable), wrote a poem "Passage to India". He celebrated these technological and engineering developments, and not simply because they facilitated trade and transportation. More important, they enabled"The earth to be spann'd, connected by net-work,The people to become brothers and sisters,The races, neighbors, to marry and be given in marriage,The oceans to be cross'd, the distant brought near,The lands to be welded together."In his exuberance, Whitman also expressed the further hope that these developments provided passage to "more than India" - to wisdom and even to God.Another facet of Forster's novel - in addition to the anti-colonialist one - is as a rueful rejoinder to Walt Whitman. For A PASSAGE TO INDIA highlights the gulf between East and West, between the suspicious mind of the Oriental and the "hypocrisy" of the Westerner. Cyril Fielding (to my thinking, the principal character of the novel, who surely is modeled in many respects after Forster himself) believes that the world "is a globe of men who are trying to reach one another and can best do so by the help of goodwill plus culture and intelligence". A noble and enlightened sentiment. But try as he might, despite bounteous goodwill and culture and intelligence, Fielding is unable to bridge the gulf with Dr. Aziz, the novel's most prominent Indian (though a Moslem with an Afghan heritage).And it's not just the West versus the East, or the British versus the Indians. Even amongst the Indians, there is a divide between the Hindus and the Moslems, and between the Brahmans and the non-Brahmans. But that is not all. On a personal level, even among individuals of the same race and culture, there are repeated failures to connect, failures of communication.And still, I have barely scratched the surface of the novel. It has a depth and complexity that makes me think of the best of Joseph Conrad. (I wonder what Conrad thought of it, assuming he read it.) A PASSAGE TO INDIA also touches on the broad concepts of religion and civilization and the even broader ones of Infinity and Eternity; it raises, implicitly, the question of whether humanism is illusory; at times it assumes a rather mystical atmosphere; it contains marvelous descriptions of India (on a par with those of Kipling); etc. That "etc.", by the way, is not so much laziness on my part as a signification within the confines of an Amazon review that the novel is extraordinarily rich.In addition to all that, the underlying story is a very engaging one; the novel's major characters are fully and sensitively developed; and it is gracefully, and superbly, written. I first read it more than 35 years ago. I have been spurred to re-read it because my youngest son is currently reading it as part of his high-school English class - a very wise choice of curriculum indeed. A PASSAGE TO INDIA may be even more relevant to today's world than it was to the world of 1924. Moreover, it is a masterpiece of English literature - certainly, one of the very finest English novels of the 20th Century.
A Passage to India
E.M. Forster is truly one of the giants of early modern literature with his novels that bridge the gap between the traditional and the much looser modern forms. "A Passage to India" was the last book published in his lifetime, the concluding chapter in a brilliant career centered around a handful of novels. It makes one wonder if Forster had felt used up after the subjects he tackles in "A Passage to India" or if he felt that he could do no better."A Passage to India" is set at the peak of the British colonial era and is rife with the racial tension that lurks beneath every mean aspect of daily life. It is the tale of various characters. One of the main characters is Dr. Aziz, a Moslem Indian who desperately wants to befriend certain English people but knows he may be overstepping his bounds. One Englishman he successfully befriends, for a while, is Mr. Fielding, the principal of the local school who seems not to have developed the racist attitudes of the other English people who dwell in Chandrapore. It is also the tale of two visiting women - Mrs. Moore, an old Christian lady who innocently befriends Dr. Aziz by accident. She has brought with her Adela Quested, a young woman eager to see the "real" India who finds that she will not do so if she agrees to marry Mrs. Moore's son, Ronny. In an attempt to bridge the gap between the races, Dr. Aziz sets in motion a series of events that will have near-fatal consequences for himself as well as those he tries to befriend.Forster had a rare gift for storytelling that is natural and unforced. His writing is a mix of subtle humor and astute observations about human nature, raising questions of philosophy and religion in an attempt to ponder the nature of racism that bored so deep a root in British colonial India. What is remarkable about "A Passage to India" is that while it is set in a very concrete time and place, the themes it raises transcend time and offer some insight into present conflicts. It is easy to see why "A Passage to India" is considered to be one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century, for Forster was at his peak form in this eloquent ode to the impossibilities and the improbabilities of friendship.
A Passage to India
This is an excellent book, but it is not the easiest of reads. If you do not understand Hindi, then you may have learn a few words, but there aren't too many. I do not think that the novel has a straight-forward moral that says, "The English are bad. Good bye." Instead, the novel shows the ambiguity of human life and the fact that there is no column in which you can put all of the good guys and another in which you put all of the bad guys. The characters in this novel are complex and show different weaknesses. The book offers excellent insight into the world of colonial India and the many different social strata that existed.This book is best read in long sections - don't read a few pages or one chapter at a time. I hope you enjoy it.