Chapter 1

The first chapter of the book doesn't introduce us to any of the characters. Instead, we get a brief
description of Chandrapore and the Marabar Caves. There is a description of the town of
Chandrapore and its tri-partite division into Indian, Eurasian, and English sections. The larger setting
dominates: the river Ganges, vegetation, the sky and the sun, and, 20 miles to the south, the Marabar
Hills and their fabled caves.

The part of Chandrapore that lies by the river is grubby and sordid (i.e., dirty). But as the town slopes
upward away from the river, it becomes a different city.

Upper Chandrapore is where the civil station, or headquarters for the British colonial administration, is
located. Here live the British who have come to administer this particular area of India, which is a
British colony at the time.

The area around Chandrapore is flat for miles and miles until you hit the Marabar Caves, which are
described as "fists and fingers" jutting out of the ground (1.1.4).

This story is set in Chandrapore, India, on the banks of the Ganges River. The city itself is run-down
and poverty-stricken. Even though it is in decay with houses sometimes even falling down, it persists.
However, as one moves inland, it improves. On the first rise, there is a hospital and an oval parade-
ground. A more prosperous housing area is near the railway station. On the second rise, it improves
dramatically. Here is where the civil service employees of the occupying British government live.
There are offices, a club, and beautiful gardens.

Chandrapore is the setting for this story. The poverty of the lower tier of the city is emblematic of the
lives of most of the native Indians. The second tier indicates that there are areas of the city that are
not so impoverished; but only the upper tier, the one occupied by the British occupiers, exhibits any
level of affluence. This is what this story is about-the separation of the races, the classes, and even
the religions of the inhabitants of India in this period of time. The date is ambiguous. Some critics say
that it reflects the India of 1912, Forster's first visit. However, others feel that it is between 1912 and
his second visit in 1921, when the unrest and resentment against the British that eventually led to
Indian independence had reached a fever pitch. In 1919, British troops had fired on unarmed
protesters at Amritsar in Punjab Province, killing a large number. This incident became known as the
Amritsar Massacre. By the time Forster visited in 1921, the feelings of the Indians were much more
volatile than are pictured in A Passage to India. It's reasonable to assume that the setting is
sometime between 1912 and 1919.