A Passage to India: Book Review

Author- E. M. Forster

Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England, First Published- 1924

Pp. 7+286. Index

In the book “A Passage to India” E. M. Froster, tries to define the structure

of the society that was at that time divided among the white colonial masters, i.e.
the British and the native Indians that constituted a variety of people of different
races, caste and creed. Forster made two long trips to India during which he
observed district collectors, local laws, and local courtrooms at work. His
experiences in India suggest that his familiarity with colonial law was greater than
that of the average Englishmen living in India, this familiarity manifest itself in A
Passage to India, published in 1924. The characters in Passage demonstrate that
the colonial encounter is too complex for grand schemes of criminal and civil law.

The novel was written at a period, when India was slowly turning to protest
against the British and a sense of hatred had started to grow in the minds against
the white colonial masters and their memsahib. In a passage in his book, we find
Dr. Aziz ( the main protagonist ), telling Ali that he gives any Englishmen two
years to change and any Englishwomen six months to change. Here Forster by
using the term „change’ tries to define the mindset of the Indians towards any
Englishmen and tries to tell his readers that every Indian thought that every
Englishmen would be unfair to the natives, although later in his book he provides
certain exceptions among the British. In this novel Froster also tries to find a
answer to a very difficult and burning question that, „Can one Indiamen and
Englishmen be friends and can Indiamen and Englishwomen be friends?‟ Froster
rather tries to answer this question in a casual way, but at the end he shows the
deepness involved in this question. We first hear this question, when three
prominent Indian characters- Dr. Aziz, Hamidullah and Mohammad Ali,
casually discuss that whether Indians and Englishmen can become friends.
 This discussion was made in reference to Mr. Turton’s character, Mr.
Turton was the district collector of Chandrapore( the city where this novel was
based). Turton is being described by Forster as person who is not like other British
officers, he is torn between his senses of law on the one hand and unfettered
passion on the other. Mr. Turton is problematic far like other collectors he “had to
adjust his autocratic rule and at times benevolent administration to a climate of
representative politics”. Forster uses the character of Turton to show the British
rule of law is either a myth or a pretext for nation- building and in the beginning he
tries to answer his question that by citing the example of Mr. Turton that Indiamen
and Englishmen cannot be friends, because Turton did not trust any Indiamen and
even did not respected them except the Nawab Bahadur.Turton believed that to
maintain the colonial rue the native Indians should be dominated by the British.
Turton believes that Indian men are sexually attracted to English woman and they
only desire English woman and do not respect them, so when Dr. Aziz and Adela (
one of the main female English characters) , interact and go to the Marabar caves ,
he believes that they become sexually intimate over there. Turton hence fails to
occupy the space between the British and Indian binaries, despite his desire to do
so. No matter how hard he tries or how many bridge parties he hosts, Turton is
unconditionally wedded to British ideas of ethnic and cultural superiority.

When we come across the characters of Rony, Adela and Mrs. Moore, we
find a mix reaction to this question and we find a different version of answer from
everyone. First lets concentrate on Rony, he was the District Magistrate who
literary hated Indians which was quiet visible when he almost got annoyed with
Adela when he saw her sitting together with DR. Aziz and Prof. Godbole at Mr.
Fielding’s house in a very relaxed manner. According to Mrs. Moore, his son
Rony changed entirely after coming to India and his behavior with not only
Indians but with everyone changed. So by viewing and analyzing Rony’s
character, we can come to the conclusion that Indiamen and Englishmen cannot be
friends. Mrs. Moore’s character on the other hand can be defined as a rather
interesting one, as she is the only English lady who enters the mosque in presence
of an Indiamen i.e. Dr. Aziz. She is the only lady whom Dr. Aziz thinks and
believes that is different from other British women. Mrs. Moore didn‟t feel that
Indiamen only desire Englishwomen, rather she believes that is a bad rumor that is
being spread out. Mrs. Moore was one such lady who got disgusted with his son
and the other British men‟s attitude towards Indians and believed that no one
should be discriminated. Both Mrs. Moore and Adela wanted to see real India and
when Mr. Turton threw a bridge party for them and invited them to the club to
watch the play „Cousin Kate’, Mrs. Moore really felt bored as she felt that the
silent river and the shadow of the moonlight falling on the river that she had seen
from the mosque with Dr. Aziz was the depiction of true India. She believed that
men like Dr. Aziz were not greedy, not bad and any women irrespective of their
caste and creed are safe with him. She respected Indian culture as we find
evidences of her opening her shoe before entering the mosque in the book. When
every white man suspected and accused Dr. Aziz for seducing, molesting and even
trying to rape Adela who was Mrs. Moore‟s future daughter –in –law, she did not
believe this and somewhere in the bottom of her heart thought that Dr. Aziz was
innocent and a big misunderstanding took place in the Marabar caves. Hence by
critically analyzing her character, the answer to the important question raised in the
book can be found out that although every Indiamen and British men and women
do not maintain a friendly relation but we do find certain exceptions, like Mrs.
Moore.

The character of Adela is being figured and portrayed as an lady with

emotions yet those are not flawless but firm and she is very much practical, before
she came too India she knew that she was going to India to get married to Rony
(the District Magistrate) but still she wanted to know the best thing for her and so
she did not commit herself to the relationship. She was an educated lady, bold and
possessed a positive frame of mind in every sense and she wanted to see real India,
which for her meant to mix with real Indiamen, see the artifacts of India and to find
the true treasures and beauty of India. When Mr. Turton invited her to the bridge
party, the club and even when Rony almost hijacked her to the polo match, then
not only she felt bored but literary she was disgusted by the present scenario. She
was a lady who had a proper British education ad due to that she knew that this
projection of India that was made in front of her and Mrs. Moore by Rony and his
colleagues was not correct and hence she was anxious to see and feel real India. So
when Mrs. Moore mentioned that she watched the river from the balcony of the
mosque and the silent moonlight falling on the river in the presence of a middle
aged Indiaman she was overjoyed and did not react like Rony as she did not feel
that it was not safe for her future mother –in –law to be with a Indiaman unlike
Rony, rather she was angry on Mrs. Moore that she alone took the heavenly
pleasure. She was smart and attractive yet little different from other British
woman. While a conversation with Dr. Aziz and Prof. Godbole at Mr. Fielding’s
house she offered them a cigarette ad herself light up a cigarette and smoked it
with ease. Both Dr. Aziz and Prof. Godbole were shocked to see that because they
were not habituated of seeing a lady smoking rather they grew up watching their
mothers and grandmothers in a pardah and at that time the pardah culture was in
vogue, however they still respected her . Adela was in a very confusing state of
mind, and all her confusion was about her marriage with Rony, the Rony she knew
rather everyone knew had changed drastically after he was posted in India. The
zeal of her to see and feel real India ended up with a relation between her and
Dr.Aziz, but both she and Dr. Aziz knew that this relationship is nothing more than
friendship. Adela knew that Dr. Aziz loved her wife even though she died long
back and thought the 3 precious gifts that he received from his wife as his sole
property in life. She had found a friend who could understand the mental dilemma
she was a going through and she realized it twice- while having a small chat at Mr.
Fielding‟s house and during the short but the most important conversation of the
story when they were climbing to the caves which were placed at a steep height at
the Marabars. Their relationship was misunderstood first by Rony and later after
the incident at Marabar by everyone. The incident of Marabar caves changed the
relationship between Dr. Aziz and Adela, although she never told anyone that Dr.
Aziz molested or raped her but everyone almost cooked up a story and accused Dr.
Aziz of raping her. This incident not only changed the relationship of Adela and
Dr. Aziz but it also changed the way now every Indian started seeing the British
memsahibs, and this change was quite obvious in a negative side . Even although
Adela went the courtroom and said that Dr. Aziz was not guilty, the feelings of
hatred that had gathered in the minds of Dr. Aziz against every white and specially
Adela did not go. Hence due to this a good, honest, humble relationship of
friendship that had started between them died out, mainly due to the dominant
structure of society then prevalent in India.

The question that has been raised through the story of this book can be best
answered and understood through the relationship between Mr. Fielding and Dr.
Aziz. Mr. Fielding unlike Mr. Turton did not spend much time in India, but in his
short stay in India he realized the portrayal of India that was showcased in front of
every Englishman was not correct. He was not a dominant character like Mr.
Turton; he was a middle aged man and was the Principal of the local government
college. He treated everyone irrespective of his or her class, creed equally. When
he first met Dr. Aziz, who was like him a middle aged man, was married long back
and while giving birth to his third child his wife died. Dr. Aziz before meeting Mr.
Fielding felt that every Indian was equal to a servant for the white colonial masters
and somewhere he had a fear about them and felt that every Englishman and
memsahib were equal to a god. Several times Dr. Aziz was insulted by the white
sahibs and memsahibs, and due to this a sense of hatred grew in his mind which
changed from the time when he met Adela and Mr. Fielding. Mr. Fielding unlike
other British officers did not prevent Dr. Aziz from entering his house rather he
treated Dr. Aziz with equal dignity and even provided him with equal space
through which Dr. Aziz and even Prof. Godbole could express their feelings during
their conversation with Adela at Mr. Fielding‟s residence. Unlike other British men
he did not fill Adela‟s mind with bad thoughts about Indians. The chemistry or the
solidarity between Dr. Aziz and Mr. Fielding was every good and strong, they
understood each other very well. Dr. Aziz understood the emptiness in Mr.
Fielding‟s life and suggested him to marry and even he was ready to find a good,
healthy attractive wife from Calcutta because he felt women from Calcutta turn out
to be good wives. Mr. Fielding at the same time did understand the grief of Dr.
Aziz and seeing that Aziz showed him his late wife‟s photograph. Dr. Aziz did not
allow his wife when he was alive to come in front of any man as Aziz believed in
the pardah system but seeing the respect in Mr. Fielding about Indians specially
about Dr. Aziz, he allowed Mr. Fielding to see his late wife‟s picture. Both became
good companions and friends who trusted one another in a very short time. During
the trip to Marabar when the incident took place, Fielding was the only
Englishman who stood beside Aziz and believed that a man like Aziz cannot do
such a thing because he was a man who possessed a nice moral. Even Fielding met
with Hamidullah and Ali to fix a good lawyer for Aziz. Aziz on the other hand
due to this false accusation started hating and not trusting each and every
Englishman and due to this he even insulted Mr. Fielding and forgot all the good
behavior and attitude that he received from Fielding when he was sick. Even when
Dr. Aziz was declared not guilty both by the court and Adela, he refused to meet
Mr. Fielding when he came to his house and rather spoke to him in a harsh voice.
In the end when Mr. Fielding asked Dr. Aziz that, „Can they be friends?‟, the
author E. M. Forster rather tries to answer it in a rather dramatic way and
evidences of it can be found out when Fielding asks why he and Aziz cannot be
friends and the land and sky seem to answer, “No, not yet”, and “No, not there”.
This small answer refers to everything and the answer can be found out that even
though there were exceptions among the British and some of them even wanted to
be friendly with Indians but the ongoing situation of the country did not allow
them to do so. Similarly if the Indians wanted to be friendly and free with the
English they could not do it as everyone suspected them and saw them as merely as
greedy and cunning men.

So novels like Passage can tell us great deal about the social and political
implications of a legal system- keeping in mind the differences between a
Englishman and a Indian. Such novels can dispel monopolistic claims on low and
“de- universalize” repressive jurisprudence that arrogantly presumes the
backwardness of other cultures.

AGNIK BHATTACHARYA

PG -1, Department of History, Presidency University, Kolkata, India