21HEMA25

Ankit Kumar Dubey

Semester: III

Paper: 20th Century British Literature and Thought

Co-relation between E. M. Forster’s “A Passage to India” and his essay “Notes

on The English Character.”

In this essay, I will try to analyze the influence of E. M. Forster’s thoughts on

an English character but not limited to it in his novel, A passage to India,

published in 1924. He vividly expressed his take on an English character’s

common traits and values in his essay “Notes on The English Character”

(originating from a talk Forster delivered in 1913). To demonstrate the

correlation between these two works, I will be focusing on the events that

occurred in the novel, the characters’ reactions toward said events, and their

behavior.

The novel is written from a third-person point of view which helps us in

analyzing the characters objectively. It also allows Forster to judge his own

characters. The values like solidity, integrity, and efficiency can be clearly

observed in English characters throughout the novel, but also these values seem

limited when dealing with English and not Indians. This goes on to show the
hypocritical nature of English characters and their superiority complex over their

race which Forster has discussed in his essay. But as Forster commented in his

essay, it is not a conscious fault on the part of the English, but they sincerely

consider themselves superior and perfect, which leads them to see all the Indians

through the lens of inferiority.

The English are self-conceited and genuinely believe they are needed in India to

maintain order and peace among the crude and chaotic Indians. When Ronny

Heaslop says to Adela, “What I say. We’re out here to do justice and keep the

peace. Them’s my sentiments. India isn’t a drawing room.” He sincerely believes

in these sentiments and uses them to justify his cruel and derogatory behavior

toward all Indians. Like him, all English are overly cautious and hypocritical

towards Indians. Almost all of them presume ulterior motives behind every

Indian’s actions and speech. The primary cause for this, in the words of Forster,

is “there is plenty of brain power [in the English], but it is more often used to

confirm prejudices than to dispel them.” This further renders them unable to

question and judge their own assumptions about the superiority of their race and

Empire. They fail to question their hypocrisy and ulterior motives when building

“...up an Empire with a Bible in one hand, a pistol in the other and financial

concessions in both pockets.” According to Forster, the public school system

fails the English by not providing the mental clarity needed to objectively

analyze his own faults. But it surely helps develop the sentiment of esprit de

corps, which can be clearly observed in their solidarity among people of the
same race and nationality. The character of an English undoubtedly undergoes

some changes during his stay in India, as also observed by Miss Quested in

Ronny, “India had developed sides of his character that she had never admired.”

At the same time, some traits of the English character do not get affected by the

least by geographical or cultural change, like their slowness. “It acts promptly

and feels slowly,” in the essay, Forster mentions an anecdote of an accident to

elucidate this trait. The same can be observed in the motor accident in chapter

VIII; Ronny and Miss Quested remain a lot calm and composed compared to

Nawab Bahadur, who was frantic about the whole incident. Being frantic would

not have been helpful in such a situation in any way, so it could be considered a

correct course of action. But this slowness of Miss Adele coming out with the

truth about the cave incident also almost led to a disaster during Aziz’s trial. It

would be wrong to say that the English are unemotional and cold people, but

they are practical. They even judge and rationalize the appropriateness of their

emotions which would never make sense to an Indian who knows to be sincere

with his sentiments like Aziz. Earlier in the same chapter, Ronny and Miss

Quested treated their issue of marriage very rationally and with a sense of

aloofness. On the other hand, Aziz feels every emotion very sincerely and

behaves accordingly as he “... has behind him a tradition, not of middle-class

prudence but of kingly munificence and splendour.” An English could not

comprehend this because of his “...an undeveloped heart--not a cold one.” This
lack of understanding and the coldness towards the Indians could be attributed to

the lack of imagination in the English characters.

Like any other, an English character also has several layers that are difficult to

gauze from, with a superficial understanding of it. “It has depths that do not

reveal themselves at the first gaze.” E. M. Forster, in both his novel, “A Passage

to India,” and the essay “Notes on the English Character,” aim and contribute

towards helping the readers gain some semblance of understanding of its

underlying complexities.