A Passage to India

Almost a century after the book's publication the most crucial problems it discussed are as current as they were during Forster's life. The impossibility of communicating across the divide of culture, religion, and race, seems to be even more alive then when he saw it. The value of the novel lies not so much in representing it but in the fact that Forster offers a way out - personal contact. There is little chance people will suddenly like Muslims, Pakistanis, gays, lesbians, Moroccans, Turkish, Kurds etc etc - there is a chance (a very slim chance, Forster would be quick to add) that an American and a Muslim, a Turk and a Kurd, an Israeli and a Palestinian can be friends. The world may not want it, the people that surround them may not want it but the results depend on us alone. If we do not try we only have ourselves to blame.

Passage to India (0/0 people found this helpful)

E.M Forster's classic novel is a savage critique of English colonial attitudes towards the Indian 'subject race' during the British Raj. Having then visited India with his friend Syed Masood - whom this book's principle character is said to be loosely based on - Forster was well-equipped to expose the hypocrasy and racism of Anglo-India.

Tautly written and witheringly sardonic, few characters survive unscathed in this grimly pessimistic portrait of the times. So much so that it is a rather dispiriting read in 2007, when we no longer need Forster's acerbic wit to enlighten us on the arrogance and cruelty of the Empire. Sadly this makes it a rather contemporaneous, even dated read; arguably more interesting as social history than as a novel. This is partly because the characterisations are largely unsympathetic, even the young Indian doctor Aziz, who comes across as overly garrulous and emotional.

In fact, the subtext of the friendship between Aziz and the English schoolmaster Fielding gradually overrides 'the Marabar case' that is central to the novel. Fielding - the only voice of reason and dissent among the British ex-pat community - probably best represents the authorial perspective, but is a rather sketchily drawn character. More a plot device than a real human being, his relationship with Aziz seems to mirror that of Forster and Masood's, suffering many peaks, troughs and changes of heart. In 2007, the homosexual undertones read much more explicitly, no doubt, than they could be at the time of the book's publication.

Nevertheless, the fluctuations of their friendship also embody the uneasy bedfellows of 'emotional' India and the reserve and rationality of the British, and whether they can ever truly connect. 'Not yet', says Aziz in the final paragraph. Even the fictional setting of the novel, Chandrapore, is described in such a derogatory way that the novel makes a stifling, claustrophobic read - like the Marabar caves themselves. Clearly an important work of and about its time, and written with the cutting precision of a master craftsman, but somehow a little obsolete today.

Really Difficult Read (2/9 people found this helpful)

I found this incredibly heavy going. The story emerges at a snails pace and is only after about half way through that I felt any interest in the story or the characters. The latter part of the book descends into real tedium.

This may be of interest to scholars of Indian history or those with a close connection to the country. I'm afraid that in spite of the book's reputation I found it uninteresting.

Amazing Author, Amazing Book (2/4 people found this helpful)

I picked this book out of a list of hundreds for an AP Literature class partly because if had a lot of references on the AP test: I'm so glad I did.
One thing a lot of people don't know about A Passage to India is how connected E.M. Forster is to this novel. His best friend was a young Indian named Syed Masood, he traveled to India twice, actually worked there for a while, and first hand witnessed many discriminatory acts which inspired the situations in the book.
The book's basically about Adela Quested and her expected to soon be mother in law Mrs. Moore who travel to Chandrapore India to visit Mrs. Moore's son Ronny Heaslop. THe women stay social amongst their fellow English colonists however they long for a look at the real, behind the scenes India. One night Mrs. Moore meets a young Indian man named Dr. Aziz who then meets Adela and another Englishmen named Cyril Fielding through a lunch party. The three hit it off so well at lunch that Aziz plans a trip for them to travel to the infamous Marabar Caves. However while visiting the caves Adela makes an accusation against Dr. Aziz which leads to a trial and an intense look into the British and Indian relationships that only Forster could provide. The book is very well written, he definatly knows what he's talking about and Forster makes you fall in love with his characters. Definatly worth reading!

Deservedly a classic (6/6 people found this helpful)

An elegant evocation of British India and the racial tensions which divide the colonizer from the colonised. Miss Quested, a young English woman in India for the first time, suggests that she may have been attacked by an ingratiating India during an outing laid on to please her. Amid the outpouring of racial distrust which her accusation sparks, the voices of reason and sense, and even her own doubts as to what actually happened, are completely lost. An Englishman becomes an outcast from his own for speaking in defence of an India and a kindly woman is rejected by her family for of speaking her truth rather than that of the British Raj. The events that follow, demonstrate Forster's view of the impossibility of friendships across racial divides; of unifying India as a single nation and of the duration of the British Raj.

Forster brings his own perspective to 'the India question; and is deeply critical of the British position. But this is not a one sided novel: it exposes uncomfortable truthes regarding India as much as it does uncomfortable truthes of Empire and Oppression.

E.M. Forster

Reader Reviews:

East and West Can Never Meet? (0/0 people found this helpful)

Passage to India (0/0 people found this helpful)

Really Difficult Read (2/9 people found this helpful)

Amazing Author, Amazing Book (2/4 people found this helpful)

Deservedly a classic (6/6 people found this helpful)

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