Juliane Behm

East Tennessee State University

ENG 5507: Forster on Film

Fall 2007

The British Raj in India and Its Impact on the Friendship

Between Aziz and Fielding in E.M. Forster′s

A Passage to India

Table of Content

1 Introduction 3

2

The Basic Structure of the Novel 4

3

The British and Indians Encountering under the British Raj 5

3.1

The Treatment of the Indians by the British Colonizers 5

3.2

The Indians′ Reaction to the British Colonization 7

4

Dr. Aziz′s and Dr. Fielding′s Cross-cultural Friendship and Its Failure 9

5 Conclusion 15

6 Works

Cited 17

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1 Introduction

E.M. Forster′s last novel A Passage to India has been widely appreciated as his most

brilliant, most successful, and most valuable work of art. It has received a high reputation as one

of the greatest, but also "most puzzling," (Allen, 934) modern masterpieces ever written. After its

publication in 1924 "it was accorded instant recognition, as a fine novel and as a perceptive and

sympathetic treatment of the problem of `Anglo-India′" (White, 641). In the novel Forster

examines racial tensions between the British colonizers and the Indian people at the time of the

British Raj and also the philosophical question about the nature of human relationships in

general. Despite its great acclaim, it has also been highly criticized and its release gave rise to a

political controversy about British imperialism because it was perceived as a clear offensive

against the British imperialists. Some literary critics doubt the novel′s credibility since it

allegedly depicts British officials behaving too cruelly and the relations between British and

Indians as unrealistic (Macaulay, 188). Although most criticism focused on its political

assumptions, and Forster himself intended to express his scepticism about British imperialism in

India and its destroying impact on human personal relationships, it was not predominantly

intended to be a political novel. However, "

as

a political novel it has had a notable success"

(Rutherford, 2).

Forster′s central purpose is the same as in his preceding novel Howard′s End; he is

concentrated on the issue of `connection,′ as well as on the desire to overcome gaps of social and

racial segregation, and to unify the different races of the East and the West encountering on

Indian territory (White, 644). Since "personal relationships were for Forster a fundamental

value... from [which] he deduced the general need for tolerance, good temper, and sympathy"

(Rutherford, 6); he maintained the basic assumptions of G.E. Moore′s liberal-humanitarian

philosophy about the good human character and its longing for personal connection. In A Passage

to India, especially in the depiction of the friendship between Dr. Aziz and Dr. Fielding, the

longing for connection is not enough to resist racial tensions and misunderstandings.

Consequently, their connection is destined to fail at the end of the novel. As a result, A Passage

to India also deals with the question "whether or not it is possible to be friends with an

Englishman" (Forster, 10), and with "colonization as frustrating any chance of friendship

between the English and the Indians under the coloniser/colonised

status quo

" (Baker, 68-69)

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because it completely prevents the establishment of personal relationships under circumstances of

occupation and suppression.

In the following discussion the relationship between the British conquerors and the

Indians at the time of the British Raj will be analyzed. The relationship of the main characters Dr.

Aziz and Dr. Fielding, their attempted friendship, and the cause of its failure will be the focal

point of analysis. Finally, Forster′s assumption about human relationships under certain

conditions, based on the relationship between Dr. Aziz and Mr. Fielding, will be deduced.

2 The Basic Structure of the Novel

The relationship between the Anglo-Indians and the Indian people, and their continuously

growing conflict resulting from misunderstandings and differences in terms of race, culture, and

religion are presented in the three overall parts of the novel: "Mosque", "Caves", and "Temple".

According to Gertrude White, this tripartite division can be compared with the Hegelian

dialectical pattern of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis which provides the foundation for a

comprehensive understanding of the novel′s overall "theme of fission and fusion; of separateness

and of desired union" (644). In Part I, "Mosque", the gulf between the English and the Indians is

depicted in preparation for the climax; which is the conflict caused by the racial and cultural

disparities which finally arises in Part II, "Caves," because of the attempt to unite the two

completely different cultures of the East and the West. The fatal and muddling events in the

Marabar Caves that happen to Miss Quested and Aziz as well as to Mrs. Moore, eventually lead

to the "utter rout of the forces of reconciliation, the complete triumph of hostility, evil, and

negation" (White, 647). At this point, it becomes obvious that the obstacles to bridge the cultural

gulf are too high to create a human relationship between the Anglo-Indians and the Indians based

on mutual respect, faith, and sympathy. However, Part III, "Temple", provides a synthesis or, in

other words, a feasible solution in the Hindu religion to reconcile the evil and devastating events

in the Marabar Caves. Hinduism respects every human being regardless to religion and culture

and "its creed teaches that each particular part is a member of all other parts" (White, 651f.).

Allen, however, rejects White′s assumption of the underlying Hegelian dialectical pattern as a

way of interpretation. He assumes that the three parts of the novel represent the three Indian

seasons and their impact on the characters and the incidents that happen in the respective part: the

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