An Analysis of Cultural Power and Respect in A Passage to India by E.M. Forster

Literary Movement Analysis

The novel A Passage to India is a novel that looks at colonial India and is focused almost totally on the clash of cultures, personal relationships, attitudes, and interactions between the British and the Indians. Out of the many themes, the story is set to portray, the one I believe is most effective is the theme of power and respect; creating friendships. I think one of the major themes of the book is of its characters asking, seeking, and demanding respect from those above them and then neglecting and degrading those below.

As an example, Dr. Aziz, throughout the entire novel is trying to gain respect. He wants to be respected by his fellow Muslim religious leaders, respected by the Hindu teachers, respected by his medical supervisor, and respected by the visiting English ladies. He becomes angry when he isn’t respected. But when is put in a situation of power over someone else he lowers them. He manipulates his servants, beats them, and blames, them in the same way, the way the people he is trying to impress use him.

The novel is an interesting look into England’s failing hold on its colony of India. We are introduced to the Anglo-Indians, represented by characters like Heaslop and the Turtons who openly detest the Indian race, to the point of being cruel and gross. Indians are presented as a race held back by the culture clash, with strong, thoughtless emotions and a lack of understanding of the English’s respect for quickness and social invitations.

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The book explores the weak characteristics of man and the social dynamics of a habitat that develops such flaws. As a reader and learner of the Indian experience, what hit one-man reading this book was the complexity of the regional diversity system in India, and its relation to religious connection. While this social commentary fills the novel, it does not reduce from the description of the setting or character within the novel. Mr. Fielding stands out as a fascinating figure that, by the end of the novel, leaves the reader ever curious, just as other characters in the novel are made to feel by his demeanor. His struggle to remain within the boundary of society and its expectations and to rebel against the ideologies carried within his skin color and geographical origin, create a sense of understanding that enables the reader to like the character, despite the efforts of Aziz to diminish the reader’s trust in his character by the end of the novel.

The characters also represent a certain literary analysis. In this case, Aziz perfectly informs the book with a comic satire, exploring the human errors we are often guilty of. Important with his emotions as always, Forster takes the reader on a wild journey that, somewhat, starts this adventure of the Indian ride. With the character of Aziz, Forster achieved to create a character whose unpredictable type of battles discourage his gogoodwillThe reader is made to have this desire to see his lies as adventurous truths, symbolizing the admiration and comic feeling with which he is received.

The interactions between the characters make one wonder where the attitudes come from. How were Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Aziz such sympathetic characters, while Callendar and Mrs. Turton are just a? full? Others were more understandable; Heaslop and Miss Quested seemed to just follow the crowd, and do what they were supposed to do but Forster makes the reader wonder how is racism learned and what makes someone look at a human as a human not a piece of dirt. It unfolds a great character study of racial relations during times in which colonialism was being seen in a wide variety of places. Passage to India is different from every one of its ancestors in the simple fact that it does not worry to hide the dirt and filth of India. Certainly, it stresses the fact that India, Life, and Humanity itself are, what Forster likes to call things, a muddle or mess. Forster’s motive was to paint a picture of India that is true and so vibrant.

Symbolism ran extensive. Everything from the sky to the wasps and the eye flies was symbolic. And in the end, the question remains is the struggle of the British and the Indians resolved?