“Oh,
East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet...” -Rudyard Kipling
The Ballad of East and West
E.
M. Forster's (1879-1970) "A Passage to India" (1924) attempts to bring
East and West-the colonizer and the colonized in one circle of life breaking
the boundaries of geography, culture, religion, race and cast Dr. Aziz's
attempts to be decent to the English, his subsequent arrest, trial and final
anti-English sentiments prove that there is an unbridgeable gulf between East
and West.
The
novel begins and ends with a question - can the English and Indian races be
friends and, at the end of the novel, the answer appears to be no, "No,
not yet".
"Why can't we be
friends now?" said the other, holding him affectionately....
But ………. they said in
their hundred voices, "No, not yet,"
and the sky said,
"No. not there"
As
part of the ideology of colonialism, throughout the novel, the English
'demonstrate their belief that they are superior to the Indians. "Critical
Survey of Long Fiction" writes:
"Forster draws an
unforgettable picture of the tensions between colonial rulers and
the Indian professional
class"
The
comments and treatment that the Indians receive from the English characters in
the novel show the common attitude toward the Indians during this time.
To
justify their takeover of India, which they didn't get legally, the British
created a negative image of the Indian people, partly based on their
imagination or misunderstandings. The new British arrivals in India are
influenced by these ideas from those who came before them. Mrs. Turton tries to
convince Mrs. Moore by saying:
"Don't forget that.
You're superior to everyone in India except one or two of the Ranis,
and they're on an
equality."
Most
of the English characters, especially females, always keep a neglecting
distance from the Indians. For example, an English lady doesn't reply to Dr.
Aziz's “You are most welcome, ladies." Rather she takes his carriage
without asking him. As Aziz Ahmad says -
“She has just taken my
longa without my permission,”
Even
their activities were more crucial than this. As we find-"Indians are not
allowed into the Chandra pore Club even as guests"
On
the contrary, the Indians have a differing attitude towards the English.
Eventually they want their association but the British don't. The action of the
novel begins with the Indians discussion on-
"...as to whether or
not it is possible to be friends with an Englishman"
But,
the novel ends with the conclusion that it is not possible until the British
leave India.
The
novel's main action begins after two English women have come to visit India.
They intend to know India through close observation. The Turtons arrange a
"Bridge Party" in their honour in order "to bridge the gulf
between East and West." But the irony is that the bridge attempt leads to
misunderstanding and racial conflicts. As it is seen-
"The Bridge Party
did not bridge anything."
Actually,
cultural misunderstanding is an important reason behind the racial conflict.
Differing cultural ideas and expectations regarding hospitality, social
properties and the role of religion in daily life are responsible for
misunderstandings between the English and the Indian Muslims, the English and
the Indian Hindus, and between the Muslims and the Hindus. Forster illustrates
this through various interactions between characters:
"Why can't we be
friends now?" said the other, holding him affectionately.
"It's what I
want. It's what you want.”
The
racial conflict reaches its climax in A Passage to India when Adela Quested
accuses Dr. Aziz in court of attempting to seduce her in Marabar Caves. It
seems that Chandra pore is preparing for a war: it is divided into two groups.
However, Fielding joins the Indians, for he believes and knows that the
accusation is for he believes and not false. As we find -
"Chandrapore was
divided into two camps, the English and the Indians,
and no intercourse except
it was official." (Chapter 19)
Even
their hostile attitude to each other becomes evident in the courtroom. McBryde
while presenting Aziz's crime, makes a strict racial comment generalizing the
common tendency of the Indians as "Oriental Pathology",
"...the darker races
are physically attracted by the fairer, but not vice versa this,
not a matter for abuse,
but just a fact which any scientific observer will confirm.
Actually,
we find McBryde's predecessor in William Shakespeare's The Tempest where
Prospero, a racist, treats Caliban in the same way accusing him of ravishing
Miranda:
"...thou didst seek
to violate, The honour of my child."
Despite
Aziz and Fielding's genuine desire to bridge these gaps, Forster suggests that
the weight of history and colonialism prevents genuine friendship. This is evident
in the quote,
"They were not yet
friends, they would never be friends."
To
draw a conclusion from our discussion, we can say that racial conflict is one
of the dominant themes of “A Passage to India”. The final message of the novel
is that though Aziz and Fielding want to be friends, historical circumstances
prevent their friendship. In colonial India, cultural difference indicates a
kind of superiority or inferiority, the center and the periphery, that cannot
be reconciled. But in post-colonial world, this colonial mentality has been
rooted out, and the central position of the West destructed by writers like
Kiran Desai who with her novel The Inheritance of Loss (2006), challenges the
dominance of the West and the "reality" of an orderly, civilized
"center" told by the West.
