Resumo de A Passage To India

I read ?A Passage to India? by
E.M.forster more than 2 decades back. This was one of the novels prescribed for
in the English Elective syllabus in my 12th std. I had read that from the exam
point of view. This time I picked it up after 23 years. I had a different
perception than before. Previously I had done only character studies. This time
I could see it in a broader perspective.

The social structure of India under the
British Raj has been portrayed very vividly in this book.The eternal clash
between the East and the West, and prejudices and misunderstandings has been
brought out very well.

All the three religions, Hinduism, Islam
and Christianity have been shown to co-exist with each other. Passage to India has all
the dimensions of political situation, psychological effects and different
religions. Christianity, though adequate for normal relationship and practical
affairs, is too sallow for deeper human relationships. Islam is a faith that is
more aesthetic and cultural than a binding spiritual faith. Hinduism does not
guide the daily conduct of affairs. This is what is very interesting. Forster
could bring out the positive as well as the negative aspects of the different
religions so well.

This book has been dubbed anti-British for
obvious reasons as the author tends to have a sympathetic view of the Indian
under British Raj.

A passage to India
concerns the relations between the English and the native population of India during the colonial period in which Britain ruled India. The novel takes place primarily
in Chandrapore, a city along the Ganges
River notable only for
the nearby Marabar caves. The main characters are: Aziz, a Muslim doctor;
Godbole, a Hindu Professor; Fielding, the head master of the government college
; Ronald Heaslop, another British official: Mrs Moore and Adela Quested, two
visitors from Britain.
The relationship between the Indians and the British official speaks a lot
about the then British Raj. The British official is ever sceptical of the
well-meaning Indian.

Forster ends A Passage to India with a
bittersweet reconciliation between Aziz and Fielding, but also with the
realization that the two cannot be friends under contemporary conditions. This brings
back the theme of responsibilities and limitations of racial identity, as
Fielding accepts the sacrifices he must make to retain his English identity. In
this manner Forster ends A Passage to India as a tragic but platonic love
story between the two friends, separated by different cultures and political
climates.

Forster does not express any definitive
political standpoint on the sovereignty of India in this chapter. Fielding
suggests that British rule over India,
if relinquished, would be replaced by a different sovereign that would be
perhaps worse than the English. However, Aziz does make the point that it is
British rule in India
that prevents the two men from remaining friends. Forster thus indicates that
British rule in India
creates significant problems for India, but does not offer an easy
or concrete solution.

Forster?s description of the city of Chandrapore in the
opening chapter creates interest to read further as one can visualise the scene
unfolding before one?s eyes.

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