A PASSAGE TO INDIA - SUMMARIES

CHAPTER 4: CAVES
This chapter is the beginning of the most important part of the story. The Marabar caves is the
setting for the main action in the novel, that is, Adela Questeds supposed attack and later
accusation of Dr Aziz of that attack.
At the beginning of the chapter there is a geographical description of the caves. Aziz is the host of
the excursion, and he has invited Mrs Moore, Adela Quested, Professor Godbole and Fielding to
the caves. The ladies were accompanied by their servant, Antony, who goes back home because
Aziz and Adela ask him to. He doesnt accept at first, but Mohamed Latif, a friend of Azizs, bribes
him with some money to go.
Fielding and Godbole are late, so Aziz and the ladies take the train on their own. When they arrive
to the Marabar station, there is an elephant waiting for them.
They come into the first cave followed by a crowd of people. Mrs Moore doesnt enjoy that and she
is terrified by an echo inside the cave.
Aziz says that the best cave was higher up the hills but Mrs Moore isnt interested, so only Aziz,
Adela and the guide go up. Adela is thinking about whether to marry Ronny or not. She asks Aziz
how many wives he has, as he is a Muslim, and he is quite offended by that.
Aziz loses track of Adela, the guide tells him that she has come into a cave but they dont know
which one. The guide runs away so Aziz is left alone looking for Adela. She then appears down the
hill and he sees her binoculars lying on the ground outside a cave.
When Aziz goes down, the others tell him that Adela has gone back to town with Miss Derek.
When Aziz returns to the town, he is arrested by the police.
CHAPTER 5
Fielding goes to see the Collector, Mr Turton (a judicial officer) to find about Azizs arrest and he is
told that Adela accuses Aziz of attacking her in the caves.
The collector thinks that this is one of the consequences of the English and the Indians mixing up.
Mr McBryde, the superintendent of police, has a theory to explain happenings like this: it was due
to the climate of India: all natives are innately criminals because of the latitude they live in.
Fielding cant believe Aziz is guilty but the police officer tells him that theyve found a letter by Aziz
arranging to meet prostitutes in Calcutta

ACTIVITIES CHAPTERS 4 AND 5

CHAPTER 4
Page 63 exercise 1
A3B2C5D8E6F1GH4I0J9K7
Page 63 exercise 2
Possible answer:
It seems that for Aziz, Islam was a spirit of love towards all people and a kind of place where he felt
at home. In the mosque he became friends with a Christian woman (Mrs Moore) simply because of
the respect she showed for the mosque by taking off her shoes. And when he showed Fielding the

photo of his wife, it was a way of going beyond the purdah. Strictly speaking, only a brother could
go beyond the purdah, but for Aziz, if deep understanding existed, then anybody could become a
brother.
Bearing this in mind, we can see that for Aziz being Moslems together meant being real friends,
or staying with people who truly understood you. Aziz probably told Adela to send her servant away
because Antony was a servant who was hired by Ronny, and was therefore an intruder. He was a
representative of the hostile English who would have ruined the understanding between Aziz and
his real friends.
Page 64 exercise 3
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)

FALSE. They are all very much the same

TRUE
FALSE. They found everything rather dull that morning
TRUE
FALSE. At first, Mrs Moore had thought that somebody had tried to hurt her.
FALSE. He was glad she told him because it showed that Mrs Moore considered him a real
friend with whom she could be frank.
g) FALSE. It was Mrs Moore who suggested this.
h) FALSE. Although she realized that she did not love Ronny, she knew it was too late to
break off their engagement.
i) TRUE
j) FALSE. Aziz went to prison alone.
PAGE 64 EXERCISE 4
Possible answer:
The novel A Passage to India describes the feelings and customs of both the upper-class
English and Indians at the beginning of the last century. Some of the most important customs
described are those linked to hospitality and the behavior of guests. For these upper-class
Indians the question of honour was closely connected to how one treated his guests. For
example, the most important thing for the Nawab Bahadur after the car accident was that he
had risked the lives of his guests. Mrs Moore surprised Aziz greatly because of her respect for
the traditions of the country when she took off her shoes before entering the mosque.
Aziz, himself, felt very strongly that his honour depended on treating his guests well. He said at
one point that guests must be free otherwise they become prisoners. For him, the most
important thing was that his guests were happy. In fact, the whole plot of the novel turned
around his feelings about hospitality. After all, he felt obliged to be a good host to Mrs Moore
and Miss Quested and couldnt, therefore, allow them to come to his dirty, little house. This was
the beginning of the disastrous trip to the Marabar Caves.

PAGE 65 EXERCISE 5
A) Common sense and goodwill
B) Because love was missing: she and Ronny did not love each other.
C) (Open answer)
Page 66 exercise 7
a-6 b-4 c-7 d-1 e-5 f-3 g-2
Page 66 exercise 8
a) It is circular and about six metres in diameter with smooth walls

b) Hope spirituality; politeness social life; and the blowing of a nose the physical
existence of individuals
c) Possible answer: Aziz his loss of honour; Mrs Moore- her loss of spiritual certainty; Adelaher loss of sentimental certainty
CHAPTER 5
PAGE 75 EXERCISE 1
A) Because he realized that the collector was mad as well, and so could not possibly
understand.
B) Disaster
C) They forgot their differences and began to act as single, united community
D) Because he thought that all Indians, sooner or later, became criminals.
E) Aziz followed Adela into a cave and made some insulting remark. She tried to hit him with
her binoculars and then escaped down the gully.
F) Because Fielding knew Indians when they were at their best, i.e. when they were boys, and
not when they had grown up and become, as was inevitable in his opinion, criminals.
G) Because Amritrao was a Hindu and so Azizs case would become an Indian issue.
H) That if an evil action was performed at the Marabar Caves then everybody, Aziz included,
was responsible.
PAGE 75 EXERCISE 2
Because it would cease to be a tragedy and become a difficult legal matter. Here, the tragedy is
not that Miss Quested hurt herself running down the gully but that a young English woman was
attacked by an Indian man.
Page 75 exercise 3
a) (Open answer)
b) He believed that Aziz, a criminal at heart like all Indians, made insulting remarks to Miss
Quested in one of the caves
c) That if evil was done it was done by all, and if good was done it was done by all.
d) (Open answer)
Page 76 exercise 4
1-H 2-D 3-3 4-c 5-a 6-G