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ABSTRACT
The representation of the colonized cultures and societies by the colonialists has been a subject of
immense importance, both to colonialist and postcolonial critics and writers. The colonialist
discourses and writings tend to project the Europeans and the European cultures as normative
standards. The colonized alterity is presented as a lack or an abnormality. The British writers and
critics, fed upon the Orientalist discourses, have been projecting their own race and culture as
superior, and portraying the Indians as lesser Other. E.M. Forster has portrayed the colonialist
ideology of the superiority of white race and its culture and the constructed inferiority of India
and the Indians in A Passage to India. The present study aimed to examine the operations of the
colonialist ideology in A Passage to India, to show that Forster meant to reinforce the colonialist
ideology of superiority, along with the representation of India and Indians as stereotypes and
marginalized people and culture in his novel. The study also wanted to examine the link between
imperialism and culture and the resultant mimicry and hybridity among the Indians and the
development of the identity of the Indians. The study was based upon the analysis of the text of
the novel in the light of Postcolonial theories. The study found that A Passage to India like any
imperial discourse privileged the Europe and the European codes, and ideologies while the
Indians and their culture were presented as lesser and inferior stereotypes.
Keywords: Mimicry, ideology, assimilation, oppression, cruelty, lesser, stereotype, superiority.
Some of the above mentioned critics The present study intends to undertake a
have not examined the novel from the fresh reading of the novel in the light of
perspective of the representation of postcolonial critical theory.
Indians, while some have not fully
focused their attention on the THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
representation of India and Indians as The current study is based upon the
stereotypes by Forster. Bhupal Singh has exhaustive analysis of A Passage to
come up with a commendable critique of India in the light of postcolonial critical
the novel. But even then there are certain theories. The major proposition of this
points that need to be taken account of. study is that Forster has represented
He incorrectly maintains that Forster is India and Indians from the colonialist
scrupulously fair. Fair towards whom, perspective and has used the stereotypes
towards Indians or the British. Singh constructed by Western Orientalists
contends that Forster has no didactic about Indians to contain them and to
objective (1975). The present study perpetuate the empire, and to establish
intends to pay attention to these issues the superiority of the British and the
and to fill the research gap. Richard inferiority of the Indians. The study
Cronin, has devoted a full chapter to A intends to prove that Forster is a
Passage to India, but has not focused colonialist writer, who has written from
upon the portrayal of Indians as the colonialist perspective of superiority
stereotypes by Forster. Rather his and the novel is a colonialist
emphasis is upon the fashioning of a representation of India. It reinforces the
new rhetoric by Forster (Cronin). colonialist ideology of superiority in A
Crane tends to buy the idea of Forster Passage to India.
that the novel avoids politics. Actually it
deals with the politics, again from the DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
perspective of the empire. Crane fails to
see the absence of Indian political Portrayal of India and Indians as
figures from the novel in the right Lesser and Inferior Other:
perspective (1992). Similarly Cranes The opening chapter of the novel
handling of the issue of the absence of prepares the reader towards the portrayal
Amritsar massacre is far fetched, to say of India and Indians as lesser and
the least. Crane has not focused upon the inferior Other. The choice of words to
portrayal of Indians as stereotypes. This describe the imaginary Indian town,
shows the significance and the relevance Chandrapore, and its climate, its
of the present study, not only for the landscape and its people, is derogatory
people of the subcontinent, but also for and humiliating. This conveys the idea
the one time colonial rulers of India. that the writer belongs to the
Even then, Jermey Tambling in the colonialists, who look down upon India
introduction to a volume of essays and its people and have no love or
(1995) seems unhappy that so much re- sympathy for them. The narrative is not
reading of Foster has not been characterized by empathy. It is loaded
undertaken in the light of critical theory. with antipathy for India and Indians. The
The above given brief literature review river Ganges deposits rubbish freely in
not only provides the context for the the vicinity of the town. The streets of
present study, it justifies its need as well. the town are mean, the temples are
ineffective. The writer acknowledges the family, shown by the Indian women,
the existence of a few fine houses at shows the fate of Indian women worse
Chandrapore, but they are hidden by the than men. The wife of Hamidullah is in
filth of the alleys, to deter the visitors. purdha. She cannot take her dinner
The town is devoid of any work of art, in before it is taken by men. She believes
the form of painting or carving. The that women have no possible life and
narrator further tells that every thing existence without marriage and men.The
Indian, like its landscape and city is narrator describes the fate of the Indian
abased and monotonous. The town women as mere wedlock and
is summed up as an embodiment of motherhood.
excrescence. The Anglo-Indian city The Indians are portrayed as lazy, with
station, inhabited by the British parasitic tendencies. Latif has never
colonizers, has nothing in common with done a stroke of work; he lives off the
the native town. Surprisingly, Crane generosity of Hamidullah. His wife
(1992) claims, that Forster has opened lives somewhere else in similar
the narrative of his novel with his most circumstances. Latif hardly visits her.
sympathetic characters. He unjustly He is shown worrying about political
claims that Forster deliberately gives a and philosophical issues. This is a
positive impression of the Indians. negative comment on the Indian
Further, Crane incorrectly claims that A character. The Indians are shown
Passage to India offers a remarkable obsessed with the past, their departed
picture from the Indian point of view. It greatness .Major Callender is in the
is a very serious misreading of the novel. habit of degrading and humiliating Dr.
Forsters portrayal of Aziz and the Aziz, Mrs. Callender and her friend take
Indians is from the perspective of a the tonga of Aziz without even bothering
colonialist, synecdochal and reductive. to talk to him. Aziz is described only as
The Indians are mere stereotypes, a little Indian. The Indian soil is
slightly moderate, when compared to horrible. It is unpredictable, unreliable
John Masters portrayal of the Indians in and treacherous. The gate of the Muslim
Bhowani Junction and The Deceivers. mosque is ruined. Its courtyard is paved
Forster does not say anything about the with broken slabs. The Indians are
spicy Indian cuisine or the celebrated portrayed as suffering from the habit of
hospitality of the East. The hooka gives exaggeration. Aziz has no access to
out the smell of cow dung, as does the Heaslop but he is shown telling Mrs.
Indian bazaar, which Aziz passes Moor that he knows the city magistrate
through. At the house of Hamidullah, intimately. Aziz is presented as a typical
the Indians are shown like slaves and Asiatic, as invented by Western
subjects, fondly recalling the empty, Orientalists, a mimic man. He believes
formal words of politeness and that his social link with a white sahib can
occasional common courtesy expressed make him a complete man, as pointed
by the white people towards them. The out by Fanon (2008). Chapter two ends
narrator confirms the subject and the with the declaration that Indians are not
reductive status of the Indians. Forster, allowed into Chandrapore club, even the
instead of sympathetically illustrating educated ones, inspite of their mimicry
the Indian values and culture, celebrating and complete assimilation of imperial
the spirit of sacrifice and devotion for culture.
reductive way, when they had not sports grounds, and nationality would
cheated, it was bhang, women, or worse, exert its poison where ever possible.
and the desirables wanted to get some The Indians are portrayed as cringing
thing out of him. This is what is called towards the British and living with
the construction of the East by the constant fear. Dr. Pana Lal has creeping
Western narratives as discussed by fear for his possible offence to the
Said.The same is ratified by Cronin, who British collector, for his failure to attend
maintains that his India existed for him the reception. He is shown as extremely
even before he visited it in 1920. His excited at the prospects of meeting the
India was given to him and created by British at the party.
Forster in A Passage to India (1989). The Indians, even the educated ones are
While the Indian foods are conspicuous shown as desperate to please their
by their absence, the English food and British masters. Dr. Aziz wrenches off
the menu of Anglo-India is provided. his golden collar stud to supply the same
Julienne soup, full of bullety bottled to Fielding. Inspite of the mimicry and
peas, pseudo-cottage bread, fish full of imitation on the part of educated Indians;
branching bones, pretending to plaice, they are still not accepted as fit and
more bottled peas with the cutlets, trifle, suitable to dine at an English mans
sardines on toast. Singh does not say table. The British are shown especially
anything about the privileging of the hating the Indians with modern ideas.
British culture, and the marginalization Said calls this attitude on the part of
of India and Indian culture (1975). For West as manifestation of moral power
Ronny India is a wretched country, held (2001).
by force. He is trying to do justice while The Indians, as a community, are
surrounded by lies and flattery. represented by Forster, as the people,
However, Mrs. Moor, who like Fielding, who dont care about their commitments,
is a symbolic reflection of the on going another stereotype. Mrs. Moor and Miss
debate about how the colonies are to be Quested were invited by Bhattacharyas.
ruled, reminds Ronny that God has put Everything was settled. The
them (the white Christian ruling class) Bhattacharyas were to send their
on earth to love their neighbors. Major carriage to collect Mrs. Moor and Miss
Callendar, inspite of the fact that he Quested on the appointed day and time.
knows Dr. Aziz to be a better It never happened. Mr. Heaslop passes
professional, describes him as a man his judgment against the Indians.
with, no grit, no guts. He even Hindus are described as slack,
reprimands him for not doing his duty unpunctual and without any notion of
and wandering around, now do some sanitation. Said refers to the use of this
thing for a change. On top of it, he stereotype for the Hindus in the imperial
shows his temper to Aziz. The Indians narratives, the Hindu is inherently
are portrayed by Forster as a race who untruthful and lacks moral courage
seek or invent grievance. Aziz is shown (1993).
as savouring his unhappiness. He had The Indians are portrayed as ashamed of
breathed for an instant the mortal air that themselves and of their culture. This
surrounds Orientals and all men. The reflects the impact of imperial culture
racial prejudice of the English against upon the native culture and identity. Dr.
Indians would not leave them even at the Aziz is also portrayed as ashamed of his
house, which he regards as a shanty. It is nature of the nawab. He loses his head,
infested with black flies. Dr. Aziz is abuses his chauffeur, behaves badly
constructed as a man, who has towards Miss Derek, while the white
assimilated the Western culture to the men are presented as men of grace and
extent, that he has developed an poise. The narrator paints the Indians as
Orientalist vision, leading to self-pity indifferent to morals and individual
and self-hatred. To escape from the responsibility. The bedroom of Aziz is
possible embarrassment, he invites Miss squalid, the people there are busy in
Quested and Mrs. Moor at the Marabar intrigues and gossip and their
caves. Dr. Aziz is presented as an discontentment as shallow. The minds
immature person who invites his guests of the Indians are said to be inferior and
to the Marabar caves, without having rough. Dr. Aziz, an educated Indian,
ever seen or visited himself that place instead of cleaning his house, like
before hand. Ronny calls Dr. Aziz as the Gandhi does in R.K. Narayans novel
spoilt westernized type, in other words, a (20000), is shown only grumbling. His
mimic man. house is a place of squalor and ugly talk.
Ronny treats the Indians present at the The floors are strewn with fragments of
place of Fielding contemptuously and cane and nuts, spotted with ink, the
rudely ignores them. He further calls pictures crooked upon the dirty walls
Aziz as a bounder. Ronny never tires without a punkah . His friends are
of his attack against Indians. From described as third-rate people.
individuals he drifts towards the Forster shows that educated Indians like
community or the race, Inattention to Dr. Aziz would avoid politics at all
detail, the fundamental slackness that costs. This is what the empire wanted.
reveals the race. Ronny dismisses the Forster also wanted to cultivate the
invitation by Aziz as, just their way of politics of the empire. Fielding
being pleasant.These are all the represents his point of view, England
examples of the construction of the holds India for her good, an echo of the
stereotypes to describe the Indians as construction of Kipling, White mans
inferior, and their frequent use for the burden. Haq, Aziz and others admit
Indians with the objective to perpetuate their inadequacy and inferiority at all
the British culture and empire. levels. This is meant to justify the
presence of the British in India forever
The Portrayal of a Comparison and forever.
between the British and the Indians: Every thing associated with India is bad
The Indian landscape is described as and ugly; April is a month of horrors.
poor, trees are said to have a poor Indian sun , instead of having any
quality. The English people are beauty and glory, is sinister. Aziz,
presented as calm at the time of crisis, under the influence of colonial ideology,
while the Indians are shown raving about has assimilated the western notions of
impotently. British India is portrayed as beauty as well and does not regard his
an example of reason and orderliness, late wife as beautiful. Compared to him,
while the native India is irrational and Sri Ram (Narayan,2000) finds an Indian
superstitious. The conduct of an Indian girl from the South more beautiful than
nawab at the time of a minor accident to the British Queen . The Indian children
his car is meant to reveal the childish are shown like monkeys . The Indians
are represented as dirty, ugly people, reserved for, the English Grasmere.
who are associated with smell, tobacco Ah, dearest Grasmere! Its little lakes
and the sound of spitting. Their lack of and mountains were beloved by them all.
etiquette is frightful. They put their Romantic yet manageable, it sprang
melons in their fez, guavas in their from a kindlier planet. While Gandhi
towels. The description is ironically (Narayan,2000) declares the flowing
summed up as, the celebrated Oriental rivers of India as beautiful and finds the
confusion. The Raj officials invariably sunrise full of colours and the air so
describe Indians as incapable of fresh .In Forsters India, the plane is
responsibility. The picnic arrangements untidy. A Pakistani writer Zulfiqar
are described as odd, the purdha Ghose in preface to The Murder of Aziz
carriage is made fun of as comic, the declares the Indian landscape to be the
Indians are shown not familiar with the most beautiful landscape in the world.
idea of traveling light, a pet word with At the sight of picnic, the presence of
Fielding. On top of this confusion, the elephant attracts villagers and naked
Indian cook is shown making tea in the babies.
lavatory. Mrs. Moor makes her The ability of the Indians to fabricate
comment, a strange place to make tea. and invent stories, which do not exist,
The Indian hot weather is never is another construction of the
forgotten. By May, a barrier of fire falls Orientalists. It is maintained that the
across India and the sea. Whereas the Indians dont bother to verify the fact
British novelists and poets celebrate the and can invent a snake out of a stick to
beauty of their countryside, here, the create a sensation. The Oriental fool
narrator laments that India is the country Aziz, cannot see the difference between
of fields, fields, then hills, jungle, hills hospitality and intimacy.
and more fields. This proves the point The Marabar caves are bland and bald,
of Homi K. Bhabha. even the sky which connects the
The towns of blasted India are the precipices is bland and glutinous. Mrs.
malaise of men, who cannot find their Moor, who is portrayed as a
way home. India in the eyes of Forster compassionate figure, and is regarded by
is not a promise but only an appeal, some critics as sympathetic towards
indirectly justifying the Raj. There is India and Indians, but actually is neo-
only a half sentence reference to the assimilative imperial mode to perpetuate
world celebrated Taj. The Mogul the empire, finds the caves as horrid.
heritage in the form of gardens, The presence of so many Indians in the
mosques, forts, palaces is mere Mogul caves only fills them smell. She
stuff. The dawn of India brings in its experiences the crush and the stench.
wake no miracles, but failure and Something vile and naked strikes her
disappointment. It is more than that. It face, which actually turns out to be only
is described as failure of the virtue in the the soft hand of an infant. Through the
celestial fount. The sun rises devoid of metaphor of echo, India is portrayed as a
any splendor. India is only a horrid, body which lacks discrimination and
stuffy place. The sun of India is discernment. What ever you shower
treacherous; the month of April spreads India with, hope, politeness, anything,
lust like canker. The beauty of the the outcome (echo) is the same
sunrise is only associated with, and monotonous noise. The images, Indian
caves produce, are of snakes and worms. McBryde comes up with yet another
Mrs. Moor is sunk in apathy and thesis on Oriental pathology, the darker
cynicism. Her romance with India is races are physically attracted by the
over. fairer, but not the vice versa. Fowzia
On their return from picnic, Aziz Afzal (1993)rightly describes
behaves like a child in the face of the McBrydes stance as a perpetuation of
Raj officials, who intend to arrest him on an ideology of containment . However,
charge of an attempted crime. Only Fowzia does make a controversial
Fielding, a British, can keep him calm statement when she contends that
and sane. Fielding is portrayed as a McBryde does not represent Fosters
superior human being who is in control own views. Muhammad Ali, the
of everything. The Indians, including pleader, at the trial scene, is portrayed as
Aziz, wail and weep at this misfortune. a typical Indian, inspite of his education.
McBryde, the British police officer, has He is portrayed as an immature and
an Orientalist doctrine about the Indians. childish person who behaves in an
All natives who live south of latitude 30 extremely irrational way during the trial.
are criminals at heart. The psychology McBryde describes it as the natural
of the people, McBryde tells Fielding, is gesture of an inferior race. The Indians
different in India. The collector declares are portrayed a community of people,
India to be a poisonous country and its who invariably seek a grievance, if not
people as jackals. The Indians are bad available, they can invent one, like they
starters, occasionally jib and are possibly do in the case of the departure of Mrs.
cowards. The Indians always do Moor.
something disappointing. Even Fielding Orientals are shown preferring hysteria
concludes that Indians can be unbearable and the public display of emotions.
on occasions. Almost all the British Adelas gesture at the trial scene is based
characters believe in the eccentricity, upon cold justice and honesty. Orientals
backwardness and supine malleability of exist on this side of Suez. The narrator
the Indians. India is portrayed as a place repeats the phrase of that great defender
isolated from the mainstream of of Empire, Kipling as said by George
European progress in the sciences, arts Orwell and quoted by Said (1993). They
and commerce. Only the English are can fabricate stories which are totally
really unequalled, especially at the time removed from reality or truth. The
of crisis. Godbole, though, steeped in legends or what is called subsequently,
Indian and Hindu mythology and as rubbish, spring up about Mrs. Moor.
philosophy, is not free from the Every Indian is a spy and every Indian is
influence of imperial culture and the blessed with the licentious imagination,
resultant mimicry. He plans to name his another European construction of the
school after King Emperor George the East. The frustration of reason and
Fifth. The Indians are called as niggers form, a muddle, is presented as the
and nothing is too bad for them. For approaching triumph of India. Forster
one alleged crime against a white is particularly hostile towards the Hindus
woman, the ruling white community .
wants the whole of India to crawl up to Portrayal of the Neo-Assimilative
the caves. The Indians ought to be spat mode of Imperialism:
at, they need to be ground into dust.
Mrs. Moor is portrayed as a kind, God echo. The original sound may be
fearing Christian, who is meant to be harmless, but the echo is always evil.
extremely sympathetic towards the
Indians and is very unhappy at the cruel Portrayal of the Growth of the Indian
treatment of the Indians by the Raj and identity:
its functionaries. She reminds her son Though, India is shown slowly and
Ronny that as Christians, they are duty gradually moving towards its roots and
bound to love Indians as well. Fielding, identity, but it has not resulted in the
the principal of Government College, is development of national identity and
presented as the new face of empire. He resistance against colonialism. It is very
is not satisfied with the cosmic changes difficult to agree with Cronin, that Aziz
brought about by a few transfers and becomes a nationalist hero, after his
postings. It is for Kincaid(1988) to acquittal (1989). He never becomes one.
reveal the true reality of the British love He is nowhere seen challenging the
for knowledge, and their enthusiasm to British and asking them to quit India, in
impart the same to the natives. Raj can the spirit of a nationalist hero. Singh
continue only if its officials are (1975) is right when he claims that Aziz
compassionate and genuinely friendly is not a hero. However, his claim that
towards the Indians. In the changing Forsters knowledge of Anglo- India
circumstances, the nineteenth century shows insight and penetration is an
attitude and mode of administration exaggeration. It is the repetition of the
cannot continue, Ah, that wont take us same old Orientalist construction.
far. Indians know whether they are liked Forster has portrayed the Indians, even
or notthey cannot be fooled here. the educated ones as living in the past,
Justice never satisfies them, and that is immersed in pathos. The poetry of Aziz
why the British Empire rests on sand. is full of references to Cordova and
The Lieutenant-Governor Sir Gilbert Samarkand. Aziz is portrayed as an
also belongs to the new school of escapist and not as a fighter. Instead of
thought, regarding the administration of fighting against the Raj, against its
the colonies. Forster is not an opponent oppression and injustice, he retires to a
of empire, he only knows like Sir Gilbert native state, which is described as
that the hands of the clock move forward jungle state. Aziz displays only the 1st
and not back. In a sense Forster intends stage of colonial encounter
to disarm the possible nationalistic (Fanon,2001). A period of unqualified
uprising against the colonizers. The assimilation. He does experience the 2nd
British need to come up with a solid new stage of disturbance, but never moves on
strategy to maintain their hold over to the third phase, the fighting phase .
India. Fielding believes, we all build Aziz is shown again reverting to a non-
upon sand; and the more modern the scientific and non-professional attitude.
country gets, the worse will be the The distorted impact of imperial culture
crash. Forster through Fielding makes can be seen even in the temple. God is
his new philosophy crystal clear. In the Love becomes God si Love. The Hindu
old eighteenth century, when cruelty and music at the temple and religious
injustice raged, an invisible power festivals is complemented by British
repaired their ravages. Every thing music and bands. Europeanized bands
echoes now; there is no stopping the play Nights of Gladness while the Hindu
choir of Godbole repeats Takram, and the East West division, invented by
Takram. Even in the midst of his the West about India and the Indians.
meditation the image of Mrs. Moor The study has proved its basic
appears in Godboles mind and never proposition that A Passage to India is a
leaves him . This is the portrayal of the colonialist discourse and as one form of
impact of imperial culture and the Orientalism has strengthened and
resultant hybridity. India is throughout reinforced the stereotype image of India
described as a land where everything is and Indians. The study has shown that
unpunctual. The divisions in the Hindu Forster has not made even a passing
community are highlighted. Indian soil reference to the oppression and the
is a land of fissures (indirectly pandemic brutalities of the natives by the
suggesting the relevance of the British as colonizers. He has not mentioned any
a force which can handle these fissures). Indian leader or the struggle put up by
The Indian freedom fighters and the Indians to get rid of their oppressors.
nationalists are portrayed as people who The study has also shown the deep link
kick and scream on committees. Dr. between culture and imperialism. The
Aziz is Forsters version of an Indian, Indians are shown to have assimilated
who in reality lives in the past and retires the culture of their masters .The Indians
to a native state and composes poems are portrayed as ashamed of themselves,
about bulbuls and roses. At the end he of their culture and of their identity.
makes his peace with the English. Throughout the novel, the Indians are
Godbole, cannot even build the school presented as lesser people, who cannot
he wants to build. Aziz is a memento, a manage their affairs like mature,
trophy of the illegitimate embrace responsible individuals. This is the
between India and the English. Aziz is projection of the European hegemonic
so different from Sri Ram assumptions, which have been exposed
(Narayan,2001), who totally rejects by the present study. The analysis also
imperial culture. The final message of has highlighted the portrayal of the
the narrative is that so long as, there are internal divisions and infighting among
people like Godbole and Aziz, Raj is not the Indians, on social and religious
threatened and will continue to exert its grounds. This was meant to justify the
influence even if Raj is formally presence of the British in India.
withdrawn. Crane on the basis of the The British characters occupy the center
progress towards the relationship stage, while all Indian characters exist
between the Indians and the British calls on the margins. The study has shown
A Passage to India an optimistic novel that Forester has reservations about the
(1992). This reveals the limitation of old style conduct of some Raj officials.
Crane. He associates himself with the He believes that such policies and
British, a model for the neo-assimilative conduct are not in the interest of the
mode of hegemony. empire. He disapproves the nineteenth
century attitude of the Raj, represented
CONCLUSION by the club, towards the Indians. He
The study has shown that E. M. Forsters offers an alternative approach through
novel, A Passage to India, reinforces the the characters of Mrs. Moor, Fielding
colonialist ideology of superiority and its and Sir Gilbert. The study has shown
narrative strengthens the stereotypes, that A Passage to India is an instance of