A Passage to India

I just completed A Passage to India by E.M. Forster over the weekend. This book has definitely been one of the more difficult reads since I just could not get into the story. I kept getting lost in the wordiness of it all and struggled to get through. However, irregardless of the wordiness, the novel had a great message. It took me until I reached the end of the novel to fully appreciate what E.M. Forster was yapping about the entire length of the novel.

The novel is set in the British ruled India, in the early 1900s. Aziz is the main character, a physican working with his British boss. He is the central character whose image is tarnished by Miss Quested, who has come to India to become engaged to Heaslop, who is a magistrate in Chandrapore where the action happens. Miss Adele Quested is accompanied by Heaslop's mother, Mrs. Moore. These two ladied "befriend" Aziz and beg him to take them to the Marabar Caves.

This is where all of the trouble occurs. While entering one of the caves, Adele thinks she is assualted by Aziz, where he is later arrested but ultimately the charges are dropped because Miss Quested states she has been mistaken and will not testify against Aziz. While the trial and the result of it are some of the big actions in the novel, I chose here to discuss the racism that predominates the novel.

Everyone in this novel is racist. Aziz is a Muslim and thinks little of the Hindu Indians who he refers to as dirty, primative, stupid etc. The English are prejudice to all both Muslim and Hindu, and are also prejudice to their own if they become to "Indianized". One of my favorite characters, Mr. Fielding, tries to bridge the two worlds, as he wants so badly to be friends with Aziz, regardless of the trouble that has been caused due to Adele's accusations. However, Aziz tells him they can never really be friends until the British pull out of India. That scene tore my heartstrings. I wanted just as badly for them to be friends, but you can understand why. Forster really showed that everyone is racist, even amongst their own people, and the the ruling party cannot be true friends to the subjects, as their will always be issues. There were scenes throughout the novel where there were misunderstandings between the Indians and the English because they did not understand their customs or meanings. It was sad to see, as the Indians were just as racist to the English as the English were to the Indians.

Ultimately, thinking about the novel after I finished, I like it better. As in, I truly enjoyed the message of the book but the wordiness, definitely did not love.

The next book I am reading now is not on the 1001 Book List, but I'll probably review it anyway since I have to read it for one of the book reads. It's call The Map of True Places by Brunonia Barry and I am enjoying it so far.

Until next time, happy reading!