My Passage to India

She plans to return to England at the earliest moment. Aziz rids himself of his western associations and vows to find a new job in an Indian state; he opens a clinic in the lake area near Srinagar , Kashmir. Aziz eventually reconciles with Fielding, and Aziz writes to Adela asking her to forgive him for taking so long to come to appreciate the courage she exercised when she withdrew her accusation in court.

Three more from EM Forster

Forster began writing A Passage to India during a stay in India from late to early he was drawn there by a young Indian Muslim, Syed Ross Masood, whom he had tutored in Latin , completing it only after he returned to India as secretary to a maharajah in The novel was published on 6 June A Passage to India sold well and was widely praised in literary circles. It is generally regarded as Forster's best novel, quickly becoming a classic of English literature. Over many years several film directors were interested in adapting the novel to the big screen, but Forster, who was criticized when the novel was published, rejected every offer for the film rights believing that any film of his novel would be a travesty.

He feared that whoever made it would come down on the side of the English or the Indians, and he wanted balance. However he did allow Indian author Santha Rama Rau to adapt the novel for the theatre in David Lean had read the novel and saw the play in London in , and, impressed, attempted to purchase the rights at that time, but Forster, who rejected Santha Rama Rau's suggestion to allow Indian film director Satyajit Ray to make a film, said no.

Following Forster's death in , the governing board of fellows of King's College at Cambridge inherited the rights to his books. Ten years later, when Professor Bernard Williams, a film enthusiast, became chief executor, the rights for a film adaptation became available. Lord Brabourne, John Knatchbull, 7th Baron Brabourne , whose father had been Governor of Bombay and later Governor of Bengal , and who was married to the daughter of Lord Mountbatten , the last viceroy, had sought the film rights for twenty years.

So it was another 10 years before the Forster estate arranged the sale of film rights. Lindsay Anderson later claimed he turned down a chance to direct the film of the novel. Brabourne, an admirer of the film Doctor Zhivago , wanted David Lean to direct the film. Lean was ready to break his year hiatus from filmmaking following mostly negative reviews received for Ryan's Daughter in By September , Lean was approved as director and Santha Rama Rau completed a draft of the script. The contract stipulated that Santha Rama Rau would write the screenplay. She had met with E. Forster; had successfully adapted A Passage to India as a play; and the author had charged her with preserving the spirit of the novel.

However, Lean was determined to exercise input in the writing process. He met with Santha Rama Rau in Berkeley, Gloucestershire , and over ten days they talked about the novel and discussed the script. They considered it too worldly and literary, the work of a playwright, and unsuitable for a film. Most of the scenes took place indoors and in offices while Lean had in mind to film outdoor as much as possible.

With India in the title of the film, he reasoned, audiences would expect to see many scenes filmed of the Indian landscape. But it has built in danger; it holds out such a promise. The very mention of India conjures up high expectations. It has sweep and size and is very romantic". Lean did not want to present a poor man's pre-independence India when for the same amount of money he could show the country's visual richness. During , Lean worked on the script. He spent six months in New Delhi, to have a close feeling of the country while writing.

As he could not stay longer than that for tax reasons, then he moved to Zurich for three months finishing it there. Lean typed out the whole screenplay himself correcting it as he went along, following the principle that scripts are not written, but rewritten. The director cast Australian actress Judy Davis , then 28, as the naive Miss Quested after a two-hour meeting. Lean wanted Celia Johnson , star of Brief Encounter , to play Mrs Moore, but she turned down the part and died before the film was released.

The director then offered the part to Peggy Ashcroft , a stage actress who had appeared in films only sporadically. She was not enthusiastic when Lean asked her to be Mrs Moore. Although she had recently worked in India on the T. The character required a combination of foolishness, bravery, honour and anger. After some hesitation, Lean cast Banerjee, but the director had to overcome the restrictions of British equity to employ an Indian actor. Lean got his way, and the casting made headlines in India. Peter O'Toole was Lean's first choice to play Fielding. The role eventually went to James Fox.

This one I like a little less. But I'm very glad that I finally tackled it and I don't know why it took me so long to do so. View all 17 comments. Jul 27, Gabrielle rated it really liked it Shelves: The more I explore E. Racial tensions and prejudices turn a misunderstanding into quite a drama. The por The more I explore E. The portrait Forster paints of the British occupants is very far from flattering: The Indians in turn view the English as untrustworthy — except of course for those who seek to emulate them in every way.

These combined attitudes reinforce many levels of animosity between races, religions and castes. Loyalty and justice are not easily defined for those living in this strange setting, and this further muddles the water. After just a few pages, I knew that Aziz would get himself in trouble: No one directly accuses him of anything, but people assume right off the bat that he has done something wrong, that like all members of his race, he is deviant and has a natural inclination towards criminal activities.

A strange series of event makes him look guiltier and brings to the surface a lot of anger and resentment that proper social behavior had simply concealed under the surface. And the end result of that is the amplification of the negative prejudices both sides have towards each other. It is so easy to say — out of innocent ignorance — something that will be interpreted as appalling to the other side, but if there is no sensible and open dialogue, there is no resolution.

Forster went to India twice, and wrote this book soon after returning to England. Obviously, the experience had not been a positive one, and the racist attitudes of his compatriots disgusted him. But the novel is not didactic: Tensions are unavoidable, as are disagreement, but without openness and compassion, the conflict will remain irreconcilable. The cultural differences in this book feel impossible to overcome because of power dynamics, but it is interesting to note that the different groups of Indians are just as virulent in their opposition to each other as the British are towards them.

I was worried at first that this would be a Rousseauist story about noble savages and big bad white dudes, but Forster does not idealize the Indians and demonize the British; he simply shows that all humans are flawed despite their best intentions. By simply emulating senior officers, Mr. Some things are very hard to overcome, and institutionalized hatred is certainly one of them.

His prose is beautiful and takes you right to this exotic setting that you discover along with Miss Quested and Mrs. You will turn the last page and think about it for a long time. In other words, this is a wonderful book that touched me less personally than Mr. Es un cinco estrellas. Sep 12, Madeline rated it really liked it Shelves: By herself she can do little - only feeble outbursts of flowers. But when the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars or a benediction pass from horizon to horizon. The sky can do this because it is so strong and so enormous.

Strength comes from the sun, infused in it daily; size from the prostrate earth. No mountains infringe on the curve. League after league the earth lies flat, "The sky settles everything - not only climates and seasons but when the earth shall be beautiful. League after league the earth lies flat, heaves a little, is flat again. Only in the south, where a group of fists and fingers are thrust up through the soil, is the endless expanse interrupted.

My Passage to India

These fists and fingers are the Marabar Hills, containing the extraordinary caves. But that's only the barest plot description. The book is an exploration of the relationship between oppressor and oppressed, human imperfections and mistakes, and whether friendship can ever exist between the colonizer and the colonized. It's also a thoughtful and powerful critique of the British presence in India, which Forster shows us by shrinking the conflict to a handful of people.

Our main characters are Dr. Aziz, a native Muslim; Mr. Fielding, a British teacher who has not yet become one of the "Anglo-Indians"; and Mrs. Moore and Miss Quested, fresh off the boat from England. Miss Quested is in India to marry Mrs. Moore's son, and both women express an interest in seeing "the real India.

Aziz when she meets him in a mosque, and this leads to a friendship between her, Aziz, Miss Quested, and Fielding. After the women express an interest in seeing the Marabar caves, Dr. Aziz offers to be their guide. The trip doesn't occur until halfway through the book, but the caves are a constant presence in the story, always looming somewhat menacingly in the background While Aziz is at the caves with the women, an incident occurs, and due to a misunderstanding, Aziz finds himself accused by Miss Quested.

An unfortunate series of events makes him seem guiltier than he is, and he is arrested. Miss Quested's accusation, and the sides the characters take in the ensuing trial, bring long-standing resentments and issues bubbling to the surface, and no one gets out unscathed. The latter didn't really grab me until about a hundred pages in, but this had me enthralled from the beginning. I loved Forster's beautiful descriptions of India, his look into people's minds, and the fact that a British author could write such a blistering portrayal of colonization.

Better yet, he doesn't simply villify the English and idealize the Indians - everyone is flawed here, but no one is outwardly evil. Characters are all well-intentioned, but not always sympathetic. And once Aziz is arrested, Forster's description of the panic that grips the British is evocative and sadly familiar to 21st-century readers: Each felt that all he loved best in the world was at stake, demanded revenge, and was filled with a not-unpleasing glow, in which the chilly and half-known features of Miss Quested vanished, and were replaced by all that is sweetest and warmest in the private life.

View all 8 comments. Jul 29, Veronique rated it really liked it Shelves: The main plot had remained in my memory but not much else. As you expect, most of the English b 4. As you expect, most of the English behave in the most atrocious manner, full of conceit, bigotry, racism, and indeed ignorance. That in itself is not groundbreaking. No, the shock came from the author portraying both sides in his narration, giving voice to the natives too, and thus challenging the very essence of colonialism. The other thing that I noticed from my early 21st century viewpoint is the role of women, some behaving even worse than their spouses, others trying to do the right thing, all used as pawns.

I do wonder what made Forster write this and if his own circumstances especially his personal ones making him feel outside the social norm gave him the impetus to analyse further. The novel doesn't really give a 'solution' but, by bringing these issues to the fore, make us more aware of them and hopefully teach us too. View all 3 comments. The mind boggles at the immensity and confusion of India, at the distant mountains, at the strange religions, at the endless tracts of land blending with the gray and threatening sky.

This is a landscape of dreams and terrors. It is unreal, but not romantic - a land of deceit, irrationality, vague but persistent danger. Tempted here by mirages, the British have built their colony on a foundation of sand and it must soon crumble. But behind these fragments of visions, shimmering in the background as if through a hazy gauze at a glimpse at the true, permanent world, lie the Marabar Caves. They are present, but shadowy, just out of reach.

What is inside those caves? The soul of India itself? Why do the caves remain in the mind like an echo, as they do to poor Adela? I am haunted by the Marabar Caves, as Adela was haunted by them, as Mrs. Moore was haunted by them. They expand in my imagination, they beckon and seem to explain, and yet I cannot enter. The cavern dims and darkens as it curves away into the mountain, beyond my ken. The Marabar Caves are the key to the meaning of this novel, just as their counterpart in our collective unconscious is the key to understanding human existence, but that key, like the rest of India, is beyond my understanding.

What Forster has achieved here is a brilliant evocation of India as conjured by the hopes and fears of the British imagination. It is one of the most striking environments I have ever encountered in a novel. It seems to embody everything that Britain opposes - emotion, chaos, incomprehensibility - in contrast to Britain's self-perception of orderliness, control, reason, and duty.

It is a canvas on which the English mind can display its deepest anxieties. Forster captures those anxieties with uncommon force. And, to play on that wondrous stage, Forster has supplied an equally stellar cast of characters, to enact the greater drama of the British Raj's influence on the people of both England and India. Aziz is amiable and proud, and deeply invested in ingratiating himself to his British masters, but he is also self-conscious and anxious. He reaches heights of happiness and expectation and then plunges into anger and resentment, all within a matter of moments, a product of having assimilated the slave mentality, which affects his every move and thought.

Fielding is the Principal of a British school in India, benevolent, rational, without family ties, and desirous to befriend Aziz to separate himself from what he perceives to be the racism and ignorance of his fellow countrymen. He wants to prove he can be friends with an Indian. Aziz wants to prove he can be friends with a Brit. The relationship they form is remarkable for its subtlety and its truthfulness, and remains surprising right to the end of the novel. And Ronny, her fiancee, is the casually pompous British Magistrate of the city of Chandrapore who would like nothing better than to have all these Indians whipped.

Her transformation after the caves is devastating. And I felt for Adela. On the stand, at the trial, she does a selfless and honourable thing, and it made me so glad. Aziz's transformation after the trial is unspeakably sad, but absolutely realistic. I despised Ronny, but ultimately pitied him, for how can he be expected to escape the social and political forces that forged him? These people were real to me. They are fascinating, believable, unforgettable.

The prose of this novel is scintillating. It is intensely ironic in tone, and satirical, but it also has a strangely suggestive side, enigmatic, mysterious, hinting at things unsaid that stick into the mind like an icicle, or opening vistas of possibility one can only see as through a haze. It weaves in and out of these modes with an astounding level of finesse and control, from satirical to funny to poetic and back again, insinuating secrets, dancing impishly, but never allowing us to forget, not for long, the mystery at the center of all things, the Marabar Caves.

The question is not merely, what happened in those caves? But rather, what are the caves? And what is India? And what is human existence? Is there hope, and meaning, and purpose? Is there a purpose to the British Empire? Is there a purpose to human connection?

Is there a purpose to empathy and understanding? Or is it all merely an endless echo in a dark cave, BOUM? All these questions, it seems to me, are the same question, the question that drives the engine of this novel, and indeed all examinations of why greater powers have always seen fit to oppress, manipulate, and exploit the weaker. That was the biggest surprise - the uncanny, amazing feeling running through the entire text that there are deeper forces at work, that there are answers to the human conundrum just out of our line of sight, just around the bend of the cave. View all 10 comments.

Jun 27, Kinga rated it really liked it Shelves: Adela Quested who arrives in colonial India with the best and purest intentions ends up causing irreparable damage to the reputation of an Indian doctor Dr Aziz, and in consequence ruins his friendship with Cyril Fielding, an English teacher. We may hate one another, but we hate you most. If I don't make you go, Ahmed will, Karim will, if it's fifty-five hundred years we shall get rid of you, yes, we shall drive every blasted Englishman into the sea, and then "—he rode against him furiously— "and then," he concluded, half kissing him, "you and I shall be friends.

The same way she thought she could survive Indian heat but in the end it killed her. Those stereotypes are never buried deep and can be excavated very quickly if need be. Even these two words could be interpreted in different ways. Are the temples ineffective as a place of worship, because they have been of no help against the invasion of the British, or are they ineffective as landmarks from the British tourist-visitor point of view. Or this little sentence on the landscape of India: He seems to truly believe it.

Was conformism the true villain of this novel? Race, imperialism, and all of it with the undertones of repressed sexuality, especially in the fantastic scene in the caves that really should make anyone hot and bothered and filled with a mixture of fear and excitement — if they know how to read all the symbols, that is. You can read it here: But now, months later, I think I do. View all 14 comments.

Nov 21, Mohammed rated it really liked it. View all 4 comments. Sep 16, Bradley rated it it was amazing Shelves: The one word that kept coming to mind as I read this and even after I finished, is: Honestly, even if I had never been told that E. Forster is one of those legendary greats, as mysterious as he is beloved, I would point to his writing and say the same damn thing.

Beyond simple, clear prose, I was enraptured by the humor and odd observations in the dialogues, the irony of Colonial England ladies wanting to see "The Real India", or the great way that every single The one word that kept coming to mind as I read this and even after I finished, is: Beyond simple, clear prose, I was enraptured by the humor and odd observations in the dialogues, the irony of Colonial England ladies wanting to see "The Real India", or the great way that every single character is painted without bias or slant.

It's definitely a humanist novel. But beyond that, for a novel out of and dealing with the heart of English occupation of India and the enormous prejudices and idiocies on BOTH sides of the debate, I'm flabbergasted with the number of courageous turns and observations. It's not just a condemnation of the occupation, but there's plenty of that.

A Passage to India () - IMDb

It's about ignorance across the board, about true friendship, understanding and, of course, rampant misunderstanding. India is painted in a gloriously chaotic fashion and England as is stolid, claustrophobic self, but there's lots of humor and heart and simple plain erroneous humanity on both sides. Don't mistake my ramblings as a description of a travel tale. Misfortunes abound and innocent people's lives are or are nearly ruined. Is it a comedy?

Is it thoughtful and emotional and wise? What really stuck with me was the preoccupation with the idea of marriage. Not actual marriage, but the perception of it. So many faults and accidents and a weight of tradition conspired to make a real hash out of the MC's engagement. But what made this novel brilliant was the way it perfectly dovetailed and highlighted, or was reverse-highlighting the reality of the English Occupation.

Marriage and occupation are so VERY alike, are they not? And Forster is no slouch on any front. He's clever and wide-ranging with his portrayals of women. Each is as different as can be. The good, the bad, and everything in-between. But the important bit is WHEN this came out. It's no knee-jerk reaction to women's right's movements. It's just seeing them with clear eyes.

Or seeing the people of India the same way, for that matter. But again, don't let me persuade you that this is all the novel is about. These are just a few tastes to a VERY rich and remarkable novel. I think I could read it 4 or 5 times and still find new gems or facets inside it. Jan 22, Steven Walle rated it it was amazing.

This book is a classic peace of literature. It describes the differences in the western mindset and the eastern way of thought. It shows how there are similarities in the two cultures of England and India. There are marked differences in the religeons of Hindoism, Budism, Islam, Christianity and intellectualism. I recommend this book highly to all. Enjoy and Be Blessed. Nov 25, Roy Lotz rated it it was amazing Shelves: Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence.

The novel can accommodate historical behemoths like War and Peace , philosophical exercises like The Brothers Karamazov , wacky experiments like Ulysses , and mythical adventures like Th Most of life is so dull that there is nothing to be said about it, and the books and talk that would describe it as interesting are obliged to exaggerate, in the hope of justifying their own existence. The novel can accommodate historical behemoths like War and Peace , philosophical exercises like The Brothers Karamazov , wacky experiments like Ulysses , and mythical adventures like The Lord of the Rings.

Really, what characteristics do all these multifarious works share? The more I read, the more I think that there are novels, and there are various novelish things that perhaps we ought not to name. So what is the novel, pure and simple, devoid of any hesitations or qualifications? A Passage to India is a paragon of the novel form. Forster is a delicate craftsman. Without any plodding descriptions or obvious inner monologues, he manages to convey the personalities of his characters.

They are, all of them, ordinary but interesting; impressive but imperfect; likable but limited.

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In short, they are real people; but, like all great fictional characters, they are also more than real people—they are whole types of people. A novelist does not simply capture people he knows; rather, he takes a characteristic here, a quality there, and fits them together like puzzle-pieces. The result is a person strikingly familiar, yet strikingly new. In a great novel such as this, the drama does not feel manufactured or contrived; unlike some cheap thriller, the excitement is not the result of improbable coincidences or extraordinary events.

Forster, instead, brings out the drama hidden in everyday situations; he brings to light tiny tensions, daily anxieties. The result is a penetrating exploration of human society and psychology. Forster shows how people both shape and are shaped by their circumstances; and this continuous interplay of social environment and personality unearths things never buried. This is my 3rd book by E. Forster and my least favorite.

I had a hard time getting into this. To be honest I found the beginning to be a bit of a slog and if I hadn't been reading this as part of a challenge I may not have finished it. BUT, I'm really glad I did because it all comes together nicely in the end. I listened to the audio which was a good choice for me. It pulled me through the more to me tedious parts. At the start there are many many characters to keep track of and I found it hard to form any relationships with them. I really liked the way the author showed both sides of the conflict. I also really enjoyed the absolutely gorgeous depictions of India.

I'm looking forward to reading more by this author. Apr 03, Barbara rated it liked it. This book is a classic, but its motifs of culture clash and racialism strike an unfortunate chord in current times.

Set in a time when the British controlled India, the book has several sub-themes. One is the condescending attitude and behavior of the Brits toward the Indian people and the consequent mistrust and dislike the Indians f This book is a classic, but its motifs of culture clash and racialism strike an unfortunate chord in current times. Fielding and Godbole were supposed to accompany the expedition, but they miss the train. Aziz and the women explore the caves. In the first cave, Mrs. Moore is overcome with claustrophobia. But worse than the claustrophobia is the echo.

Disturbed by the sound, Mrs. Moore declines to continue exploring.

Adela and Aziz, accompanied by a guide, climb to the next caves. As Aziz helps Adela up the hill, she asks whether he has more than one wife. Disconcerted by the bluntness of the remark, he ducks into a cave to compose himself. When he comes out, he finds the guide alone outside the caves. The guide says Adela has gone into a cave by herself.

Aziz looks for her in vain. Deciding she is lost, he strikes the guide, who runs away. Aziz looks around and discovers Adela's field glasses lying broken on the ground. He puts them in his pocket. Then Aziz looks down the hill and sees Adela speaking to another young Englishwoman, Miss Derek, who has arrived with Fielding in a car. Aziz runs down the hill and greets Fielding, but Miss Derek and Adela drive off without explanation. Moore, and Aziz return to Chandrapore on the train. Adela injures herself while descending the caves. At the train station, Aziz is arrested and charged with sexually assaulting Adela in a cave.

The run-up to his trial releases the racial tensions between the British and the Indians. Adela says that Aziz followed her into the cave and tried to grab her, and that she fended him off by swinging her field glasses at him. The only evidence the British have is the field glasses in the possession of Aziz.

Despite this, the British colonists believe that Aziz is guilty. They are stunned when Fielding proclaims his belief in Aziz's innocence. Fielding is ostracised and condemned as a blood-traitor. But the Indians, who consider the assault allegation a fraud, welcome him. During the weeks before the trial, Mrs. Moore is apathetic and irritable. Although she professes her belief in Aziz's innocence, she does nothing to help him. Ronny, alarmed by his mother's assertion that Aziz is innocent, arranges for her return by ship to England before she can testify at the trial.

Moore dies during the voyage. Her absence from India becomes a major issue at the trial, where Aziz's legal defenders assert that her testimony would have proven the accused's innocence. Adela becomes confused as to Aziz's guilt. At the trial, she is asked whether Aziz sexually assaulted her. She has a vision of the cave, and it turns out that Adela had, while in the cave, received a shock similar to Mrs.

The echo had disconcerted her so much that she became unhinged. At the time, Adela mistakenly interpreted her shock as an assault by Aziz. She admits that she was mistaken, and the case is dismissed. In the draft of the novel, E. Forster had Aziz guilty of the assault and found guilty in the court; he changed this in the draft to create a more ambiguous ending. Ronny Heaslop breaks off his engagement to Adela and she stays at Fielding's house until her passage on a boat to England is arranged. After explaining to Fielding that the echo was the cause of the whole business, she departs India, never to return.

Although he is vindicated, Aziz is angry that Fielding befriended Adela after she nearly ruined his life. Believing it to be the gentlemanly thing to do, Fielding convinces Aziz not to seek monetary redress from her.