A Passage to India E. M. Forster (1879-1970) The photograph shows Forster 1935 at the age of 56. It is presented here by courtesy of Peter Stein (http://www.fredstein.com/). E. M. Forster (1879-1970) A Passage to India

A Passage to India E.M. Forster wrote A Passage to India in 1924, the last completed novel that he published during his lifetime.

A Passage to India The novel differs from Forster's other major works in its overt political content, as opposed to the lighter tone and more subdued political subtext contained in works such as Howards End and A Room With a View. The novel deals with the political occupation of India by the British, a colonial domination that ended after the publication of Forster's text.

The title Forster took the title from Walt Whitman's poem "Passage to India", 1870. The Suez Canal, creating a passage to India, was completed in 1869. "While "Passage to India" is very much about the anticipatory joy of a global union fulfilling the destiny first sought by Christopher Columbus, it is also about the voyage of the soul or spirit and the resultant discovery that lies beyond India, the cradle of civilization, the motherland of America. In fact it is India, as the ultimate goal of Columbus's voyage, that represents all great human undertaking and, at the same time, the distinct wonder of America, for when Columbus arrived in America, he thought he was in India," from An Analysis of Asian Influences in "Passage to India" by Matthew Whitman Lazenby.

Background of the Novel (I) The colonial occupation of India is significant in terms of the background of the novel. Britain occupied an important place in political affairs in India since 1760, but did not secure control over India for nearly a century. In August of 1858, during a period of violent revolt against Britain by the Indians, the British Parliament passed the Government of India Act, transferring political power from the East India Company to the crown.

Background of the Novel (II) This established the bureaucratic colonial system in India headed by a Council of India consisting initially of fifteen Britons. Although Parliament and Queen Victoria maintained support for local princes, Victoria added the title Empress of India to her regality. The typical attitude of Britons in India was that they were undertaking the "white man's burden," as put by Rudyard Kipling. This was a system of aloof, condescending sovereignty in which the English bureaucracy did not associate with the persons they ruled, and finds its expression in characters such as Ronny Heaslop and Mr. McBryde in A Passage to India.

Background of the Novel (III) Indian nationalism began to foment around 1885 with the first meeting of the Indian National Congress, and nationalism found expression in the Muslim community as well around the beginning of the twentieth century. Reforms in India's political system occurred with the victory of the Liberal Party in 1906, culminating in the Indian Councils Act of 1909, but nationalism continued to rise.

Background of the Novel (IV) India took part in the first world war, assisting the British with the assumption that this help would lead to political concessions, but even with the promise after the war that Indians would play an increased role in their own government, relations between the English and Indians did not improve. After the war tension continued; in 1919 ten thousand unarmed Indians were massacred at Amritsar's Jallianwala Bagh during a protest. It is around this time that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became a preeminent force in Indian politics, and it is also around this time that Forster would wrote A Passage to India.

Background of the Novel (V) More than twenty years later, after a long struggle, Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act in 1947, ordering the separation of India and Pakistan and granting both nations their sovereignty.

Plot We are introduced to Chandrapore, a city that is part of the British Raj. It is separated into three parts: Mosque, Caves, and Temple. MOSQUE (Read to page 38) Aziz is a poor doctor who has lived dutifully under British command, but has grown more frustrated with their treatment of him and his fellow Indians. He and his friends discuss the English and complain that they have changed in attitude over the years and have become more intolerant and cold. The British officials at the civil station in Chandrapore run a club that forbids Indians from attending and try to avoid any intimate friendships or relations with the natives. Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested come over from England to visit Ronny Heaslop, Mrs. Moore's son and Adela's betrothed.