Fielding suddenly feels depressed, feeling that he cannot
match Aziz’s fervent emotions. Fielding wishes he had personal details
to share with Aziz. Fielding momentarily feels as though he will
not be intimate with anyone, but will travel through life, calm
and isolated.
Aziz questions Fielding about his family, but the Englishman
has none. Aziz playfully suggests that Fielding should marry Adela. Fielding
replies vehemently that Adela is a “prig” who tries to learn about
India as though it were a class at school. He adds that Adela has
become engaged to Ronny Heaslop. Aziz is relieved, assuming that
this means he will not have to host a trip to the Marabar Caves after
all, as it would be unseemly to escort an engaged woman. Aziz agrees
with Fielding’s distaste for Adela, but Aziz objects to her lack of
beauty rather than her attitude.
Aziz suddenly feels protective of Fielding and warns him
to be less frank with other Indians. Aziz worries that Fielding
might lose his job, but the Englishman reassures him that it wouldn’t
matter. Fielding explains that he believes in “traveling light,”
which is why he refuses to marry. Fielding leaves, and Aziz drifts
off to sleep, dreaming happily.
Analysis: Chapters IX–XI
Though Forster clearly portrays the Indians in the novel
more sympathetically than the British, he occasionally shows how
the Indians sometimes succumb to racism in the same ways that the
British do. Thus far, we have been acquainted only with Aziz and
his similarly well educated, upper-class friends. In Chapter IX
we meet several other acquaintances of Aziz, Muslims, some of whom
are not as enlightened or privileged as Aziz himself. These men
stir up an atmosphere of paranoia, suspicion, and racism equal to
the behavior of the British: they first suspect Fielding of poisoning
the non-English guests at his tea party, and then they blatantly
disparage the Hindu religion. Forster satirizes their sentiments
in the same way that he satirizes the British, showing how their
racism leads them into contradiction. The Indians uphold the ill
Hindu professor Godbole against the English Fielding, but then disparage
Hindus in general as disease-ridden. The men, in their clamor about
the alleged dirtiness of Hindus, resemble the English who fear infection
or contamination from the Indians.
Similarly, though Forster satirizes English behavior toward
Indians, he seems to remain somewhat pro-Empire in his views. Forster’s
logic does not argue against England’s presence in India, but rather
suggests that England might better serve India by improving personal
relations with Indians. We can see Forster’s fundamentally pro-Empire
stance in his implication in these chapters that India, without
British presence, would dissolve into fighting among its many sects.
Hamidullah is Forster’s mouthpiece for this sentiment in Chapter
IX: as the other men disparage Hindus and bicker among themselves,
Hamidullah contemplates the lack of national feeling in India. He
notes that Indians from different sects—like those at his political
meetings—unite only against the British. Forster portrays a united
India as only a fleeting illusion, brought on by Aziz’s recital
of nostalgic poetry that imagines a single, Islamic India.
Furthermore, Forster implies that political action and
energy may be impossible in India because the country is so oppressed
by natural forces. In Chapter X, he shows that animals have as much voice
as humans in India: their chaotic and meaningless noises sometimes
dominate, blocking out rational human discussion. Additionally,
the approaching onset of the hot season prevents action and sends
people scurrying into the shelter of their homes. Looking closely,
we see that each of the three parts of A Passage to India corresponds
to one of the three seasons in India: Part I corresponds to the
cold season, Part II to the hot season, and Part III to the wet
season. As we see later, the oppressiveness of the hot season directly
relates to the divisive and inflammatory plot events of Part II.
Chapter X foreshadows the hot season and the turmoil, argumentativeness,
and inexplicable sadness to come.
