Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas
explored in a literary work.
The Difficulty of English-Indian Friendship
A Passage to India begins and ends by
posing the question of whether it is possible for an Englishman
and an Indian to ever be friends, at least within the context of
British colonialism. Forster uses this question as a framework to
explore the general issue of Britain’s political control of India
on a more personal level, through the friendship between Aziz and
Fielding. At the beginning of the novel, Aziz is scornful of the
English, wishing only to consider them comically or ignore them
completely. Yet the intuitive connection Aziz feels with Mrs. Moore
in the mosque opens him to the possibility of friendship with Fielding.
Through the first half of the novel, Fielding and Aziz represent
a positive model of liberal humanism: Forster suggests that British
rule in India could be successful and respectful if only English
and Indians treated each other as Fielding and Aziz treat each other—as
worthy individuals who connect through frankness, intelligence,
and good will.
Yet in the aftermath of the novel’s climax—Adela’s accusation that
Aziz attempted to assault her and her subsequent disavowal of this
accusation at the trial—Aziz and Fielding’s friendship falls apart.
The strains on their relationship are external in nature, as Aziz
and Fielding both suffer from the tendencies of their cultures. Aziz
tends to let his imagination run away with him and to let suspicion
harden into a grudge. Fielding suffers from an English literalism
and rationalism that blind him to Aziz’s true feelings and make Fielding
too stilted to reach out to Aziz through conversations or letters.
Furthermore, their respective Indian and English communities pull
them apart through their mutual stereotyping. As we see at the end
of the novel, even the landscape of India seems to oppress their friendship.
Forster’s final vision of the possibility of English-Indian friendship
is a pessimistic one, yet it is qualified by the possibility of friendship
on English soil, or after the liberation of India. As the landscape
itself seems to imply at the end of the novel, such a friendship
may be possible eventually, but “not yet.”
The Unity of All Living Things
Though the main characters of A Passage to India are
generally Christian or Muslim, Hinduism also plays a large thematic
role in the novel. The aspect of Hinduism with which Forster is
particularly concerned is the religion’s ideal of all living things,
from the lowliest to the highest, united in love as one. This vision
of the universe appears to offer redemption to India through mysticism,
as individual differences disappear into a peaceful collectivity
that does not recognize hierarchies. Individual blame and intrigue
is forgone in favor of attention to higher, spiritual matters. Professor
Godbole, the most visible Hindu in the novel, is Forster’s mouthpiece
for this idea of the unity of all living things. Godbole alone remains
aloof from the drama of the plot, refraining from taking sides by
recognizing that all are implicated in the evil of Marabar. Mrs.
Moore, also, shows openness to this aspect of Hinduism. Though she
is a Christian, her experience of India has made her dissatisfied
with what she perceives as the smallness of Christianity. Mrs. Moore
appears to feel a great sense of connection with all living creatures,
as evidenced by her respect for the wasp in her bedroom.
Yet, through Mrs. Moore, Forster also shows that the vision
of the oneness of all living things can be terrifying. As we see
in Mrs. Moore’s experience with the echo that negates everything
into “boum” in Marabar, such oneness provides unity but also makes
all elements of the universe one and the same—a realization that,
it is implied, ultimately kills Mrs. Moore. Godbole is not troubled
by the idea that negation is an inevitable result when all things
come together as one. Mrs. Moore, however, loses interest in the
world of relationships after envisioning this lack of distinctions
as a horror. Moreover, though Forster generally endorses the Hindu
idea of the oneness of all living things, he also suggests that
there may be inherent problems with it. Even Godbole, for example,
seems to recognize that something—if only a stone—must be left out
of the vision of oneness if the vision is to cohere. This problem
of exclusion is, in a sense, merely another manifestation of the
individual difference and hierarchy that Hinduism promises to overcome.
The “Muddle” of India
Forster takes great care to strike a distinction between
the ideas of “muddle” and “mystery” in A Passage to India. “Muddle”
has connotations of dangerous and disorienting disorder, whereas
“mystery” suggests a mystical, orderly plan by a spiritual force
that is greater than man. Fielding, who acts as Forster’s primary
mouthpiece in the novel, admits that India is a “muddle,” while
figures such as Mrs. Moore and Godbole view India as a mystery.
The muddle that is India in the novel appears to work from the ground
up: the very landscape and architecture of the countryside is formless, and
the natural life of plants and animals defies identification. This muddled
quality to the environment is mirrored in the makeup of India’s
native population, which is mixed into a muddle of different religious,
ethnic, linguistic, and regional groups.
The muddle of India disorients Adela the most; indeed,
the events at the Marabar Caves that trouble her so much can be
seen as a manifestation of this muddle. By the end of the novel,
we are still not sure what actually has happened in the caves. Forster
suggests that Adela’s feelings about Ronny become externalized and
muddled in the caves, and that she suddenly experiences these feelings
as something outside of her. The muddle of India also affects Aziz
and Fielding’s friendship, as their good intentions are derailed
by the chaos of cross-cultural signals.
