Slide 1

Author’s Bio
•Forster Visited India in
1914
•He later re-visited for a
longer stay, this time
unaccompanied, in 1920
•In addition to Passage to
India, he wrote a non-
fiction book chronicling
his stays in India, The Hill
of Devi.
Slide 2 “Mosque” refers to the mosque
Structure where Aziz meets Mrs. Moore –
•3 Parts – Mosque, Caves, here he lashes out at her out of habit
and fear, but comes to befriend and
Temple. love her.
•The names of the parts “Caves” refers to the Marubar
indicate the settings of the caves, where Adela Quested and
Mrs. Moore both have forms of
major scene of the part panic attacks, but where Aziz is
•These scenes define India right at home.
as Forster sees it. “Temple” refers to the site of the
Hindu ritual, where the Rajah must
be moved out of the sacred area for
Aziz to attempt to treat him.

All of the scenes at these sites

epitomize the relationships between
divided sects in India – only
peaceful when they are separate.
Even though Aziz eventually
becomes enamored of Mrs. Moore,
he still lashes out at her when he
first sees her, for no reason other
than prejudice. The reverse of this
occurs in the caves – Mrs. Moore
and Adela have a repulsion to the
caves, possibly the most potent
symbol of Indian culture in the
novel, based in their very nature –
they cannot bear to be inside of the
caves, immersed in the true India.
 And the scene at the temple reminds
us that even within their own
nationality, Indians are divided – the
sacred areas of the Hindus are off-
limits even to the Muslim who
ministers to the Rajah!

Slide 3 Aziz is, though depressed by his

Motivations/Psycholo wife’s death, nevertheless naïve and
gical Analysis idealistic until forced to confront the
•Dr. Aziz full brunt of English racism by the
Seeks friendship ungrounded trial. From then on, he
Naïve until court incident; then somewhat becomes almost completely cynical,
hardened; also depressed from wife’s death
•Dr. Fielding
even hardening towards Fielding
Motivated by unbiased concern for all until their friendship eventually
Rejected by most for not showing ebbs away. His severe
partiality disappointments crush his original
•Adela Quested
hopefulness, preventing him from
Idealistic but ultimately unable to accept
the society she wishes to embrace staying rational; he can either be
•Mrs. Moore almost wholeheartedly faithful that
Wise, realistic, and unbiased; however, some englishmen are befriendable,
she is not perfect, and is, like Adela, unable
to accept India in full
or almost wholeheartedly conviced
•Ronny Heaslop otherwise, but nothing in between;
Sycophantic to the point of rejection of he is not a pendulum, with a full arc
his mother, and later fiancée of philosophies within his ability to
Small-minded and selfish
adopt, but rather a switch, able to
feel a certain amount of conviction
of one idea, or else the same amount
of conviction of the opposite,
nothing more or less.

Dr. Fielding, perhaps the most

unbiased and truly admirable
character, can appreciate all aspects
of every situation, positive or
otherwise, because he is not
prejudiced in the least. He judges
based on a person’s character and
track record, and sides, when forced
to pick sides, with whomever is
justified and right, no matter who
that may be. His friendship with
Aziz is strong until Aziz sours
towards englishmen; then, they
cannot remain friends, as Aziz’s
prejudice prevents them from
sharing the bond they had. He is
motivated by near-perfect altruism,
and is likely Forster’s idea of the
ideal englishman in India.

Adela is a very weak, idealistic,

romantic character; she feels that
she ought to experience India as one
must try new foods – to broaden her
knowledge, experimentally and
excitingly. In this attitude she
slowly, steadily belittles the Indians
in the manner of her fellow
englishmen – plainly, yet subtly.
She does not intend to be
prejudiced; rather, it is a part of her
nature, which is fed by her
countrymen’s constant and glaring,
yet dangerously unchallenged,
innocuous yet intense insensitivity,
and steadily grows from an
inclination to an attitude of
superiority – or would, if she
continued her stay in India. As it is,
she is warped to enough of a degree
that exploring the caves – another
attempt to love a culture she has
conditioned herself to hate,
unknowingly – causes her mental
anguish, pain and fear at being
repulsed by that which she so
wishes to enjoy, which she cannot
understand, and thus projects onto
the India at the forefront of her mind
– Aziz. Her contradicting feelings,
brought to a head when she enters
the caves, must have an identifiable
source in her mind, so her mind
attempts to tell itself that the pain is
warranted and not self-inflicted. It
is not due to her hypocrisy being
subconciously realized, it is due to
traumatization at the hands of an
Indian pervert! (This speaks to the
seriousness of her depression.) In
the end, though she is unable to
understand or cope with her
feelings, she at least recognizes that
Aziz had no hand in causing her any
pain – though too late – and reveals
an even more distinct part of her
character – integrity. Indeed, had
she no integrity, she would have felt
no pain at lying to herself that she
did enjoy India even as she learned
from her friends to hate it.

Mrs. Moore is the most comfortable

in her own skin. She too realizes
the discrepancy between her
enjoyment of India and the
conditioning she receives to hate it –
however, unlike Adela’s dilema,
hers is minor and due to bad
influences, not actual character
flaws. Adela conditions herself to
believe she loves India, but truly
hates it; Mrs. Moore really does
love India (and indeed, leaving it
kills her) but is conditioned to hate
it. This being the case, Mrs.
Moore’s character throws off her
impressions in the caves, a healthy
encouter though frightening; Adela’s
impressions must die or else
overthrow her character, and since
she wishes neither, she remains
confused and now overtly
traumatized. Mrs. Moore is the best
example of one trying to throw off
prejudices she hates, rather than
justify prejudice she has, to avoid
acknowledging it as a character
flaw.
 Ronny is weak, subservient, and
easily the worst of the bunch. He is
completely prejudiced, does all he
can to belittle the Indians and
reinforce his ego, which is fragile
due to others belittling him. While
Adela is under the influence of her
own prejudice, he further corrupts
her, and nearly manipulates her into
violating her basic caring nature, as
her fiancée, when he nearly secures
her testimony against Aziz. He
rejects everyone – the Indians from
prejudice, his mother through fear,
Adela through contempt that she
does not share his weakness, and
those above him through spite that
he does not share their power.

Slide 4 Brave New World – Englishmen are

Connections to conditioned through slight but
Other Lit. unquestioned declarations of Indian
inferiority to prejudge them, and the
•Brave New World – Muslims are likewise conditioned to
Englishmen are prejudge Hindus, just as the higher
casts are hypnotized to hate the
conditioned lower castes in Brave New World
•Catch-22 – Similar regime Catch-22 – The regimes in power in
make-ups both novels are both composed of
self-centered self-glorifying men
•To Kill a Mockingbird – with nothing but contempt for their
In contrast to this earlier inferiors, who, they believe,
text on racism, Passage to constitute everyone but themselves;
Ronny and Cathcart are prime
India shows a very examples of this.
different form of racism. To Kill a Mockingbird – In contrast
to this earlier text on racism,
Passage to India shows a very
different form of racism. In
Passage, no one ever truly
acknowledges racism; they may
comment on their oppression or
superiority, but no one ever agrees
that to oppress others based on race
or creed is wrong. Also, the
prejudice in general in Passage is
much more subtle; whereas in
Mockingbird many prejudiced
characters reveal outright that they
prejudge African Americans,
Passage characters simply speak of
the nobleness of solidarity between
countrymen, and speak matter-of-
factly, and not even overtly
disrespectfully, of members of what
they feel are an inferior class. This
subtler form of racism, which is so
sly as to go unacknowledged, is all
the harder to eradicate, and thus
much more dangerous than the overt
kind seen in Mockingbird; anything
overt can be challenged; anything
subtle will merely be overlooked or
denied.