The Novel a Passage to India - Essay Example

The novel 'A Passage to India' is set in colonial times and depicts relations between the English and the Indians at a time when Indian nationalism was still at a nascent stage. The story unfolds mainly in a small place called Chandrapore, situated on the banks of the holy Ganges River, whose only other attraction is the nearby Marabar Caves. These caves are to play an important role in the book as a symbol of ambiguity as also for the effect a visit to the Caves has on the persona of Mrs. Moore. Mrs. Moore is an elderly English lady who along with her travelling companion, Adela Quested are on a visit to India, to see Mrs. Moore's son from her first marriage, Ronny Heaslop, the City Magistrate at Chandrapore, a typical condescending bureaucrat to whom Angela Quested is engaged. Mrs. Moore is a sensitive woman, intelligent and having an open mind, taking a liberal view of affairs even while adhering to old-fashioned Christian values and ideals. In contrast, Adela Quested is inquisitive in nature but in a purely intellectual, and academic manner, with no real concern for the land or its people. The story revolves primarily around Dr Aziz, a Muslim doctor, generous and loving towards his British acquaintances but who becomes embittered when falsely accused by Angela. Angela Quested herself, who is plain and prig, but generally a decent person, and Cyril Fielding, the school master of the Government College at Chandrapore, who sets great store on his personal set of core values, sense of justice and propriety ruled more by intellect than by love or emotion. He is a loyal friend, however, and sticks by Aziz despite their racial differences and pressure from the British. Yet, the shadow of Mrs. Moore looms large not only on the characters and their subsequent actions but also on the entire story itself. Mrs. Moore who is a symbol of Christian decency is nevertheless anxious about her own mortality, being advanced in age, and it is this anxiety that gets the better of her. It makes her vulnerable to the sort of external influences that are likely to be encountered in India, particularly the India of a century ago, driven by ritual, faith and superstition. Mrs. Moore thus serves as the novel's moral conscience, a woman of exemplary behaviour and intention towards others, even to the extent of reminding her own son Ronny Heaslop of Christian values. Her righteous mind-set however, makes her the victim of others' less stringent values, while her faith in Christianity is tested in the non-Christian environment of the Indian sub-continent. The novel really picks up pace after a picnic to the nearby Marabar caves, a set of caves, one much like the other. Dr Aziz plans a trip to the Caves for Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested. Dr Aziz and Mrs. Moore have struck up a friendship once Dr Aziz realizes that Mrs. Moore is a genuine person with whom he has much in common, including the fact that both are widowed and have three children. At the time he picnic is planned, Mrs. Moore is feeling particularly depressed as she is facing a spiritual crisis and is lacking in confidence in any ultimate spiritual comfort or salvation. The trip to the caves thus becomes a center of ambiguity both as far as he plot is concerned on account of the events that take place there, as well as in metaphysical terms on account of the spiritual effect on Mrs. Moore. In one of the caves, Mrs. Moore gets separated from Adela and Aziz in the darkness and is touched by something on her face. She doesn't know what hit her and all she can hear is the haunting echoes inside the caves. Latr, even when she tries to relax, by composing a letter to her children, she is too distracted by the "boum" echoes of the cave, which begin to take a hold on her life: "But suddenly, at the edge of her mind, Religion appeared, poor little talkative Christianity, and she knew that all its divine words from 'Let there be light' to 'It is finished' only amounted to 'boum" (Chapter 14, p 161). Following the mysterious incident at the caves, he mercurial and charming Dr Aziz is presumed guilty and arrested. Adela Quested, the victim of the incident, is kept cocooned from the outside world, including Mrs. Moore, though Adela feels that only Mrs. Moore has the power to set things right. Adela cannot get the echo from the caves out of her head, "The sound had spouted after her when she escaped, and was going on still like a river that gradually floods the plain. Only Mrs. Moore could drive it back to its source and seal the broken reservoir. Evil was loose...she could hear it entering the lives of others" (Chapter 22, p 200). Mrs. Moore is still under the effects of her experiences at the caves is not her usual self and categorically refuses to attend Dr Aziz's trial, expressing instead her desire to leave India at the earliest. "Her Christian tenderness had gone, or had developed into hardness, a just irritation against the human race; she had taken no interest at the arrest, asked scarcely any questions, and had refused to leave her bed on one awful last night of Mohurram, when an attack was expected on the bungalow" (Chapter 22, p 204). During her enforced separation from Adela, Mrs. Moore becomes bitter and cynical, doubting her own virtues and loosing faith in herself. Yet, ultimately, she rallies around in defence of Aziz, opposes her son, Ronny, and confronts Adela with the truth. By confronting reality both women are freed from the shackles of colonialism that was forcing them to behave against the natural grain of their character. Mr Moore rises out of her depression and once again becomes the moral force in the story. A passage back to England is secured for Mrs. Moore by pulling a few strings. The haste with which Mrs. Moore is packed off the England makes the Indians believe that it has been done on purpose to prevent Mrs. Moore from testifying at the trial of Dr Aziz. However, Mrs. Moore remains behind in spirit and this is evident from the manner in which all he Indians begin chanting her name during the trial, deifying her as a Hindu goddess. They begin chanting an Indianized version of Ronny's mother's name, 'Esmiss Esmoor' and it was " revolting to hear his mother travestied into Esmiss Esmoor, a Hindu goddess" (Chapter 24, p 228). His mother has become deified and spiritualized by the Indian crowd. In a sense, Mrs. Moore attains immortality even though her final days were overshadowed by her anxiety over her mortality. Mrs. Moore becomes both, a symbol of British kindness, as evidenced by her defence of Dr Aziz, as well as a symbol of British injustice, in that the Indians believe Mrs. Moore was dispatched in haste so that she would not be present to exonerate Dr Aziz. The death of Mrs. Moore at sea symbolizes the severing of Dr Aziz's connections with his Anglo-Indian associates. Mrs. Moore was the only person who was genuinely fond of Dr Aziz, the other Anglo-Indians doing so out of compulsion, or out of a sense of pragmatism. With Mrs. Moore's death, he possibility of Dr Aziz ever reconciling with the British also fades away. As rumours surrounding Mrs. Moore proliferate, legend springs up that Ronny had tried to kill his mother to prevent her from saving Dr Aziz. Mrs. Moore turns into a mythological figure, which is somewhat ironic, because just when she had turned away from spirituality, she becomes a religious icon. Although Dr Aziz breaks all contact with the Anglo-Indian community, he still retains deep regard for Mrs. Moore. Fielding even invokes her name to persuade Dr Aziz not to press charges against Adela Quested. Thus, though Aziz and Adela are in sense enemies, both take their cue from the values embodied in Mrs. Moore. This effect is more pronounced on Adela, who assumes some of the characteristics of Mrs. Moore, leaving the country a stronger woman who can better face reality. The force of Mrs. Moore's personality continues to impress itself on others also, as in the case of Mr Godbole, who used to be Fielding's assistant at Chandrapore. Godbole suddenly remembers Mrs. Moore during a very typical Hindu ceremony. In the middle of this spiritual fervor, the image of Mrs. Moore enters the head of Professor Godbole: "Thus Godbole, though she was not important to him, remembered an old woman he had met in Chandrapore days. Chance brought her into his mind while it was in this heated state, he did not select her, she happened to occur among the throng of soliciting images, a tiny splinter, and he impelled her by his spiritual force to that place where completeness can be found " (Chapter 33, p 283). This highlights the fact that Mrs. Moore had really endeared herself to the local population and had been accepted by the Indian community in spite of being a White woman. Mrs. Moore's impression has a lasting effect on Aziz who in true Christian tradition learns the art of forgiveness. The resentment that he has been harboring and feelings of animosity are rekindled when Aziz meets Fielding and Ralph Moore by accident at Mau, where Dr Aziz has relocated. He tells Fielding to stop following him. But Mrs. Moore has entered his mind again and he remembers that he had made a promise to be kind to her children and offers to show Ralph around Mau. Aziz re-creates the same feelings of friendship as when he had offered to show Mrs. Moore Indian culture out of sheer kindness. Aziz thus begins to demonstrate the same positive traits that he had displayed before the trial. In a sense, Mrs. Moore reclaims Aziz's soul from the depths of hate and bitterness. Even in death she is able to have an effect on the characters of the novel. Mrs. Moore thus personifies the religious theme of the novel. She is the symbol of spirit and universal love. Mrs. Moore comes to India as a good Christian, but her experience in India draws her to the spiritual world rather than the traditionally religious one and she leaves India with her faith shaken, in essence a weaker woman than when she had arrived. Though Mrs. Moore and Dr Aziz know each other for only a short time, they are drawn together by common interests and deeply love and respect each other. The fact that Mrs. Moore is aged elevates their relation into a platonic one above the usual suspicion that would accompany such a liaison. After her death, her character becomes even more important, especially at the trial where she is present in spirit and deified as a Hindu Goddess. She is capable of loving and of being loved and it is on account of these very human and universal qualities that she achieves immortality. Reference Forster, EM, "A Passage to India", 1989, Penguin Books Middlesex, England. Read More