In a Passage to India the author, E. M Forster sends the message of India’s mistreatment and misrepresentation by Britain. Throughout the novel, the reader is able to observe how British and Indian characters are treated differently. The author demonstrates the British perspective of Indians being the ignorant characters in the novel, whose company leads to troubles. Another aspect of the British perspective is that Indians are being treated as inferiors to the British in their own country, because if it were not for the British, the social and political order in India will descend into chaos. The author demonstration of the British perspective encourages the reader to feel sympathetic towards Indians. Whenever Aziz and Ronny meet, Ronny seems to use a tone of arrogance and disrespect towards Indians. Also, in the conversation between MR. Turton, Adela, and Mrs. Moore about the natives, the tone of arrogance seems to be present, as well. The author indicates his favoritism towards Indians by representing them as the weak and helpless characters in the novel. The reader first encounters the mistreatment of the British towards Indians in the scene of the bridge party, where Mrs. Moore sees the Indian ladies. To Mrs. Moore’s question “Do kindly tell us who these ladies are” (pg.42), Mr. Turton’s responses “you are superior to them, anyways. Don’t forget that. You are superior to everyone in India…” (pg.42). Mr. Turton’s response to Mrs. Moore’s question gives a clear indication of what British colonialists think of Indians, and the way they should be treated. This situation makes the reader wonders, why would the British colonialists treat a group of Indians that they do not know in such a disrespectful manner? Forster prov... ... middle of paper ... ...y the author strikes a feeling of relieve inside the reader to finally see that justice is being enforced, that Indians are being equated to the British. Although the author presents the English prejudice in the novel in many situations, he also presents the Indian reaction and behavior. The author demonstration of British behavior vs. Indian behavior gives the readers the field of free thinking and association to decide for themselves which side they would favor. It also questions the validity of criticisms that think of this book as a bias novel that offends British people. However, the author does indicate his favoritism towards Indians throughout the novel by presenting them as the weak and helpless characters that do not have any authority in their own country, but they poses scientific and spiritual knowledge that earns them respect among their society.
In the book Bad Indians, Miranda talks about the many issues Indigenous People go through. Miranda talks about the struggles Indigenous people go through; however, she talks about them in the perspective of Native Americans. Many people learn about Indigenous People through classrooms and textbooks, in the perspective of White people. In Bad Indians, Miranda uses different literary devices to show her perspective of the way Indigenous People were treated, the issues that arose from missionization, as well as the violence that followed through such issues. Bad Indians is an excellent example that shows how different history is told in different perspectives.
middle of paper ... ... His tone leads me to believe that he values the Indians as pawns in an international battle for British wealth. As seen in the line “.I have made it pretty clear to you, that there will be little or no difficulty in obtaining the absolute possession of these rich kingdoms.”
Throughout the story there is a constant comparison of White culture and Indian culture. It begins with the narrator noticing a difference in landscaping between the two cultures. ." . . there is always beauty
For instance Kupperman writes that the problems in this partnership “stemmed from actors on all sides…[the Natives] assumed that it would be easy to manipulate [the colonists]…Jamestown’s leaders…believed that they could construct a society by enforcing…discipline” (Kupperman 8). Although the Natives had an agenda, they were not at fault to defend their land. Kupperman, representing the view of the American public, attempts to avert the colonist’s responsibility from wrongdoing. However, U.S citizens must accept their ancestors’ role in the brutal treatment of Natives, who were looking for freedom just as the settlers. Unlike Kupperman, Morgan faulted the erroneously prideful English, stating to an English Colonist “you knew you were civilized and [the Indians] were savages…[but they] lived from the land more abundantly…So you tortured them, burned their villages, burned their cornfields” (Morgan 90). He sees the settlers’ self-serving, vindictive role in these disputes. Regardless of the American guilt for the torment of the Natives, Morgan puts the reader into the shoes of a colonist, utilizing the 2nd person, to have them experience the injustice of the
When reading Benjamin Franklin’s essay “Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America,” it was interesting to see the similarities and differences of perceptions between the Indians and the white English in America. Franklin takes an outside look on the perceptions of the Indians by analyzing various observations he’s made or witnessed and comparing them to the norms of the white English society. Clearly the two are very different in their cultural beliefs, and this essay helps bring these differences to light while making the point that Indians are anything but “savages.”
Suppose we give you pretty English names’” (1). The headmistress feels she needs to change the students to fit her British standards, not taking into account their Indian culture and heritage. The British were the foreigners, and yet were still trying to conform the country they have invaded. The abusive power is immensely strong so that even the children can feel it as they receive new names. Using her power not only as a headmistress but as a white individual, she changes Santha’s identity making her feel as if she has a “dual personality” (2). Similarly, further in the story, a new character is introduced as an Indian girl in Santha’s class. She is described to be wearing Indian jewelry and makeup but also wears “a cotton dress” (2). Rather than wearing traditional Indian clothes, the children are forced to conform to British standards, wearing the same clothes as British children. The Indian students lose the native part of their identity to a larger force of power. Furthermore, a ruling force should not just changes someone’s identity. They should take into consideration the facts of specific cultures and
In The Raj Quartet, Paul Scott deftly represents one of the most tumultuous periods of British rule in India. Deviating from the trend of justifying colonialism and imperialism, Paul Scott, like E.M. Forster, displays a liberal humanist’s perspective in portraying the
By the end of the 19th century, European free trade imperialism included much of Asia and Africa within a swiftly growing world mercantilist economy. Europeans entered these uncharted areas with the intention of dominating the indigenous society, which swiftly alienated the two societies and formed new dual, segregated societies. Rudyard Kipling’s “The White Man’s Burden” and George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” outlined this social order and class rivalry presented between the British Empire and the native people. Gandhi’s letter to Lord Irwin supported this view as well, by looking into the dual societies within the context that the British isolated the native society from the economic hegemony that the British enjoyed. Together, Kipling, Orwell, and Gandhi provided a detailed account of the British prejudice within dual colonial society through the social and economic hegemony they held.
The British considered Indian civilization to be inferior and implemented their western ways, overriding ancient Indian customs. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that British imperialism in India resulted in both positive as well as negative reforms in political, economic and social aspects of its new colony. To begin with, one can observe that the British colonizers did indeed improve Indian civilization by developing means of communication and transport. They built a great number of bridges, over 40,000 miles of railway and paving an astounding 70,000 miles of road (Doc. 4. The adage of the adage.
The Passage to India was a very interesting book to read. When I read it I found myself comparing the racial tension to the tension that occurred in America during the civil rights movement. After learning all about the struggle in America, it was interesting to see the same struggle play out in another area of the world.
'Colonial literature,' Abdul JanMohammed writes, 'is an exploration and a representation of a world at the boundaries of "civilisation," a world that has not (yet) been domesticated by European signification or codified in detail by its ideology. That world is therefore perceived as uncontrollable, chaotic, unattainable and ultimately evil' (18). In the wake of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Dickens' fictional response to that event, "The Perils of Certain English Prisoners," reflected both a culture of desired vengeance against the mutineers, and Dickens' sympathy with that viewpoint. This stance entailed a rejection of the then Governor of India Lord Canning's call for an initial period of discipline, followed by 'discrimination' to be shown toward the mutineers in the form of clemency (Oddie 3), and of Disraeli who 'spoke with considerable sympathy of the Mutiny as a justifiable Indian protest against British harshness' (Hutchins 80). Joining the vitriolic criticism of this viewpoint expressed by The Timesand the majority of the public, Dickens dismissed the governing forces in India for procrastinating and failing to protect British subjects in India (Oddie 4). The Mutiny was a direct threat to Victorian values transposed to India, embodied in the aforementioned British subjects: consider the 'almost universal demand for bloody revenge on the mutineers'(Oddie 3), for their reported brutality toward British women and children, which 'was the most direct outrage imaginable against the whole Victorian concept of women as pure and violable, the source of the sanctity of hearth and home' (Oddie 6).
In the novel A Passage to India, written by Forster, he is bias towards the women in the novel. The society when Forster wrote the novel in the 1920’s had different views on women than it has today a...
In Forster's A Passage to India we recognize certain elements that can be seen as Orientalist. According to Edward Said's definitions of Orientalism I tried to point out some of these Orientalist elements. However, there are many more examples in the novel which would also fit in the Orientalist frames set by Said.
In this way, Salman Rushdie presents the derogatory picture of India throughout the novel preferring the superiority of what is European and inferiority of what is not. By presenting the orientalist perception of India, Rushdie attempts to attract the western readership. In spite of the fact that he himself is an Indian, he could not avoid the attraction of western readership. For this reason, sometimes, his position becomes ambivalent.
The early years of the twentieth century saw the rise of the novel as a popular genre in the literature of the war-struck Edwardian England. Novelists like Joseph Conrad, E.M.Forster, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce and D.H. Lawrence gave the form new dimensions. Among these writers E.M. Forster made a mark in the literature of his age through his last novel A Passage to India (1924), which was entirely different from Forster's other novels in that it dealt with the political occupation of India by the British, a colonial domination that ended soon after the publication of this novel. Forster, a liberal and humanist in outlook, emphasised the importance of love and understanding at the personal level in this novel.