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.
One statement in the beginning of the book was especially poignant to any one who studies Indian culture, It is easy for us to feel a vicarious rage, a misery on behalf of these people, but Indians, dead and alive would only receive such feelings with pity or contempt; it is too easy to feel sympathy for a people who culture was wrecked..
The author and her friends, Judewin and Thowin, alone with other children got excited about an adventure in to a new land. Their excitement was short because of their painful experiences from the white’s ignorance of the Indian culture. When a white women saw her arrived the school, she tossed her up in the air several times. It was insulting for her because of against the Indian culture. Her stay at the school was other painful experience.
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.”
Any author's primary goal in story writing is to convey an idea or topic to their reading audience. The conventional wisdom on this thought is that the clearer this is conveyed, the greater the appeal to the reader. However, some authors feel the need to resist this trend and forge new paths that sometime leaves the meanings of their stories obscure and hidden from the average reader. Donald Barthelme has taken this optional approach with his story "The Indian Uprising". There are several reasons that I did not fully enjoy this post-colonial short story.
The method that Brown uses when writing this book grabs the reader’s attention and accomplishes his goal of provoking compassion for the plight of the Indians. By telling the personal accounts of various tribes effected by the deception and cruelty of the Americans leading up to a historically horrendous massacre, he build suspense and a sympathy for the Indians. Instead of savages, the Indians are depicted as people, brothers, families afflicted by oppression and tragedy.
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
The authors uses the strategy of symbolism to show how the Indians are struggling and are being restricted. The text states, “my Motherland! - fear, the phantom demon, shaped by your own distorted dreams… burden of ages, bending your head, breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning call of the future...shackles of slumber...mistrusting the star that speaks of truth’s adventurous path… anarchy of destiny… Sails are weakly yielded to blind uncertain winds… hand….rigid and cold as Death… The insult of dwelling in a puppet’s world… movements are started through brainless wires….repeated… mindless habits… Figures wait with patient obedience for a master of show to be stirred into… Life” These quotes show imagery to develop meaning in word choice. He uses the words ‘Motherland’ to represent India and the ‘phantom demon’ being Great Britain. The Indian people are afraid of the controller that watches them. India tries its best to get out of the clutches of Britain. But the country keeps on getting pulled back in and all the people can do is to have hope for a future in which they can be free. Thus, the rights of Indians were
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.
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.
'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).
... Pakistan to surrender during the Indo-Pakistani War helped the Bengalis establish a sovereign state for themselves. The distribution of the racist pamphlets against the minorities showed Shiv Sena's chauvinistic and fascist regime. Indira Gandhi's corrupt government, socialist regime and her controversial scandals such as giving her son's company government money and the 1971 Nagarwala scandal were also revealed. All of these political events influenced the background of the novel and the characters’ everyday lives. .
There are people bustling, merchants selling, Anglo-Indians watching, and birds flying overhead. How many perspectives are there in this one snippet of life? They are uncountable, and that is the reality. Modernist writers strive to emulate this type of reality into their own work as well. In such novels, there is a tendency to lack a chronological or even logical narrative and there are also frequent breaks in narratives where the perspectives jump from one to another without warning. Because there are many points of view and not all of them are explained, therefore, modernist novels often tend to have narrative perspectives that suddenly shift or cause confusion. This is because modernism has always been an experimental form of literature that lacks a traditional narrative or a set, rigid structure. Therefore, E. M. Forster, author of A Passage to India, uses such techniques to portray the true nature of reality. The conflict between Adela, a young British girl, and Aziz, an Indian doctor, at the Marabar Caves is one that implements multiple modernist ideals and is placed in British-India. In this novel, Forster shows the relations and tension between the British and the Indians through a series of events that were all caused by the confusing effects of modernism. E.M. Forster implements such literary techniques to express the importance or insignificance of a situation and to emphasize an impression of realism and enigma in Chandrapore, India, in which Forster’s novel, A Passage to India, takes place.
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 measured dialogue between Reader and Editor serves as the framework through which Gandhi seeks to discredit accepted terms of civilization and denounce the English. These principle characters amply assist in the development o...
What aspect of A Passage to India justifies the novel's superiority over Forster's other works? Perhaps it is the novel's display of Forster's excellent mastery of several literary elements that places it among the greatest novels of the twentieth century. Among these literary elements, Forster's comic irony stands out, and throughout the entire novel, the author satirizes the English, the Indians, and the Anglo-Indian relationship. Frederick P. W. McDowell confirms this sentiment when saying "Forster, in his description (of characters), is the witty satirist..." (100).