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.
Edward Morgan Forster was born in London in 1879 and was educated at Tonbridge in Kent and King's College in Cambridge. He travelled much and visited Italy, Greece, Germany and India. His first novel was Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905). He became part of the reputed Bloomsbury group which included famous writers and thinkers like Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey. He also wrote The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910) and Maurice (a novel dealing with homosexuality in 1914 but not published until 1971, a year after his death
A Passage to India was the direct outcome of his own experiences in India as secretary and companion to the Maharaja of Dewas Senior. Though Kipling had already treated the India of the Raj in his Kim, it was Forster who gave a sympathetic portrait of India under the foreign rule. "The novel offers a distinctly less generous and complacent picture of the Raj and its servants than had Kipling" (Sanders, page 490). The novel's title was taken from Walt Whitman f...
... middle of paper ...
... his visits to India. He had firsthand knowledge about the decay of the British Empire. He observed the disharmony that the fervent missionaries caused among the Indian people, the social apartheid shown by the English towards the natives, the arrogance of the British officials and the atrocities committed by them led to the dissolution of the British Raj in India.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Crane, Ralph J. Inventing India: A History of India in English Language Fiction. London: Macmillan, 1992.
Cronin, Richard. Imagining India. London: : Macmillan, 1989.
Das, G.K. E.M. Forster's India. London: Macmillan, 1977.
Moody, William Vaughn.,and Robert Morss Lovett. A History of English Literature.8th ed. NewYork: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1964.
Sanders, Andrew. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. London: Oxford, 2000.
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
To begin, British Imperialism had many political effects on India’s people throughout the years. The forcefulness of Europe’s invasion brought plenty of fear and destruction among the government, which in the following years would become run completely by British officials. According to document two, “The Indians have no control whatsoever over their own taxation...The entire civil government is now carried on by men who live lives quite remote from the people they govern.” According to Dr. Lalvani in paragraph twelve, Imperialism brought Indians together. He states, “perhaps the most innovative of all was the bringing together of several different states into one unified India.” That may have been the result in sight, but the truth is, as shown in document one, when Gandhi states, “For a hundred years, you have done everything for us. You have given us no responsibility for our own
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
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). They established schools,newspapers and telegraphs for the people of the colonies.All blessings of civilization they could not create for themselves (Doc. 1). Furthermore, the British brought 30 million acres under cultivation with large scale irrigation works, began industrialization, improved sanitation and provided an overall higher standard of living (Doc. 4). With many new establishments and institutions to staff, job opportunities opened up left and right for Indian workers.Their contributions to Indian civilization made famine all but disappear throughout India. Without the British, it’s quite possible India could not achi...
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907–21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000
A few Indian traders came to the USA in the 1880s for business purposes and traded in goods from India such as silk, spices. Indians witnessed potential interest in their cultures and philosophy from Americans in the USA. Walt Whitman wrote the poem Passage to India in 1868 which also helped Americans get a closer look at India. According to him, the number of people in Boston who were interested in In...
Ward & Trent, et al. The Cambridge History of English and American Literature. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1907-21; New York: Bartleby.com, 2000 http://www.bartleby.com/215/0816.html
Virginia Woolf and Edward Morgan Forster are members of the Bloomsbury Group, which is consists of the writers of the 20th century English literature. Mrs. Dalloway (1924) written by Virginia Woolf is recognized as one of her masterpiece that wins her reputation as one of the most influential English writers in the twentieth century. Howards End (1910) written by E. M. Forster is viewed as one of Forster 's greatest achievements in fiction. Mrs. Dalloway began with Clarissa Dalloway who is a privileged British woman, living in London with her husband Richard Dalloway. While planning a party for people in her social circle, she remembers her younger years she spent in Bourton. The characters of the novel are intertwine with their stream of consciousness,
		E. M. Forster was born on January 1, 1879, in London, England. After an education at Tonbridge School and King's College, Cambridge, he spent a year traveling in Europe. On his return, he taught at the Working Men's College and established the Independent Review, a journal that supported the progressive wing of the Liberal Party. Forster later became a member of the Bloomsbury Group that discussed literary and artistic issues. He published his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Trend, in 1905. He wrote many other novels including Longest Journey, Howard's End, and A Room with a View. As a pacifist Forster wouldn't fight in the First World War, instead he worked for the International Red Cross. Two years later Forster moved to India where he worked as a personal secretary for Mahaharajah of Dewas. This resulted in his novel, A Passage to India. When he returned to England he wrote many critiques and articles but never wrote any more novels. E. M. Forster died on June 7, 1970.
When in 1978 Edward W. Said published his book Orientalism, it presented a turning point in post-colonial criticism. He introduced the term Orientalism, and talked about 2 of its aspects: the way the West sees the Orient and the way the West controls the Orient. Said gave three definitions of Orientalism, and it is through these definitions that I will try to demonstrate how A Passage to India by E. M. Forster is an Orientalist text. First, Said defined Orientalism as an academic discipline, which flourished in 18th and 19th century.
E.M. Forster's A Passage to India concerns the relations between the English and the native population of India during the colonial period in which Britain ruled India. The novel takes place primarily in Chandrapore, a city along the Ganges River notable only for the nearby Marabar caves. The main character of the novel is Dr. Aziz, a Moslem doctor in Chandrapore and widower. After he is summoned to the Civil Surgeon's home only to be promptly ignored, Aziz visits a local Islamic temple where he meets Mrs. Moore, an elderly British woman visiting her son, Mr. Heaslop, who is the City Magistrate. Although Aziz reprimands her for not taking her shoes off in the temple before realizing she has in fact observed this rule, the two soon find that they have much in common and he escorts her back to the club.
Forster’s complex work continues to exist as a paragon of literature, confounding the human mind and revealing to readers the unbidden consequences of the clash between two antithetical cultures. Perhaps appearing upon cursory glance to be merely a requiem for a bygone era, A Passage to India is in fact an affecting and enduring story that addresses not just one group or creed, but humankind as an entirety. Just like the variegated strokes of a piece of art, true works of literature generously open themselves to the world, beckoning all to uncover what it is to be human. So profoundly stirring the mind and soul, only when one brings such literature into their lives can the choking tendrils, the shroud of ignorance humankind has of its own condition, be finally blown
The British invasion formed into a historical development of British colonialism in India. Despite India under the British rule, Mahatma Gandhi played an important role in gaining Independence. He not only changed India but also strongly fought for India's independence, using various strategies. The British Empire ruled as long as they could to reform India both politically and socially.
Today, for the most part, women are seen as equal to men. Women are given the same opportunities as men and an equal chance at getting a job as men. In today’s society, women do not just have one role and that role and that being to have kids, but they can pursue any career they wish. However, it was not always this way. According to feminist theorists, western civilizations were patriarchal which means that the society is dominated by males. The society is set up so that the male is above the female in all cultural aspects including family, religion, politics, economics, art, and the social and legal realms. The patriarchal biases of gender between male and female say that a male must be active, dominating, adventurous, rational, and creative. In the novel, A Passage to India, Forster expresses this male dominance by writing, “He took no notice of them, and with this, which would have passed without comment in feminist England, did harm in a community where the male is expected to be lively and helpful” (Forster 52). They say that to be female is to be passive, agreeable, timid, emotional, and conventional. The feminist theorists’ argument of a male centered society is definitely present in the novel A Passage to India. E.M. Forster reveals cultural, economic, and educational factors within the patriarchal society of India that limit women. In E.M. Forster’s novel A Passage to India, Forster exposes derogatory stereotypes of women and portrays women as inferior to men to uphold the view of women during the time period.
Allen, Charles. Kipling Sahib: India and the Making of Rudyard Kipling. New York: Pegasus Books, 2009. Print.