Theme Of Colonialism In A Passage To India

A historicist probe can discover a strong foothold of political background, mostly the belligerence of relationship between the colonizers and the colonized on the basis of racial, religious, linguistic and above all, psychological wavering. Friendship that has been portrayed between Aziz and Fielding is not durable. It is rather full of limitations which stand between them and finally cause a breach. Mrs. Moore 's affectionate attitude towards Aziz is soon disillusioned by her incapability of maintaining hegemonic prejudice.

Adela 's hysteria in the caves is the outcome of her rooted belief that the orientals have no civilization, no history and no loyalty. Though these English women seem to embrace the heart of India, they

They were used to exploit the people intellectually. They were also used to shape the style of thoughts of the colonized. Colonial literature mostly reflects the awareness of colonial machinery and encompasses cruelty and violence. The texts on literature misled natives by making them look for a utopia and not the real world of bourgeois evil practices. Colonial texts usually evaded the issue of contributing to the decadence and decay of native values and ignored the skepticism of the natives towards the colonial forces that were oppressing them.

A Passage to India depicts both the deterioration and the formation of relationships between Anglo-Indians and natives. At the same time it is apparant that Forster has delicately decontextualized the novel by skipping the incidents, occurred during the formative decade (1812-1922), that paved the background of anti British resistance.

Again, Forster 's subtle probe of all hegemonic ingredients has made his portrayal of the relationship between the East and the West very convincing. A Passage to India is the story of relationships between the rulers and the ruled. Forster has very dexterously highlighted different factors , social, political and religious which determine how they came together and had to live together. In this connection Mahood

42); socially they consider themselves superior to all Indians "except one or two of the Ranis"(A Passage. p. 42), and exclude the Indians from their club. The British officials were given to hard work in trying to dispense justice and keep the peace and thought it their duty "to hold the wretched country by force."( A Passage. P. 50).

Ronny 's over consciousness about his position as a custodian of British rule reminds one of the historical background once again. Though Forster had to evade the immediate past, it is evident that A Passage to India is in many ways a historical novel. According to M. Keith Booker: "By the end of 1920s, British fiction was beginning to show a sense that the end of the Raj was not only inevitable but also imminent". (A Passage. P. 146).

A Passage to India experienced the rise of violence during the second and third decades of the 20th century and it was not beyond the idea of Forster that violence is a disintoxifying force, which frees the colonized from inferiority complex and makes them fearless enough to restore self- respect. At the end, Aziz 's brave snub to Fielding, "Clear out, all you Turtons and Burtons" ( A Passage. P. 316), predicts the formation of resistance against the colonizers. The mob that slogans outside the court during the trial of Aziz "Esmiss Esmoore" ( A Passage. P. 219) makes the readers feel the pulse of the