E.M. Forster has adapted the title of his novel from the poem “Passage to India” which is from Walt Whitman’s epic creation Leaves of Grass. He has deliberately added an indefinite article before Whitman’s phrase so that now it reads A Passage to India. Although the title is adapted from Whitman but it is contrasted against Whitman’s self-generated and self-sustained romanticism. In Whitman’s poem India is seen as a symbol of mystical fulfillment, which has both positive and negative results. While it exalts India it does not analyse it in terms of race, class and gender specificities. Forster’s adaptation of Whitman’s phrase for the title of his novel suggests a greater self-examination and a move from Romanticism to Modernism. The novel is set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s.
Forster’s Visits to India
Forster came to India in 1912-1913 and that journey was to enjoy the natural landscape and it was insisted for satisfying his personal desire. Initially Forster’s attitude to India was ahistorical and it demonstrates the desperate need for something that would ease his inability to write about his feelings and desires. However despite these emotional gestures there were certain incidents which highlighted the revolution against the British regime and gradually Forster understands the rebellious sentiment of the oppressed countrymen during his stay in India.
In complete contrast to the political dullness and assumptions of 1912-1913, Forster’s second visit took place at a time of intense excitement. The enthusiasm with which they had supported the British war effort during the First World War made Indians hope for a tangible step towards self-government. Instead the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms which produced the Act of 1919 were draconian measures. After Montague-Chelmsford, another devastating historical massacre of Jallianwallah Bagh (1919) appeared on Indian soil. With the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi and his coordination of the freedom struggle came the call in 1921 for Satyagraha, or non-violent non-cooperation.
Historical Dimensions in the Novel
A number of critical assumptions emerge from the historical struggle for Independence and all these assumptions are fictionalized in the novel. Firstly there is a rise of multifaceted struggle: politics, religion, agrarian uprisings and labour revolts. Secondly there appears in the historical backdrop the rise of Indian nationalism and religious fundamentalism. Thirdly there is also a sense that the concept of Indian nationhood, rising above communal loyalties. Finally the emergence of Mahatma Gandhi in Indian Freedom struggle movement.
The single most amazing erasure in the novel is that of Mahatma Gandhi. Despite all that can be said about the shifting time-scale that it employs, the fact is that the novel includes indirect reference to innumerable historical events shortly before its publication in 1924.
Nationalism and Internationalism
Another important aspect of the novel is the developing trends of nationalism and internationalism. Fielding questions the value of nationhood in his last conversation with Aziz: “India a nation! What an apotheosis! Last comer to the drab nineteenth century sisterhood!”
History and Philosophy
There is another very significant interpretation of the text. History and philosophy are enmeshed in the thematic construction of the text. As Forster writes in 1960: “I began to write the novel in 1913, but the First World War intervened and it did not get published until 1924… I also tried to describe human beings; these may not have altered so much. Furthermore — taking my title from a poem of Walt Whitman’s — I tried to indicate the human predicament in a universe which is not, so far, comprehensible to our minds.”
Forster’s interest is not primarily in a historical representation of India as an end in itself. Both history and philosophy do not act as oppositional forces in the novel but as cooperating to construct various representations of India.
A Passage to India ends with the reconciliation of Aziz and Fielding. The final message of the novel is that though Aziz and Fielding is eager to become friends, historical circumstances prevent the development of their amicable relationship.
Works Cited
- Ford, Boris. The New Pelican Guide to English Lit. Vol VIII. The Present. London: Pelican, 1983.
- Furbank, P.N. E.M. Forster: A Life. Vol I. London: Oxford, 1979.
- Nehru, Jawaharlal. An Autobiography. India: The Bodley Head, 1936.
- Thody, P. Twentieth-Century Literature. Critical Issues and Themes. London: Macmillan, 1996.
- Forster, E.M. Abinger Harvest. Middlesex: Harmondsworth, 1974.
- Forster, E.M. The BBC talks of E.M. Forster (1929-1960), A Selected Edition. Ed. Mary Lago, Linda K. Hughes and Elizabeth MacLeod Walls. Columbia and London: Missouri University Press, 2008.
- Priestley. Literature and the Western Man. London: Heinemann, 1960.
- Forster, E.M. A Passage to India. New Delhi: A.I.T.B.S. Publishers, 2006.