Edward Morgan Foster is one of the few shining stars after Kipling, who influenced the formerly colonized world of the Indo-Pak subcontinent through their writings. Foster represented two worlds in his novel ‘A Passage to India’; one of the Whiteman and the other of the brown man, and made equal justice with both. He mainly lived outside India and had a chance to visit British colonial India briefly, but even this short span proved and provided him with the rich raw material with which to concoct his life-like story that has continued to impact the students of literature in English even today. Not only does the text refer to the life of the Indian Hindus and Muslims in true letter and spirit, but also the British are portrayed in the backdrop of their empire in India. In both cases, the characters are lively and full of life and energy and do justice to their roles. English remains English, and the Indians remain Indians. Foster shows these worlds immersed in their cultural contexts, unwilling to budge even a little from their respective stances.
The novel’s text validly portrays the master and subject relationship in a colonial world, and the British authority is manifested with full vigor, enthusiastically giving an impression of the civilizing mission. Mrs. Moore leads this saintly occupation by her conduct of love for all and is found on the side of the colonized, yet the horrors of the colony make her leave the country earlier and die during the journey. She wanted to know the real India and was partially successful because she could understand the colonized India, not the free spirit of India. The second woman in the novel, Adella, symbolizes a British white woman bent on exercising her free will yet prone to be severely affected by India’s harsh environment and British existentialism. She gets hallucinated in the Marabar caves, and her people find a chance to accuse Dr. Aziz of his attempt to rape Adella. Her disillusionment comes too late. Her fiancé, Ronny, is a colonial officer and works as a symbol of British power and authority and is never willing to accord equal socio-political status to the Indians. Mr. Fielding, another British of philosophical temperament, represents the general British civilized men who would not go against humanity. His conduct akins him more to Mrs. Moore than any other character. Like Mrs. Moore, he loves to befriend the people around him instead of segregating himself from humanity.
Dr. Aziz is portrayed in a not-so-favorable light. Though he is an educated doctor and has some Westernized manners also, he is initially made in the story to appear as a noble savage and later on as a monster one. He can only wash away the blame with his efforts and persistence after a personal struggle and the support of his fellow men and women. Not only this, Dr. Aziz is also portrayed as a man of ugly manners and a lascivious nature. He is blamed for attempting to rape the white woman and was a brute and must receive a bitter punishment for this impunity. Mr. Godbole is another Indian character who is shown more to be a saint and has got nothing to do with violence and loves to remain absorbed in his world of Ashti (Peace). He befriends everyone and loves the British, and is never willing to enter into violent action. He cherishes the Hindu idealism of peace in the world.
If one can agree that the literature written by the white man about the people of the colonized territories is also postcolonial, ‘A Passage to India’ is the best model of postcolonial literature first because the mysteriousness and magical quality are visible all around, first in the shape of Marabar Caves and then in the form of the festival of Lord Krishna. Marabar Caves, situated at a high place, is full of mysteriousness, dryness, boredom, and evil in influence because the white British women cannot absorb this mystery and very soon get fed up with this. Adella goes next step, and she attempts to run away terribly from this influence and is caught up in a hallucination. On the other hand, the function and ceremonies in the temple scene create an aura of peace and serenity where man seems to have met his goal of peace. But before reaching this level, many lose their life and fail to achieve this goal, yet new bonds are established, like, fielding and Aziz are reconciled, and Fielding can marry the daughter of Mrs. Moore. Muslim Mosque is another symbol of the life of Indian Muslims and their culture. Conversely, the mosque represents openness, brightness, and sereneness, yet without any mystery. It invites people to remind themselves of who they are and creates new bonding and connections that can make humanity peaceful.
Secondly, the colonized individuals are portrayed in the light of the philosophy of the ‘Other’ as propounded by Edward Said. This other is portrayed as inferior to the ruling white man, who, naturally in contrast to the colonized, becomes all, which is good and makes him sit on the higher pedestal of victory. Thirdly, the descriptions of men and material of the colonized world are made in a negative light, and the same is done mostly positively civilized style.
The writer is a professor of English at Government Emerson University, Multan. He can be reached at [email protected] and Tweets at @Profzee