CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
This chapter contains the analysis of the paper. In this chapter, the writer answers the questions stated in the Problem Formulation. This chapter contains
two main parts. The first part is the analysis of the perspectives of the English toward the Indians, and vice versa, during British colonialism in India as seen in
E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India, and the second part is the analysis of the social contacts between the English and the Indians during British colonialism as seen in
E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India.
A. The Perspectives of the English and the Indians during British Colonialism in India
The writer firstly discuses the perspectives of the English and the Indian in her analysis because she believes that perspective is the first factor of someone to
decide how he or she builds relationship, especially the social contacts, to others. It is mentioned that perspective of one to another can be different depending on
his or her point of view or position. Likewise, the perspectives of the English and the Indians can be different since both parties are in different side.
1. The Perspectives of the English toward the Indians during British Colonialism in India
A Passage to India gives the readers some images of English perspectives toward the native population, Indians, during British Colonialism in India. Forster
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describes the English’s perspectives in his narration or in dialogues among characters.
a. Superordinate View
Most characters in this novel, for example the ladies in the club, the Turtons, and the Callendars, view that the English is the owner of the land, and
the native is not more than a servant, or in other words, the English is the upper and Indians is the lower class, causing racial discrimination treatment from the
super toward the subordinate. Their characters obviously describe the Utilitarian view. Forster reveals this view in his novel by an event when Dr. Aziz comes to
Mr. Callendar’s residence to fulfill Callendar’s invitation. Aziz does not meet the man, but Mrs. Callendar and Mrs. Lesley come out to see him. Instead of
welcoming him friendly, they offence him and take his carriage away. The dialogue on page 18 is as follows:
. . .Aziz lifted his hat. The first, who was in evening dress, glanced at the Indian and turned instinctively away.
‘Mrs. Lesley, it is a tonga,’ she cried. ‘Ours?’ inquired the second, also seeing Aziz, and doing likewise.
‘Take the gifts the gods provide, anyhow,’ she screeched, and both jumped in. ‘O Tonga wallah, club, club. Why doesn’t the fool go?’
Forster gives other examples of Utilitarian’s view by writing utterances said by some characters, ‘One said, ‘Wanting to see Indians How new that
sounds’ Another, ‘Natives why, fancy’ A third, more serious, said, ‘Let me explain. Natives don’t respect one any the more after meeting one, you see.’’ 27
On another page, another expression of Utilitarian utterances appears once again, ‘’Well, we don’t come across them socially,’ he said, laughing. ‘They’re full of all
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the virtues, but we don’t, and it’s now eleven-thirty, and too late to go into the reasons.’’28
b. Christianity View
Not all characters treat the Indians improperly; Mrs. Moore and Mr. Fielding, for example, who stand on Aziz’s side when the doctor is sued for
assaulting Miss Adela Quested. Forster builds Mrs. Moore’s character as a woman who lays her thought on Christianity values, being seen from her dialogues along
the novel, which is fitted with the character of an Evangelican. The example is seen when Mrs. Moore chatted with Mrs. Callendar and some ladies at the club.
‘Why, the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die,’ said Mrs. Callendar.
‘How if he went to heaven?’ asked Mrs. Moore, with a gentle and crooked smile.
. . . ‘As a matter of fact I have thought what you were saying about
heaven, and that is why I am against missionaries,’ said the lady who had been a nurse. 28.
Another comes when Mrs. Moore argues with her son, Ronny Heaslop, the City Magistrate of Chandrapore.
‘Because India is part of the earth. And God has put us on the earth in order to be pleasant to each other. God … is … love.’ She hesitated,
seeing how much he disliked the argument, but something made her go on. ‘God has put us on earth to love our neighbours and to show it, and
He is omnipresent, even in India, to see how we are succeeding ‘51.
c. The English Government’s Indians Civilization Program
Mr. Fielding, the schoolmaster of the Government College, and Dr. Aziz, the doctor of a local hospital, are characters which represent Forster’s thought that
the colonizer has a view to civilize the colonized by giving them education and other Western knowledge in order to improve native’s standard of living. Forster
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lays this point of thought on his novel by picturing the character of Aziz as a doctor at the Minto Hospital. The dialogue is between Mrs. Moore and Ronny
Heaslop who is curious about the man whom his mother spoke to at the mosque: He wanted to inquire about the Mohammedan doctor in the mosque. It
was his duty to report suspicious characters and conceivably it was some disreputable hakim who had prowled up from the bazaar. When
she told him that it was someone connected with the Minto Hospital, he was relieved, and said that the fellow’s name must be Aziz, and that
he was quite all right, nothing against him at all. 33,
and also the character of Mr. Fielding as a schoolmaster in the Government College, ‘Fielding how’s one to see the real India?’ . . .”Our schoolmaster –
Government College.’ 27 Forster puts a character of a schoolmaster in Chandrapore in order to show that this town has made a progress in education by
having an institution. Forster describes Mr. Fielding’s first impression about Indian, his characters and his education’s point of view in another part of his
novel: New impressions crowded on him, but they were not the orthodox new
impressions; the past conditioned them, and so it was with his mistakes. To regard an Indian as if he were an Italian is not, for
instance, a common error, nor perhaps a fatal one, and Fielding often attempted analogies between this peninsula and that other, smaller and
more exquisitely shaped, that stretches into the classic waters of the Mediterranean.
His career, though scholastic, was varied, and had included going to the bad and repenting thereafter. By now he was a hard-bitten, good-
tempered, intelligent fellow on the verge of middle age, with a belief in education. He did not mind whom he taught: public schoolboys,
mental defectives, and policemen, had all come his way, and he had no objections to adding Indians. 61
d. Bureaucrat View
Forster shows exactly how the bureaucrats do their part in India. In the novel, the character of Mr. Ronny Heaslop, the City Magistrate of Chandrapore
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and the son of Mrs. Moore, visualizes how an official bureaucrat usually treats Indians, as for example how bothered he is when he knows his mother spoke with
Dr. Aziz in a mosque. He cannot understand why his mother likes this Indian doctor. Ronny asks his mother whether the Indian was nice or impudence to her,
and when his mother tells him about the Callendars, he wants to pass what Aziz said about the couple on to Major Callendar. Mrs. Moore forbids him and in
returns, he also asks his mother to not talking about Aziz in front of Miss Quested 31-34. When dealing with Major Callendar, there is a sense that Mr. Heaslop
may use his power as a City Magistrate to pass the racial issue. Although Ronny Heaslop does not show the sense of loyalty to his job or his likes on living in
India, his arrogance toward the Indians is obviously observed. His statement, ‘Oh, good gracious Not a Mohammedan? Why ever didn’t you tell me you’d been
talking to a native? I was going all wrong.’ 31, clearly shows his dislikes to the Indians. The following narration perhaps can explain his unpleasant feeling living
in India: . . . Every day he worked hard in the court trying to decide which
of two untrue accounts was the less untrue, trying to dispense justice fearlessly, to protect the weak against the less weak, the incoherent against
the plausible, surrounded by lies and flattery. That morning he had convicted a railway clerk of overcharging pilgrims for their tickets, and a
Pathan of attempted rape. He expected no gratitude, no recognition for this, and both clerk and Pathan might appeal, bribe their witnesses more
effectually in the interval, and get their sentences reversed. It was his duty. But he did expect sympathy from his own people, and except from
newcomers he obtained it. He did think he ought not to be worried about ‘Bridge Parties’ when the day’s work was over and he wanted to play
tennis with his equals or rest his legs upon a long chair. 50
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2. The Perspectives of the Indians toward the English during British Colonialism in India
Besides mentioning English’s perspectives toward Indians, Forster also includes some Indians’ perspectives toward the English in his novel. In this part,
the writer analyzes some Indians’ perspectives that Forster tries to reveal in his novel.
a. Subordinate View
In the beginning of this novel, it is clearly stated that the Indians indeed accept the fact that the English come to their land as rulers. The conversation
between Hamidullah and Mahmoud Ali that argue whether or not an Indian can make a good relationship with English shows that there is a sense of no
confidence, a feeling that a subordinate usually has toward the upper class. Subordinate has less all units the superordinate has; power, economy, welfare,
making him difficult to interact with someone higher than him. Besides, each class has rules and system that has to be followed. The example is on page 13:
‘It is impossible here. Aziz The red-nosed boy has again insulted me in Court. I do not blame him. He was told that he ought to insult
me. Until lately he was quite a nice boy, but the others have got hold of him.’
‘Yes, they have no chance here. That is my point. They come out intending to be gentlemen, and are told it will not do. …’
From the unpleasant event in Major Callendar’s bungalow, Aziz shows his perspective that the English, represented by Major Callendar, Mrs. Callendar, and
Mrs. Lesley, can do what they like toward an Indian. Mrs. Callendar and Mrs. Lesley ignore his arrival and take his carriage, while Major Callendar commands
the Indian doctor arrives. Aziz expresses his anger by asking paper and ink to the
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servant and writing a letter, ‘Dear Sir, -At your express command I have hastened as a subordinate should-‘19.
b. The Possibility of Building Relationship with the Upper Class
Aziz’s paradigm is temporarily changed after he has his conversation with Mrs. Moore in the mosque and his meeting with Mr. Fielding, who later become
Aziz’s English friends. After he met these people, he has sense that not all English treat Indians with arrogance. There is still a chance for an Indian to make a
friendship with the English. On page 24, Forster shows the narration: He was excited partly by his wrongs, but much more by the
knowledge that someone sympathized with them. It was this that led him to repeat, exaggerate, contradict. She had proved her sympathy by
criticizing her fellow-countrywoman to him, but even earlier he had known. The flame that not even beauty can nourish was springing up,
and though his words were querulous his heart began to glow secretly. Presently it burst into speech.
‘You understand me, you know what others feel. Oh, if others resembled you’
Aziz is so delightful when he receives a message from Mr. Fielding. He is surprised since this message is the second invitation for him to tea with the
Principal. The first one is sent a month ago, which he has forgotten it. 59-60 It shows to us that Mr. Fielding seriously expects Aziz to fulfill his invitation. It
proves that building a relationship with an English is possible to be done, and Mr. Fielding is one of a few Englishmen who shows his empathy towards Indians.
c. Indians’ Response to English Government’s Civilization Program
As it has been explained before, the colonial government wants to civilize the natives by giving them western education and any other knowledge. The novel
also includes the Indians’ perspectives toward the civilization. The professions,
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like Aziz does as a doctor, and Armitrao as a Hindu lawyer, indicate that the Indians welcome the civilization with a good response and enthusiasm. In the
beginning of Chapter 6, a narration explains how Aziz enjoys his profession as a doctor:
Aziz had not gone to the Bridge Party. Immediately after his meeting with Mrs. Moore he was diverted to other matters. Several
surgical cases came in, and kept him busy. He ceased to be either outcast or poet, and became the medical student, very gay, and full of
details of operations which he poured into the shrinking ears of his friends. His profession fascinated him at times, but he required it to be
exciting, and it was his hand, not his mind, that was scientific. The knife he loved and used skilfully, and he also liked pumping in the
latest serums. 53
In another event, Forster illustrates once again how Indians accept modernization the colonizer offers them. In the Bridge Party, held by Mr. Turton,
Mrs. Turton is surprised by the ability of the Indian ladies to speak English. Mrs. Moore, who is a newcomer, asks Mrs. Turton to be her translator since the hostess
has been lived longer in India and she can speak Urdu for a little: ‘Please tell these ladies that I wish we could speak their language,
but we have only just come to their country.’ ‘Perhaps we speak yours a little,’ one of the ladies said.
‘Why, fancy, she understands’ said Mrs. Turton. ‘Eastbourne, Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner,’ said another of the
ladies. ‘Oh, yes, they’re English-speaking.’ 42
Another Indian lady also mentions that one of her fellows has been in Paris, although Mrs. Turton oppresses her statement by saying that the Indian’s
fellow must not be in Paris, but pass on it. 42 These phenomena, the Indian ladies speak English and one of them travels to Paris, are evidences that the
Indians do take the Westernization as a part of their lives.
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d. Maintaining Relationships with the Westerns for Certain Purposes
The Indians, in general, seem to prefer a safety way, by maintaining their relationship and trying to stay out of troubles with the English to protect their
interests and needs. It seems that it is important for them having a good relationship with the English if they want to survive in that hard situation. The
reasons may be vary; they do not want to have troubles in administration and bureaucratic which involve English officials, or they want their career, pensions
time, and even their lives to be guaranteed, and what a surprise that the English also acknowledge the fact. It is seen from Ronny’s comment when he argues with
his mother: ‘It’s the educated native’s latest dodge. They used to cringe, but
the younger generation believe in a show of manly independence. They think it will pay better with the itinerant M. P. But whether the
native swaggers or cringes, there’s always something behind every remark he makes, always something, and if nothing else he’s trying to
increase his izzat – in plain Anglo-Saxon, to score. . . .’ 33,
and the attitude of Mr. Nawab Bahadur who with pleased cancel his personal businesses and come far away from Dilkusha just to attend the Collector’s Bridge
Party. The conversation is on page 36 among Mahmoud Ali, an old man with a beard, and Mr. Nawab Bahadur himself:
‘The Lieutenant-Governor may be my very good friend, but I give him no trouble – How do you do, Nawab Bahadur? – Quite well, thank
you, Sir Gilbert; how are you? – And all is over. But I can be a thorn in Mr. Turton’s flesh, and if he asks me I accept the invitation. I shall
come in from Dilkusha specially, though I have to postpone other business.’
The Bhattacharyas also do the same thing when Mrs. Moore and Miss Adela Quested ask them whether or not they can make an appointment with the
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Indians. This Indian couple does not mind to rearrange their schedule to Calcuta so that Mrs. Moore and Miss Quested still can visit them at home. 44
B. The Social Contacts between the English and the Indians during British Colonialism in India
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