Hamlet Paper

There are many salient themes in E.M. Forster’s The Passage to India, which portray the conflict between the English and the Indians during the British Raj of Imperialist Britain. During this time, Englishmen compare themselves to the native Indians as superior and higher class. Because of this, tensions among the two peoples emerge because of the arrogance of the British, where they saw Indians as inferior with very limited intellect, as well as with unsatisfactory manners. This leads to a sense of a social ladder, which is created among the Indians and the British. It demonstrates the “superiority” of the British hegemony over India and adds to the conflicts between them. Despite hostility between the two rivaling nations, Aziz, the protagonist of this novel, develops a forthcoming and trusting relationship with Ms. Moore and Cyril Fielding, both of whom are British.

Mrs. Moore and Aziz meet in a mosque, where Aziz feels insulted and reprimands her for not taking her shoes off before entering. He does this because she is of the British background, and as a result a cultural barrier is formed between them. However, she passionately clears up the misunderstanding and the barrier is allayed. Aziz begins to disregard the fact that she is different from him. At this point, the relationship between the two begins to develop, as Mrs. Moore says to Aziz, "You understand me, you know what others feel. Oh, if others resembled you!" (21) This signifies how Mrs. Moore sees the compassion and compatibility of Aziz. Therefore, she seeks to understand the unique Indian culture, which existed long before the British, instead of trying force the Indians to assimilate into the Anglican culture. Initially, it is apparent that Aziz scorns and has no sympathy towards the British; however, his views and feelings change after the encounter with Mrs. Moore. Aziz realizes the efforts of his new companionship and it allows him to accept her, even though she is British, the people who invaded his homeland.

Cyril Fielding, intellectual and sympathetic, is able to look past the difference between the British and Indian cultures. Therefore, when Fielding and Aziz meet for the first time, similar to when he meets Mrs. Moore, they have an amiable connection and the cultural differences of the two have no affect as to how they judge each other. They both accept each other as acquaintances, and their relationship only escalates from that point. Since Fielding is against the British hegemony and does not advocate its presence, he holds no prejudice against the Indians, which allows any interaction between him and another person unproblematic. One would expect any communication between these two ethnic groups would be unsuccessful; however, this is not the case between Aziz, Fielding, and Mrs. Moore, because of their willingness to accept one another as comrades and their ability to look past their cultural differences.

Although cultural differences prevented relationships to be successful, the British hegemony plays a greater part as to how the relationships between Aziz, Mrs. Moore, and Fielding deteriorate. This is because of the social ladder that is created from this, which further thwarts any attempts to creating a relationship between