A Passage to India

Beauty and ugliness.  Humanity at its best and worst.  Colonizers and natives.  Muslims, Christians and Hindus.  This is A Passage to India.  Although beautifully write, it is often perplexing.  This story asks the questions, "Can English and Indians be friends?" He tries to make them friends, to force them into friendship, to explore the idea of friendship, but it doesn't work.  No matter how the friendship is manipulated and molded in the prose, it doesn't work.  Forster can not make them friends.

The best moments of the books are when Aziz ponders hospitality and the Indian mind.  He is my favorite character, there is a grace a dignity about this man, as well as a shroud of mystery.  Is he as gracious as he seems, or is the messy living quarters the indication of something different.  Maybe his internal world is a mess.  He longs for relationship, but different events occur to keep him from experiencing the intimacy he longs for.

Then there is Adela Quested, she is not my favorite character.  She is clearly not meant to be a favorite, but a sort of antagonist.  She wants to see India, but not Indians.  She is confused by the social arrangements and the customs.  She finds India to be disturbing and disorienting.

I want to have the literary chops to discuss a  book like this, but I don't.  I can skim the surface, ask a few questions, but the analysis alludes me.   What is the symbolism of the echo?  It is too odd, to not have meaning.  Or the section titles, they must also have meaning beyond describing location.  There is so much symbolism in this book, this is where the internet becomes my friend and teacher.  It is my guide to symbolism and imagery.

This book is not going to be for everyone, but if you get a chance, pick up a copy at the library and read the last two paragraphs and marvel at the beauty.