A Passage to India story
A Passage to India (1924) is a novel by English author E. M. Forster set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It was selected as one of the 100 great works of 20th century English literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time magazine included the novel in its "All Time 100 Novels" list. The novel is based on Forster's experiences in India, deriving the title from Walt Whitman's 1870 poem "Passage to India" in Leaves of Grass.
7 total · 4 choice · 2 major · 1 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| adapting to life in a foreign culture | choice | The British walked a thin line between adapting to Indian customs and imposing British customs on the Indian people. Conversely, the Indian people walked a thin line between asserting their own culture or bending to their rich British overlords. |
| conflict of cultural norms | choice | Virtually all the conflict in the book stemmed from friction between British and Indian people rooted in controversy over the British Raj. |
| prejudice against someone of a different social class | choice | The British, and perhaps more the British-Indians, often acted superior to the Indians and some Indians in turn seemed to accept this as natural. |
| racism in society | choice | In particular the British-Indians acted with prejudice against the Indians and while they often struggle to keep up a politer facade the racism is clearly there |
| guilt and evidence | major | when Azis is arrested Fielding struggles with the police and judicial system but encounters politics and poor attitude and Azis is just barely exonerated towards the end |
| the British Raj | major | Underlying the whole story and sometimes discussed explicitly, is the righteousness of British rule in India at the time (1924) and the implications it has for Indian society (in spite of the indignity, did it perhaps unite India and bring it positive things?). |
| cross cultural romance | minor | marriage between Brits and British-Indians appear to be discussed on a couple of occasions |