A Passage to India: An Eastern Gaze

Abstract: E. M. Forster attempts to delineate the tension and conflict between the colonized and their colonizers in his masterpiece A Passage to India. Superiority complex, oppression, domination, and manipulation of British rule produce discomfort and discontent among the Indian people. Cultural incompatibility leads the two communities towards misunderstanding that questions the possibilities of coexistence of the two parties. In the novel A Passage to India, Forster portrays the malice and hostility of the Europeans that transforms the protagonist, Dr. Aziz, from a normal, sensible human being to an arrogant, miserable man. Besides, at the end of the novel, the atonement of the antagonist Adela, producing sympathy among the readers, expresses Forster’s defense of his own countrymen. Analysis can be conducted about Forster’s intention of exhibiting the two parties conjointly. So, this paper suggests exploring the psychological dilemma of the people who are entrapped in a society where colonizers and colonized are bound to live together from an Eastern perspective. While analyzing the novel from an Eastern gaze, this paper also tries to foreground several cross-cultural issues to depict the paradoxical relationship between the colonizers and the colonized. Moreover, this paper will apply post-colonialism, especially the discourses expounded by Edward Said and Homi K. Bhaba. Keywords: Colonization, conflict, domination, incompatibility, psyche