On the Separateness between British and India in A Passage to India

【Abstract】Edward Morgan Forster， is best known for his last novel A Passage to India acknowledged publicly as the masterpiece of Forster. This article intends to analyze the separateness in A Passage to India. The conflict between the two is inevitable because of the social， racial differences. The eternal gaps and conflict between Indians and British impede the connection between two different cultures.

【Key words】separateness； gap； conflict

1. Introduction

E. M. Forster is a famous English novelist of the 20th century， whose masterpiece — A Passage to India， which uses the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s serving as backdrop. Ever since the publication， A Passage to India has causing a heated discussion all over the world. This article attempts to explore the separateness between British and India.

2. Separateness

“Separateness”is one of major problems that concerns Forster. In this novel， Forster exposes the eternal gaps and misunderstandings between two nations. This part mainly analyzes the separateness between British and India from two aspects — the difference of landscape and the division between Indians and English.

2.1 The Difference of Landscape

The author portrays the city of Chandrapore as the opening from which the story begins and shows the extinct differences in detail by describing the two sides in the same city in the first chapter. In Indian part， Chandrapore is neither a beautiful nor large city. Its streets are narrow and mean， the temples are useless and invalid， and the houses are scruffy and filthy. The whole city is in poverty and disorder.

However， when we turn to the inland - English part， a quiet different world appears. The houses standing on the high ground are well arranged and the infrastructure is well-equipped. For one thing， the existence of the inland makes Chandrapore like another beautiful garden showing us an opposite vision. For another thing， the arrangement of the English part suggests the order and culture of the British.

In fact， Chandrapore is an epitome of India in the twentieth century， in which everything is in chaos and disorder. While the designation of the houses and streets of the British part are orderly and well-arranged. The sharp contrast of India part and English part implies the radical gap between two different nations having unequal status and separateness between India and British has been presented.

2.2 The Division between Indians and British

According to the above part， it is clear that Indian and English live a different life. The former one lives in poverty， which are primitive and inferior， while the latter one is civilized and superior. The British has a very strong sense of superiority that neglects Indians feeling and tramples on their culture.

At the “Bridge Party”， there is an unpleasant communication between the two nations. The Indians accept the invitation of the Collectors Bridge Party happily and humbly. But they do nothing except be laughed and despised at the Bridge party. On one side of lawn stand the Indians， embarrassed， looking at the annoyed and dissatisfactory English with a kind of nervous curiosity； on one other sides of the lawn stand the highborn English ladies and men， arrogant， distressed and do not want to communicate and approach the Indians. The word “bridge” is a careful choice of the author to stress the division and separateness between British and India.

The totally different arrangement Chandrapore and English part on the high ground viewing the whole India suggests the radical division between British occupying a superior position and India suffering the social repression. The unequal status leading to communication disorders causes the separateness between the British and Indians.

3. Conclusion

A Passage to India， is considered as the best known novel reflecting the major problem—the separateness between Indian and British concerns Forster who pictures the readers an authentic reality of， where the striking contrast and the eternal gaps known as separateness are difficult to eliminated due to the rule and oppression of England.

References：

[1]E.M.Forster，A Passage to India[M].London：Penguin，1986.

[2]Gilbert，S.M.，E.M.Forsters A passage to India and Howards End[M].Beijing：Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press，1996.

[3]劉知国.《印度之行》中的“他者”[J].重庆科技学院学报：社会科学版，2010（6）：37-38.

作者简介：李宁（1992-）， 女， 汉族，河北邯郸人，硕士研究生， 研究方向：英语语言文学。