Introduction to novel and novelist Key characters conflict of the story Setting and Historical Time period

1. A Passage to
India
By: E. M Forster

2. Major Outline:
 full title · A Passage to India
 author · Edward Morgan Forster
 type of work · Novel
 genre · Modernist novel; psychological novel
 language · English
 time and place written · 1912–1924; India, England
 date of first publication · 1924
 publisher · Edward Arnold
 narrator · Forster uses an unnamed third-person narrator
 point of view · The third-person narrator is omniscient, attuned both to the
physical world and the inner states of the characters
 tone · Forster’s tone is often poetic and sometimes ironic or philosophical
 tense · Immediate past
 setting (time) · 1910s or 1920s
 setting (place) · India, specifically the cities of Chandrapore and Mau
 protagonist · Dr. Aziz

3. Early life
 Born in 1879 in London
 Edward Morgan Forster
 Father was an architect
 Died before Edward was 2
 Raised by women - mother and aunts
 Used money from great aunt to travel and write later in life

4. Childhood home, Rooksnest

5. College Life
Attended King’s College of Cambridge
1897-1901
Member of Apostles
 Discussion group
 Later became Bloomsbury Group
 Virginia Woolf also a member
Enjoyed freedom of intellectual discussions and
focus on personal relationships

6. After graduation
 Traveled with his mother to
Italy and Greece
 Gave him material to use
later
 Satire of British tourists
 Feared anything “foreign”
 Wrote essays and stories
for liberal Independent
Review
Forster with mother

7. Tutoring
 1905 - tutored in Germany
for a Countess’s son
 1906 - tutored Syed Ross
Masood
 Indian Muslim patriot
 Grew fond of him

8. Written works
 1905 - Where Angels Fear to Tread
 1907 - The Longest Journey
 1908 - A Room with a View
 1910 - Howard’s End
 Clash between business and art
 1971 - Maurice
 Homosexual theme

9. Personal life
 Kept personal life hidden and out of
discussion
 1930 - involved in a relationship with a
London policeman
 Also friend with his wife
 Maurice published posthumously

10. Travel and work
1912-1913 - traveled to India with Masood
1914-1915 - worked for National Gallery in
London
WWI - worked for Red Cross in Egypt
 Wrote poetry while there
1921 - returned to India
 Worked as private secretary to Maharajah of Dewas

11. A Passage to India (1984
directed by David Lean)

12. Death and Reputation
 Died in 1970
 Known for being critical of Victorian
middle class attitudes and British
colonialism
 Explores class differences and sexuality
 Used characters to critique issues

13. Introduction
A Passage to India
“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 English
literature by the Modern Library and won the 1924
James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Time
magazine included the novel in its "100 Best English-
language Novels from 1923 to 2005".[1] The novel is
based on Forster's experiences in India. E. M. Forster
borrowed the book's title from Walt Whitman's poem
“Leaves of Grass”

14. Characters
Muslim
Hindu
British

15. Characters (cont.)
Muslim:
Dr Aziz: A medical doctor and widower with three children, the main
Indian character; his trial for a crime for which he is wrongly accused
is the major plot of the novel.
Mahmoud Ali: A friend of Dr. Aziz and pleader in his court case;
Heaslop says his specialty is making a scene at a trial
Hamidullah: A friend of Dr. Aziz, owner of the car; his wife,
Hamidullah Begum, is a distant aunt of Aziz; leading lawyer of
Chandrapore, Cambridge educated; changes his British title and
reverts to plain Mr. Zulfiqar

16. Characters (cont.)
Muslim (cont.):
Nawab Bahadur: A leading Moslem landowner of the district; a
philanthropist
Mohammed Latif: A distant cousin of Hamidullah described as living on
�Hamidullah’s bounty and occupy[ing] the position neither of a servant nor of an
equal
Mrs. Bhattacharya: A Bengali woman Mrs. Moore attempts to visit
Nureddin: �Grandson of Nawab Bahadur (99-100); steals grandfather’s car but
has an accident in it
Syed Mohammed: Assistant engineer
Mr. Haz:� A police inspector who arrests Dr. Aziz after excursion to
Marabar Caves
Rafi:� The engineer�s nephew
Mr. Das: Magistrate hearing Aziz�s trial

17. Characters (cont.)
Hindu
Professor Narayan Godbole: �A teacher, Minister of
Education; capable of mystic visions
Dr. Panna Lal: A doctor who does go to the Collector�s
party and who dislikes Aziz; assistant to Aziz at hospital
Amritrao: �Calcutta lawyer, Oxford trained, hired to defend
Dr. Aziz

18. Characters (cont.)
British
Ronny Heaslop:� City Magistrate in Chandrapore
Mrs. Moore: Mother of Ronnie, who comes for a visit, accompanied by
Miss Quested and leaves before Dr. Aziz’s trial; she dies on shipboard
leaving Bombay, though the telegram came from Aden; she was buried
at sea (249) in the Red Sea (256)
Adela Quested: She becomes fiancé of Ronnie after having decided
that they were not suited to each other; thinks she has been attacked in
a cave at Marabar; withdraws testimony, and leaves in ignominy

19. Characters (cont.)
British (cont.)
Major Callendar: Civil Surgeon who works at same hospital with Dr. Aziz
Mr. Turton: The Collector (25); he and his wife are described as �little gods� in
Chandrapore; invites a group of British and Indians to the club early in the novel
Miss Derek: Friend of Miss Quested; visiting with the McBrydes; comes in
separate car belonging to Mudkul State to Marabar Caves
Stella:� Mrs. Moore’s daughter; she becomes engaged to Fielding by the end of
the novel
Cyril Fielding: British school teacher (61), described in text as �Principal of the
little Government College� (45) stands by Dr. Aziz during his legal troubles, but
also befriends Miss Quested
Mr. McBryde: District Superintendent of Police (166); prosecutor at Dr. Aziz’s trial

20. Conflict
The story revolves around four
characters: Dr. Aziz, his British friend
Mr. Cyril Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and
Miss Adela Quested. During a trip to
the Marabar Caves (modeled on the
Barabar Caves of Bihar), Adela
accuses Aziz of a crime. Aziz's trial,
and its run-up and aftermath, bring out
all the racial tensions and prejudices
between indigenous Indians and the
British colonists who rule India.

21. Discussion Session
+
Reading Session

22. A. Discussion Session on “Colonialism”

23. B. Important Quotes
“Aziz winked at him slowly and said: “...There are many
ways of being a man; mine is to express what is deepest
in my heart.”
“God has put us on earth to love our neighbours and to
show it, and He is omnipresent, even in India, to see
how we are succeeding.”

24. “In Europe life retreats out of the cold, and exquisite fireside
myths have resulted—Balder, Persephone—but [in India]
the retreat is from the source of life, the treacherous sun,
and no poetry adorns it because disillusionment cannot be
beautiful. Men yearn for poetry though they may not confess
it; they desire that joy shall be graceful and sorrow august
and infinity have a form, and India fails to accommodate
them.”
B. Important Quotes

25. Urdu Word List
 Babuism
 Tazia
 Saddhu
 bhang
 Ganpati
 Hookah
 Bulbul
 pujah
 Wallah
 mullah