A Passage to India, Chapters 8-16

We continue to be treated to glimpses of the Indian viewpoint – or at least one British author’s interpretation of the Indian viewpoint – as Aziz’s thoughts and emotions are described.  The psychology certainly reminds one of certain people we have known.  As this section of the story has developed, we see Aziz willing himself to believe what he wishes to believe, and talking himself into refusing to consider any alternatives to the sequence of events as he understands them.  Thus, Miss Quested gets left behind in the wilderness. 

Or does she?  The turn of events upon the party’s arrival back in Chandrapore; Aziz’s being arrested; doesn’t seem to align with this theory.  Is this mystery a central part of the story line or a temporary confusion soon to be cleared up?  At the caves, it is pretty clear that she was unintentionally abandoned, but not enough evidence is given the reader to be sure.  Again, is this the author’s intent, to muddy the waters so that the reader is left guessing?  The plot line begins to pick up speed rather suddenly after a fairly leisurely first half!

The prose continues in the late 19^th century British vein, without – as mentioned before – the stereotypical “Britishisms” that can grow tiresome.  Forster, in fact, has some interesting quirks all his own; little surprises and asides that are oddly charming.  An entire scene is compacted into one or two sentences; or, conversely, a slight misunderstanding between two characters is gone into great detail with lengthy dialog. 

But the story never really bogs down; even the descriptive passages of the countryside or a travel sequence contain so much of passing interest that the reader – at least this reader – never gets impatient for the author to just get on with the story.  If anything, the pace occasionally surges forward almost too fast to follow.  I found myself a few times re-reading a passage, not because I had gone into a trance and forgotten to pay attention, but because I felt like I had missed some details hidden in the action.  But I can’t really find fault with the author over this.  Rather than a deficiency, it feels more like a nuance of style. 

And it’s a style that, overall, I like very much.  Not even halfway through the book I found myself anticipating reading other books by the same author and wondering how these stylistic nuances and quirks would come across applied to completely different settings and casts of characters.  Since I was young I’ve heard the titles of some of his other works, including “A Room with a View.”  There’s even a funny riddle I remember from years ago: What do you call the test tube that contains a test tube baby? “A Womb with a View.”

Next segment: Chapters 17-26.