A Passage to India, Conclusion

The plot of this story continues to seem elusive, even up to the end.  Events will seem to be leading us to some predictable outcome, only to veer rather sharply in unexpected directions.  To readers who have been jaded by the predictability of books they have been reading lately, this may be a refreshing change.  I tend to like a certain amount of what I call “quirkiness” in an author’s approach anyway.  The only thing that bothers me here is that I can’t tell whether Forster is doing it on purpose – whether it is a stylistic device he employs that is best viewed as a mark of his originality – or whether it’s just plain sloppiness! 

Most of the books I enjoy work from a premise.  Like the “Situation” of a “Situation Comedy” (sit-com, if you please), we know up front what the story is “about” from the premise we began with.  People who read exclusively Mysteries, for example, always know what they’re getting and expect it.  In Passage, the premise, such as it is, exists almost as a backdrop over which to drape the theme.  And the theme – the inevitability of a clash of cultures and races when they mix, especially in a colonial environment – is not really presented as The Theme, as such, until this last segment.

Aziz has decided that he will have no more to do with Englishmen (and even less with English women, after his ordeal with the false accusations!).  He even includes in this vow the one Englishman – Fielding – who had always stood by him through his difficulties.  But when Fielding comes to visit him in his new environment and position, we see a triumph of friendship over racism after all.  The quote, “Racism rarely survives familiarity” comes to mind.  [As a side note: could the author – now known to have been gay in a time and place when it was much less accepted than here and now – have had sexual inclination in mind as well as racism?]

Throughout the book, the author has blended passages of dialog with passages of description as adroitly as any author, better than most.  Perhaps to set apart the last division of this book, he suddenly begins to use long descriptive passages, including some very long single paragraphs.  It even appears, at times, that the author is merely showing off the depth of his knowledge regarding Hindu religious ceremonies.  These paragraphs are just interesting enough to a mature reader to hold his interest, but not much more.

It is, however, the most colorfully written section of the book by far, creating an atmosphere of foreignness that the reader is probably hoping for in a work like this.  What dialog there is continues to be first rate, defining the characters – even the new and rather odd young relative of Fielding – as they speak.  Again, there are “events” that take place to keep the story moving forward; which would almost seem to be their only function.  But the events aren’t the story.  Tom Clancy readers (even Tolkien readers?) might not give this book many stars on Amazon because of this.  They would be missing the point.  As for me, I will definitely be reading more Forster, and soon!

Special thanks again to Susan K.-C. for recommending July's book of the month, "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls!