LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13 : 2 February 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Xenophobia in A Passage to India: A Subjective Furor in Adela Quested and Others

Azmi Azam, B.A. (Hons.)
Abdur Rahman Shahin

Abstract

Edward Morgan Forster’s A Passage to India epitomizes the concept of xenophobia as a result of colonial impact in the then India. The two communities, the British and the Indians, carry subjective antipathy towards each other and constantly fear of being replaced from their rightful and willful position in the society, though they imposture friendly attitude to each other which is the quintessential psychological conflict of the characters.

The female protagonist Adela Quested is a xenophobe who pretends to be friendly to the Indians of Chandrapore but ultimately she does the opposite of it. The male protagonist Dr. Aziz represents the new generation of India who tries to overcome the past hostility with the British and rejuvenates a new aura of friendship. But he falls into a trap of misunderstandings as well as of his constant insecurity and self-consciousness which mark his implied xenophobic tendencies.

Other characters such as the school headmaster Cyril Fielding, the British magistrate Ronny Heaslop, city Collector Major MacBryde and some of the British ladies highlight the notion of xenophobia in the novel. Some of the characters show indophobic and agoraphobic features too. Dismantling all the misunderstandings, the novel ends with a mutual consideration between the British and the Indians but rooting xenophobia in their hearts forever. The aim of this work is to highlight the quintessential reasons of implied xenophobia in the characters of the novel, especially Adela Quested, resulting from the orthodoxy of racism, religion, orientalism and culture. At the end of this work, it can be clearly encapsulated that the concept of colonialism in A Passage to India dominates the human psyche by evoking misapprehensions, by trammeling the mutual hospitable social bondages among communities and by sabotaging future camaraderie.

Key Words: Xenophobia, racism, apartheid, imposture, indophobia, agoraphobia, subjectivity.

Introduction

Edward Morgan Forster’s A Passage to India embodies a kind of travesty of human relationship infected by xenophobia. On the ideological lenses of racism, colonialism, orientalism, and social-phobias, the megalomaniac British community of Chandrapore views the Indians as social untouchables. The lackadaisical approaches of friendship, i.e., deceitful behavior toward the Indians mark the political shrewdness of the white-skinned authority.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Azmi Azam, B.A. (Hons.) in English Literature
Graduate student of English Discipline
Arts and Humanities School, Khulna University
14, South Central Road
Khulna 9100
Bangladesh
tumpulu_ku@yahoo.com

Abdur Rahman Shahin
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Arts and Humanities School
Khulna University
Khulna
Bangladesh
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