LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:6 June 2018
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.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Paradoxical Relationship between East and West:
A Study of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India

Tahir Mahmood


Courtesy: https://www.amazon.com/Passage-India-M-Forster/dp/0156711427

Abstract

The focus of this study is on the relevance and differences between British colonizers and Indian colonized. E.M. Forster in his master piece A Passage to India has well portrayed the culture of British in India and native Indians and their relationship with each other. Most of the British thought that they were superior to native Indians and most of the Indians thought that British were not worth friendship. Forster has portrayed both good and bad natured human beings from both the communities in the novel and his focus was on how British should give freedom to Indian people and territory, so that both the communities would live in peace. But the researcher comes to the conclusion that if so called superior British would have given equal status and love to the native Indians, it was possible that both the communities might have lived together happily like a family.

Keywords: E. M. Forster, Passage to India, British, Indians, Natives, Relationship, Misapprehension, Duality, Human Soul.

Introduction

East is one of the four cardinal directions of the compass. It is in the opposite direction of West. East can also be related with the Orient, which broadly refers to various cultures, social structures and philosophical systems eminent in the East. In this research paper the term ‘east’ refers to the colonised people and their countries like India, Columbia, America, etc. West, also known as Occident, is in the opposite direction of East. Thus, we can say opposite means in contrast with east and in this research work ‘west’ refers to colonizers like Spaniards and British. It was a general and narrow notion that occident was superior to oriental. Holding this narrow notion in view, occident became imperious to orient in every aspect of life. People in Occident thought their language, literature, or culture were more civilized than the people of East, which gave birth to an infamous concept of ‘White Men’s burden’.

To Nihal Singh, the novel depicts “how the British in India despise and ostracise Indians, while on their part the Indians mistrust and misjudge the British” (Childs 1999:347). Actually, the whole concept of colonisation is based on this illogical notion that the colonized people were useless and worthless; they were a burden on the shoulders of colonizers. They thought it was their responsibility and duty to teach these unprivileged, primitive, uncivilised and savage people of east.

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

Tahir Mahmood, Teacher at Department of Education
tahirqureshi00@gmail.com
Lahore, Pakistan

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