A Passage To India

A Passage To India

            A Passage To India, written by E. M. Forster, is a novel about the troubles of the British control in India. The novel focuses on Adela Quested, an Englishwomen who wants to see 'the real India,' and Dr. Aziz, and Indian doctor. When Adela accuses Dr. Aziz of attempted rape, it turns both of their lives upside down and inadvertently changes it. The film adaptation of A Passage To India, directed by David Lean, also follows this plot fairly closely; however, there were quite a few major differences in the movie version. Although the movie followed the book very closely, and I know that there can be artistic changes made for book to screen, but the parts that were either changed or left out were important parts of the book.

            David Lean did stick to the original plot of A Passage To India and kept a lot of the movie the same as the book. Lean stayed true to the characters that Forster had created.  Judy Davis portrayed Adela Quested, in my mind, perfectly. She was able to keep Adela's repressed nature while also being open- minded to the new world surrounding her. She was dressed very plainly and wore no make- up, or at least looked like she was not wearing make- up. Victor Banerjee played the role of Dr. Aziz, and to my amazement he stole my heart in this movie. Banerjee was able to take the character of Dr. Aziz and made it his own. In the book, Dr. Aziz went head- over- heels to do what he could to make the Englishwomen, Adela and Mrs. Moore, comfortable on their trip to the Marabar caves, but it seemed like he was doing everything because he had to. In the movie however, he actually looked like he was glad to do whatever he could for the Englishwomen. Banerjee made Dr. Aziz a loveable character that I wanted to root for the entire movie. Peggy Ashcroft played the role of Mrs. Moore, and she seemed to be the most typical high- class Englishwomen. She looked and acted like the type of woman I would see going to see a show at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Cyril Fielding was played by James Fox. In the movie, Field dawned a mustache that was styled slightly like a handle bar mustache. He looked like the ideal traveling British man. His look actually reminded me of the character Nigel Thornberry from the cartoon The Wild Thornberrys. Nigel Havers played Ronny Heaslop, the magistrate of Chandrapore, Mrs. Moore's son, and Adela's soon- to- be fiancé. Clive Swift and Ann Furbank played the roles of Major and Mrs. Callendar respectively. All of the characters in the movie look and act how they were described in the novel, so it seems like we are off to a nice start.

            Another similarity between the book and the movie are the stereotype of Indian culture. In the first chapter of the novel Forster describes the make believe city of Chandrapore. He starts the novel out with, "Except for the Marabar Caves- and they are twenty miles off- the city of Chandrapore presents nothing extraordinary" (Forster, pg. 3). With the first line of the novel Forster has already given readers the thought that the city is nothing special. In the whole first chapter Forster never actually calls the city beautiful until he mentions the sky. At the end of the first chapter, Forster describes the beauty of the sky and how it can change one's view of their surroundings. "The sky settles everything- not only climates and seasons but when the earth shall be beautiful. By herself she can do little- only feeble outbursts of flowers. But when the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars or a benediction pass from horizon to horizon" (Forster, pg. 5). I will agree that the sky is a beautiful phenomenon, but it only enhances the beauty of its surroundings. The sky and the earth can stand on their own when it comes to beauty. Everything is beautiful in its own way. Forster puts the image in the reader's head that the image of the city that they are about to explore is mean, dirty, and will make people not want to come unless they are invited (Forster, Pg. 3).

            The Indians themselves are also heavily stereotyped throughout the entirety of the novel and movie.  In the move, there is a scene where Mrs. Moore and Adela are getting off of their boat into India and are walking to their train into town, and when they are walking through that part of the city there are so many stereotypes that are show in that little span of  thirty seconds you see women wearing hijabs, you see Mrs. Moore holding her nose from the presumable stench, you see a typical snake charmer, and you see extremely overcrowded place with people pushing past at every step (Lean, A Passage To India).  Hijabs are commonly worn by Indian women, but this is the only time during the movie where you see an Indian woman wearing a hijab. Therefore, it is my belief that this was used to show a stereotype of the Indian women.

            The part of the scene where Mrs. Moore holds her nose to keep the stench of India and the Indian people away is also considered a stereotype. According to Mohammad Jajja's , an English professor at the University of Bahawalpur, Pakistan, article "A Passage To India: The Colonial Discourse and the Representation of India and Indians As Stereotypes" he claims that, "The Indians are represented as dirty, ugly people, who are associated with smell, tobacco and the sound of spitting" (Jajja, pg. 44). What Jajja is saying is that whenever people think of Indians they automatically associate them with a terrible odor because they are considered unclean. This is how they are stereotyped in not only A Passage To India, both the novel and the movie, but also in life now.

            There is a small time where you see a snake charmer, there is never mention of one in the book, but there is no doubt that Lean decided to put a snake charmer in the movie so people would believe it was India. And finally the scene ends with an extremely large group of Indians walking the passengers to their train. And by 'extremely large' I mean that there were so many people that they could barely get outside of the gate from the dock to the streets. There are quite a bit of Indian children pushing people out of the way to get closer to the Englishwomen. You see others pushing the men who were carrying the luggage so they could help the Englishwomen. It seemed like that if someone would have tripped, then they would have gotten trampled. The horde of Indians were like a mob of people at a Walmart Black Friday event. There were that many people crowded around the women. This stereotypes the Indian city and population being overcrowded. It shows that there are too many people in one city.

             There is no doubt that both the novel and the movie contains racism from both parties. The English people are extremely racist towards the Indians, it is shown throughout the whole of the story, and There are moments throughout where the Indians make racist comments about the English people. The English are so quick to judge the Indians because they see themselves as the superior race. There is a part of the book where Major Callendar sends for Dr. Aziz to come to his bungalow at once. Dr. Aziz receives the note while he is in the middle of his dinner. He doesn't want to leave but knows that he must. After hiring a tonga, a light, two- wheeled, horse- drawn vehicle used in India (Tonga), he goes to Major Callendar's bungalow to see what the civil surgeon needs. However, when he arrives, he finds out that Major Callendar has left with no message for Dr. Aziz. This is one of the first sightings of Major Callendar's insulting behavior towards the Indians. Gulzar Jalal Yousafzai and Qabil Khan, the authors of the article "Rudeness, Race, Racism, and Racialism in E. M. Forster's A Passage To India," respond to Major Callendar's action of not leaving a message, "Major Callendar, due to negative attitude towards the Indians, does not like to take pains and leave a clear message. This shows his insulting behavior" (Yousafzai and Khan, pg. 80). Major Callendar knew Dr. Aziz would be on his way as soon as he received the letter, but he didn't even stay to tell Dr. Aziz what he needed. The fact that he didn't leave a note with one of his servants shows how much he just does not care for the Indian people. He made Dr. Aziz come all the way out to his bungalow for no reason, and Dr. Aziz is not even able to take his tonga back to his house. Later in this scene, two Englishwomen come out of the bungalow and literally take it away from Dr. Aziz. "This is the first example of racial superiority or racially biased attitude in the novel. Both the ladies are English and take the tonga without any thanks, without any obliged behavior" (Yousafzai and Khan, pg. 80). I'm sure they have an inkling that this tonga did not just appear out of thin air for them, they knew that it had to be somebody's. The only people around at this time are Indians and so they have no problem with taking the tonga because they feel like they are superior.

            Another instance where the English people are very racist, and very prejudice as well, is when all of the English people gathered in the club to discuss what happened to Adela are the Marabar Caves. They assume that the Indian people are all working together to attack their own. Elizabeth MacLeod Walls, the author of the article "An Aristotelian Reading of the Feminine Voice- as- Revolution in E. M. Forster's A Passage To India" which is about the use of the character Adele Quested, talks about this scene. She says, "These prejudices become apparent when the Major, addressing the Club members, claims that Adela's chaperone Mohammed Latif had been bribed by the 'prisoner' to shirk his duty, and the dawdling Godbole had staged his own tardiness to facilitate Aziz's planned attack" (Walls, pg. 64). They are assuming that Dr. Aziz, because he is an Indian man and can't be trusted around Englishwomen, planned the trip to the Marabar caves so that he could attempt to sexually assault Adela. The English people are saying that Dr. Aziz spent countless amounts of rupees and told his friends that he brought with him to make Mrs. Moore feel claustrophobic so that he could be alone with Adela. This sounds a bit farfetched to me. The English people also insist that all of the Indian people were in on it, including Godbole who is one of the most respectable Indians in the book/ movie. They assume that Godbole planned to delay Fielding from catching his train so he could not possibly stop Dr. Aziz from making his attack. They believe this all to be true simply because they do not like the Indian people so they all agree that they cannot be trusted.

            The Indians are also quite racist towards the English people as well, although, they do not openly show it like the English people do. In the beginning the of second chapter of the book, Mahmoud Ali and Hamidullah are having a conversation about the English and about how they all end up the same. Hamidullah talks about Dr. Turton and how he used to be very nice to him and they would share carriage rides. But that was Dr. Turton first arrived to India, he has since changed and have become like the other Englishmen, rude and the sense of being superior. Hamidullah says, " They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I give and Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike" (Forster, pg. 7). They do not think that there can be any 'different' Englishmen and women. They are all alike no matter what. They may start out very nice, but they end up showing their true colors and changing. Hamidullah, Mahmoud Ali, and Dr. Aziz show their slight racism towards the English is this scene.

            While there were many similarities between the novel and the movie, there were many differences as well. There were many scene's from the book that were left out of the movie for timing reasons and of course there were scenes that were scenes that were changed for artistic purposes. One difference from the book to the movie was the absence of Miss Derek. She is not in the movie at all. All of her parts are used with Mrs. Callendar. In the movie, Adela does not hitch a ride with Miss Derek, instead Mrs. Callendar drops Mr. Fielding off at the Caves and inadvertenly catches Adela as she is running down the steep hill from the Marabar Caves. She then drive Adela straight to her house so she can be treated for her injuries (Lean, A Passage To India). Although Mrs. Callendar was used for Miss Derek's role with finding Adela, she does not take Ronny and Adela back to Ronny's from the polo game. Actually, Ronny and Adela don't ride back together at all. Adela tells Ronny that she does not want to marry him at the polo game and then the scene cuts to Dr. Aziz, Hamidullah, and Mahmoud Ali talking about how much it will cost for the trip the Marabar Caves. There is not a scene where Adela and Ronny fall back in love. Instead, there is a scene where Adela decides to go on a bike ride to sightsee by herself. She travels to outside of the city of Chadrapore and comes across a bunch of statues, most covered in moss and ivy, of people showing signs of affection by hugging and/ or kissing. Adela gets off her bike to look around at the statues. Out of nowhere, about a dozen or so monkeys appear and start to chase Adela and attack her for coming into their habitat. She immediately hops back on her bike and rides back to Chandrapore while the monkeys chase her to the edge of their home. Once Adela reaches Ronny's she throws down the bike and runs into Ronny's arms saying that she wants to marry him after all (Lean, A Passage To India). It was strange.

            While I was confused about what seemed to be a random monkey attack, I now understand why that scene was put into the movie. Most English people, a quite a few other people today, refer to the Indian people as 'monkeys.' This scene shows the audience how the English people think of the Indian people. They are seen as monkeys who will attack when a foreigner enters their habitat because they are wild. This scene foreshadows the accusation of Dr. Aziz by Adela and the English people. They don't actually know for sure if he did it or not, but they are willing to assume that Dr. Aziz would attack an Englishwoman because he is an Indian man.

            In an interview by Mark Tully David Lean, director, discusses the difference between the book and the movie.

"MARK TULLY: How much difference is there between Lean's 'Passage To India' and Forster's 'Passage To India'?

DAVID LEAN: He's a writer, I'm a film maker. I like movies, and I've tried to make a movie that I would like to see. The end is different, certainly, but I think I wouldn't be ashamed for Forster to read the script. I think I stuck with his characters, and on the whole, given the limitations of time, I mean what's one doing? One's doing something in 2 hours, a book that thick, it's a sort of sketch of it, and I'm extracting a movie from it. Those who want to read Forster, read the book. Those who want to go to a movie, and don't read, come and see our film" (Lean).

Lean is open about there being differences in his movie. He was right about the end being different. One of the biggest differences between the novel and the movie is one of the major themes in the book is entirely left out. The question of whether or not the English people and the Indian people can be friends. In the book, this question is brought up twice, once in the beginning and once in the end. It really wraps up what the book is discussing. It is brought up in the beginning by Hamidullah and Mahmoud Ali when they are talking about how all Englishmen and women are the same. They determined that they cannot be friends in India but possibly in England (Forster, pg. 7). The question is then brought up again at the end between Fielding and Dr. Aziz. Fielding asks, more personally, why Dr. Aziz and he can't be friends now. India's response to Fielding's question is "No, not yet. No, not there" (Forster, pg. 362). This is one of the most important themes of the book and without this scene, it completely changes the story in my perspective. Throughout the whole novel, I wondered if Fielding and Dr. Aziz was going to break the tension between the two conflicting nations and become friends, and in time would change how each nation saw each other. Without it you really have nothing to hope for. Dr. Aziz's innocence happens much earlier in the book that you are left with so much falling action and the film doesn't really tie it together.

            As I finished reading the novel and watching the movie, I took away two different experiences. Although there were many similarities and pretty much stuck to the book with the exception of a few scenes, I do believe that the differences outweigh the similarities. When you leave out a major theme of a book, you are changing what the author wants you to get out of it, therefore changing your perception of the story.

Work's Cited

A Passage To India. Dir. David Lean. Perf. Judy Davis and Victor Banerjee. EMI Films, 1985. A Passage To India. YouTube, 9 July 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Forster, E. M. A Passage to India. New York: Harcourt, Brace, 1924. Print.

Jajja, Mohammad Ayub. "A Passage To India: The Colonial Discourse And The Representation Of India And Indians As Stereotypes." Gomal University Journal Of Research 29.1 (2013): 38-48. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Lean, David. "Newsnight Gold: Lean's Passage To India- 1." Interview by Mark Tully. Mapability.com. Tim Mankins, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

"Tonga." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.

Walls, Elizabeth Macleod. "An Aristotelian Reading Of The Feminine Voice-As-Revolution In E. M. Forster's A Passage To India." Papers On Language & Literature 35.1 (1999): 56. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.

Yousafzai, Gulzar Jalal, and Qabil Khan. "Rudeness, Race, Racism And Racialism In E.M. Forster's "A Passage To India." Dialogue (1819-6462) 6.1 (2011): 75-92. Academic Search Complete. Web. 9 Dec. 2014.