Guide Mentor

Character Role Analysis

Fielding

A Passage to India emphasizes the different kinds of passage for the characters: in addition to actual travel, characters also experience a psychological passage as they learn and grow from their experience in India. Fielding is one of the guides along this passage. While Fielding certainly alters himself, he provides a sounding board for both Adela and Aziz as they muddle their way through the trial and its aftermath. Fielding represents the voice of reason and disinterested objectivity.

Mrs. Moore

Mrs. Moore is another guide along the psychological passage of both Adela and Aziz. She represents the voice of Christianity, particularly its vision of universal love. Like Fielding, she also experiences a passage in the novel when her values are profoundly shaken in the Marabar Caves.

Godbole

Godbole is the third mentor figure in A Passage To India. As the voice of Hindu philosophy, he celebrates the oneness of all things and unity in difference. Impervious to individual suffering, he does not experience any transformation in the course of the novel.