A Passage to India Analysis

Literary Devices in A Passage to India

Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory

A Passage to India may well read like a series of bad parties. We see parties such as: the Turtons' Bridge Party, Fielding's tea party, and Aziz's picnic. All of these occasions are supposed to be...

Setting

The first two parts of Forster's A Passage to India are set in the fictional city of Chandrapore, India, with the third part taking place in Mau. While Forster doesn't specify a particular year, cr...

Narrator Point of View

The narrator weaves seamlessly between different characters' points of view in its attempt to give a multi-faceted account of events. The narrator tends to speak with authority on the characters, e...

Genre

Forster's A Passage to India is perhaps the most Modernist of his novels with its emphasis on the complex interior life of the characters, experimentation with interweaving, complicated plots, use...

Tone

The tone of the novel tends to be objective, as if it were trying to present an unbiased view of the characters. This tone is especially useful when we get to the trial scene, where nobody seems to...

Writing Style

Despite the heavy political themes of the novel, Forster's A Passage to India is dense with the kind of figurative language that we usually associate with poetry. In one of the more breathtaking pa...

What's Up With the Title?

The title of A Passage to India is a reference to Walt Whitman's poem, "A Passage to India." In the poem, Whitman takes his reader on an imaginary journey through time and space. India is presented...

What's Up With the Ending?

"Friends again," begins the last chapter of A Passage to India, but despite this promising beginning, we're hardly left with an image of brotherly love. The last chapter follows Fielding and Aziz a...

Tough-o-Meter

While Forster's novel is quite readable, with a thrilling criminal drama at its core, it contains historical allusions and poetic language that might make certain passages difficult to follow. (Don...

Plot Analysis

Adela and Mrs. Moore arrive in Chandrapore. Adela's desire to see the "real" India and Mrs. Moore's accidental encounter with Dr. Aziz initiates a series of encounters between the British and the I...

Booker's Seven Basic Plots Analysis

Adela Quested arrives in Chandrapore with the goal of seeing the "real" India and deciding whether she will marry Ronny Heaslop, the Civil Magistrate in Chandrapore.Adela's last name – "Quested...

Three Act Plot Analysis

Adela Quested and Mrs. Moore arrive in Chandrapore, where they meet members of both the British and Indian communities.On an outing to the Marabar Caves, Adela believes she has been attacked by Dr....

Trivia

Forster's A Passage to India is dedicated to Syed Ross Masood, a young Indian man he tutored and subsequently befriended. The character of Dr. Aziz is based loosely on Masood. (Source: Childs, Pete...

Steaminess Rating

While the central plot of the story revolves around a rape trial, there are no explicitly described sex scenes in the novel. Still, because of this underlying conflict in A Passage to India we deci...

Allusions

John 14:2 (1.4.13)1 Corinthians 13 (1.5.99)Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival (2.20.85)The Ramayana (3.37.20)