Line #54 Literature/APassageToIndia


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/passage_to_india.jpg]]
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3	->''"Life never gives us what we want at the moment that we consider appropriate. Adventures do occur, but not punctually."''
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5	''A Passage to India'' is a 1924 novel by Creator/EMForster, about relationships between Britain and India in the last days of the [[UsefulNotes/TheRaj British Raj]] and the struggle for Indian independence.
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7	The novel opens with Adela Quested and Mrs. Moore arriving at India. Adela is to marry Ronny Heaslop, Mrs. Moore's son and the city magistrate. While visiting a mosque one night, Mrs. Moore meets Dr. Aziz, an Indian physician. The two become close friends. At a later visit, Dr. Aziz agrees to take Mrs. Moore, Adela, Cyril Fielding (a pro-Indian teacher at a local school) and Narayan Godbole (a Hindu-Brahmin professor) on a visit to the Marabar Caves.
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9	Something happens when Adela enters a cave by herself--the book is never clear on just what it is. She leaves the cave bloody and disheveled, and accuses Dr. Aziz of attempting to rape her. The man is arrested, which leads to the Indian community and Fielding springing to Aziz's defense. Fielding is ostracized from the English community. Mrs. Moore is criticized by Ronny for her belief that Aziz is innocent and her unwillingness to testify at the trial.
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11	A [[TheFilmOfTheBook screen adaptation]] was made in 1984. The last film directed by Creator/DavidLean, it stars Creator/JudyDavis as Adela, Creator/PeggyAshcroft as Mrs. Moore, Victor Banerjee as Aziz, James Fox as Fielding, and Creator/AlecGuinness as Godbole. Contrary to what a lot of people might think based on the quality actors, the source material, the setting, and the date of release it is ''not'' a Creator/MerchantIvory film.
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14	!!The novel provides examples of:
15	* AmbiguousSituation: No one will ever know what ''really'' happened in the Marabar caves. [[ShrugOfGod Forster refused to say]], insisting that it wasn't as important as the chain of events it set in motion.
16	* AuthorAvatar: Most, if not all of Fielding's opinions about India are Forster's himself.
17	* BadBoss: Major Callendar. He's not only the most outwardly bigoted of the English officials in Chandrapore (to the point of using racial slurs in conversation), he resents Dr. Aziz's medical skills (which are implied to surpass his own) and frequently partakes in petty insults and slights to remind Aziz of his place. Indeed, the plot is set in motion when Callendar summons Aziz to his office at night, then leaves without leaving his assistant a message - and [[KickTheDog his wife steals Aziz's tonga]], leaving him stranded in the British section of town.
18	* UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire: The main setting--and issue.
19	* BritsLoveTea: It's exasperating to Adela how the vast majority British Community in Chandrapore has recreated a microcosm of English life and Culture without making any effort to associate or learn about their Indian subjects. When she's taken to the Club for the first time she's served tea and cucumber sandwiches.
20	* BurialAtSea: [[spoiler:Mrs. Moore]] dies on the voyage back to Britain, resulting in this type of burial.
21	* CoolOldLady: Mrs Moore, more or less.
22	* DirtyForeigner: How the British (except Mrs. Moore, Adela and Fielding) see the native Indians, even though they are in ''their'' country!
23	* EnemyMine: The tentative and temporary unity between Hindus and Muslims during the trial.
24	* InherentInTheSystem: One of the main critiques the book levels against the Raj is that it co-opts even the most well meaning of the English into viewing the Indians as inferior. It is also the reason that Aziz and Fielding can't be friends while the British remain in India.
25	* IntergenerationalFriendship: Elderly Mrs Moore's relationships with the much younger Aziz and Adela.
26	* MeaningfulName: The name of Aziz's barrister, Amritrao, evokes the then-recent [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jallianwala_Bagh_massacre Amritsar Massacre]].
27	* ThePhilosopher: Narayan Godbole.
28	* PlainJane: Adela is not a good-looking woman. She knows it.
29	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Comes with the territory. Besides the day-to-day bigotry and discrimination, several English characters (particularly Major Callendar) use racial slurs to describe the Indians as tensions heat up (Fielding knows things have gotten bad when he learns that other Englishmen in Chandrapore started [[NWordPrivileges calling Indians "niggers"]]). Several characters express casual antisemitism as well, including Ronny who at one point blames the protests on Jewish agitators. Of course, the Indian characters aren't above expressing their own religious and caste prejudices.
30	* PunchClockVillain: Some of the British officials fit this category:
31	** [=McBryde=] expresses the same racism as his peers, but he generally respects Indians and regrets the furor building up around Aziz's trial. He also remains friendly with Fielding when other British characters turn their back on him.
32	** Turton, although ''extremely'' bigoted in private, takes his job as Collector seriously, makes an effort to be civil towards the locals and works to keep the peace between British and Indians in Chandrapore even after Aziz's arrest.
33	** Das, Ronny's Indian assistant who presides over Aziz's trial. He's as dispassionate as the heated situation allows him to be, and is openly relieved when Adela withdraws her accusation on the stand.
34	* [[RealMenLoveJesus Real Men Love Allah]]: After Babur, Aziz's second favorite of the Six Great Mughal Emperors is the mighty, fiercely religious warrior king Aurangzeb. Aziz himself is described as possessing a wiry strength in himself, and is a deeply devout Muslim, as his scene in the Chandrapore Mosque describes well.
35	* SceneryPorn: There are a lot of descriptions about the Marabar Caves, the mosque that Aziz and Mrs. Moore visit, etc.
36	* TimeSkip: Two years pass between Parts II and III.
37	* WideEyedIdealist: Adela is earnest in her desire to see all the wonders of the "real India". [[spoiler:Doesn't really last for her, though.]]
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41	!!The film provides examples of:
42	* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the novel, Adela Quested is repeatedly described as plain, even homely. In the film, she's portrayed by an attractive young Creator/JudyDavis.
43	* AdaptationalExpansion: Lean's film is based as much on Santha Rama Rau's stage adaptation as Forster's novel, and so it changes and telescopes events significantly from the original book. Most notably with Aziz's trial, which is a single chapter in the book but takes up nearly a third of the film.
44	* AdaptationalNameChange: Fielding's first name is changed from Cyril to Richard.
45	* AdaptationalVillainy: [=McBryde=] and Turton. The sympathetic qualities Forster gives them are pretty much excised in the movie, making them straightforward villains.
46	* BritishStuffiness: Mr. and Mrs. Turton, Major Callendar and Ronny Heslop. Completely averted with Mrs. Moore.
47	* CoolTrain: The Trans-India Express journey from Bombay to Chandrapore.
48	* CurseIsFoiledAgain: Prof. Godbole takes this tack on the surprise outcome of the trial of Dr. Aziz.
49	* EarnYourHappyEnding
50	* InformedAbility: Amritrao, Aziz's defense attorney, receives a lot of build-up as a formidable lawyer. Then the trial comes and he barely speaks.
51	* KarmicJackpot: After his ordeal and unexpected aversion of certain doom by Adela's [[HeroicBSOD withdrawal of the charges]], things start going very well for Aziz.
52	* LighterAndSofter: The movie glosses over much of the novel's political and religious content, in particular the tensions between Hindus and Muslims which plays a major role in the build-up to the trial. Lean also makes several British characters (particularly [=McBryde=] and Turton) [[AdaptationalVillainy more villainous]] so the film can have clear-cut bad guys.
53	* OopNorth: Inspector [=McBryde=].
54	* SceneryPorn: This comes into play quite literally when Adela sees the erotic carvings.
55	** This IS after all, a [[Film/LawrenceOfArabia David Lean]] [[Film/DoctorZhivago film]].
56	* StiffUpperLip: Except for Adela the ''entire'' British Community in Chandrapore is nonplussed by the angry protests surrounding the arrest and trial of Dr. Aziz.

Context Literature / APassageToIndia