A Passage To India

Question 1

Dr. Aziz

Answer 1

Intelligent, emotional Indian doctor in Chandrapore. Attempts to make friends with Adela Quested, Mrs. Moore, & Cyril Fielding. Was falsely accused of raping Adela in the Marabar Caves, charges are dropped after Adela’s testimony at the trial. Aziz enjoys writing & reciting poetry. He has three children; his wife died several years before the beginning of the novel.

Question 2

Cyril Feilding

Answer 2

A college principal near Chandrapore. An independent man who believes in educating the Indians to be individual- a much mor sympathetic attitude toward the native population than that held by most English in India. Befriends Aziz, taking the doctors side against the rest of the English in Chandrapore when Aziz is accused of attempting rape to Adela.

Question 3

Adela Quested

Answer 3

A young, intelligent, inquisitive, but somewhat repressed Englishwoman. Travels to India with Mrs.Moore in order to decide whether or not to marry Mrs.Moore’s son Ronny. Begins with an open minded desire to get to know Indians & see the real India. She accuses Aziz of attempting rape in the Marabar Caves.

Question 4

Mrs. Moore

Answer 4

Elderly English women who voyages to India with Adela. Wishes to see the country & hopes that Adela will marry her son Ronny. Befriends Aziz, as she feels some spiritual connection with him. She has an unsettling sense of dread, especially about human relationships. Hurries back to England & dies at sea during the journey.

Question 5

Ronny Heaslop

Answer 5

Mrs.Moore’s son, the magistrate at Chandrapore. Well educated & open minded at heart, has come prejudiced & intolerant of Indians ever since he moved to India - as is standard for most Englishman serving there. Ronny is briefly engaged to Adela, though he doesn’t appear to be passionate about her.

Question 6

Mr. Turton

Answer 6

The collector, the man who governs Chandrapore. Mr turton is officious & stern, though more tactful than his wife.

Question 7

Mrs. Turton

Answer 7

Turton’ s wife. In her interactions with Indians, she embodies the novel’s stereotype of the snobby, rude, & prejudiced English colonial wife.

Question 8

Mr. McBryde

Answer 8

The superintendent of police in Chandrapore, who has an elaborate theory that he claims explains the inferiority of dark-skinned races to light-skinned ones. Though condescending, actually shows more tolerance toward Indians than most English do. Him & Feilding are friendly acquain-trances. Stands up against the group of mentalityy of the English at Chandrapore when he divorces his wife after having an affair with miss Derek

Question 9

Major calendar

Answer 9

The civil surgeon at Chandrapore, Dr.Aziz’s supervisor. Is a boastful, cruel, intolerant & ridiculous man

Question 10

Prof Godbole

Answer 10

A Brahman Hindu who teaches at Feilding’s college. Godbole is very spiritual & reluctant to become involved in human affairs

Question 11

Hamidullah

Answer 11

Dr.Aziz’s uncle & friend. Educated at Cambridge, believes that friendships between the English & Indians is more likely possible in England than in India. Was a close friend of fielding before fielding & Aziz met.

Question 12

Mahmoud Ali

Answer 12

A lawyer friend of Dr. Aziz who is deeply pessimistic about the English

Question 13

The nawab bahadur

Answer 13

The leading loyalist in Chandrapore. Is wealthy, generous, & faithful to the English. After Aziz’s trial, however, he give up his title in protest.

Question 14

Stella Moore

Answer 14

Mrs. Moore’s daughter from her second marriage. Stella marriages fielding toward the end of the novel

Question 15

Ralph Moore

Answer 15

Mrs. Moore’s son from her second marriage, a sensitive young man.

Question 16

Miss derek

Answer 16

A young Englishwoman who works for a wealthy Indian family & often steals their car. She is easygoing & has a fine sense of humour, but many of the English at Chandrapore resent her, considering her prescene unseemly

Question 17

Marabar caves

Answer 17

Represent all that is alien about nature. Caves are older than anything else on the earth & embody nothingness & emptiness - a literal lid in the earth. How meaningless life is. Where Adela accused Aziz of raping her, and Mrs. Moore was frightened by the loud echos. Aziz brought the Englishwoman here.

Question 18

Chandrapore

Answer 18

The city in India where the novel take place. It is a part of British India. In the Center of the town is the British club, which excludes Indians from membership.

Question 19

Marabar caves

Answer 19

The caves in the Marabar hills, which Aziz promises to show Mrs. Moore & Adela. The picnic at the caves leads to the infamous incident in which Adela accuses Aziz of rape. ‘Caves’ is the title of the second part of the novel & represent the conflict between British & Indians

Question 20

Mosque

Answer 20

Mrs. Moore & Aziz meet at the mosque & start their friendship. While the caves represent disunion between British & India, the mosque represents a union.

Question 21

Bridge party

Answer 21

Turtons attempt to bring together British & Indians in a social setting. The party is superficial & unsuccessful.

Question 22

Wife’s photograph

Answer 22

Aziz shows Feilding the photograph of his dead wife is Aziz’s way of lifting the purdah (separation of men & women) by doing this he tries to promote a brotherhood between them

Question 23

Ghost

Answer 23

Part of the mysticism of India. Mrs Moore believes she sees one, as she becomes more spiritually inclined. Aziz believes that believing in ghosts is a defect of Indians & sees it as backwards

Question 24

Echoes

Answer 24

The haunting sounds that are heard in the caves & afterwards, heard by Adela & Mrs Moore. The echoes remain in Adela’s head after the picnic & only when she exonerates Aziz so they go away. For Mrs. Moore, the ‘boom’ sound of the echoes replace her memory of religious versus prayers.

Question 25

Purdah

Answer 25

The tradition Indian separation & veiling of women. It is forbidden for a man to see another man’s wife;s face, unless they are brothers. Dr. Aziz first goes against purdah when he shows fielding a photo of his deceased wife. He then calls fielding his brother, & fielding asks if purdah will be removed when all men & brothers. Later, Aziz writes that the institution of purdah stands in the way of indias freedom

Question 26

Author & publication

Answer 26

E.M. Forster published 1924

Question 27

Meaning of mosque

Answer 27

A combination of light & shade, represents a belief in the oneness of god, oneness of India, & therefore, comes to symbolizes friendship & understanding between people of different races & cultures.

Question 28

Meaning of the temple

Answer 28

Essence of the novel, love, harmony & happiness - it shows symbolically the final triumph of the Hindu temple over the pre-Hindu caves of Marabar - the symbol of Hindu religion stands for reconciliation, regeneration & hope

Question 29

Meaning of the Marabar caves

Answer 29

Represent all that is alien about nature - embody nothingness & emptiness - they mark the hollowness in the lives of the four main characters

Question 30

Chandrapore

Answer 30

An undishtingushable Indian town except for the outlying Marabar caves - town creates a feeling of monotony, vast space, & infinity - edged rather than washed by the. River granges, it trails for a couple of miles alone the bank, scarcely distinguishable from the rubbish it deposits so freely