Structure, Symbol, and Theme in E. M. Forster's A Passage to India

Abstract

For the thirty years since its publication, E. M. Forster's A Passage to India has enjoyed the somewhat paradoxical status of being valued without being understood. It is generally recognized as one of the finest literary productions of this century; it is also commonly thought to be one of the most puzzling. No doubt, part of the reason for our difficulty in interpreting it is that the literary problems it raises are continuous with its philosophical problems, or, to put it another way, that the obscurities of the novel duplicate or disappear into the obscurities of life itself. We cannot, of course, expect to explain the latter mystery before attempting to explain the former, nor need it be necessary; yet, if we are to succeed in interpretation, we must guard against that most common critical error of assuming that our own philosophical predilections must apply universally. As Earl R. Wasserman recently observed, “Our failure to grasp as total and integrated experiences such works as … E. M. Forster's A Passage to India results from our not having succeeded as yet in bringing to these works the proper controlling cosmos, for each cosmos is the creation of the author.” Discovering the nature of this “cosmos” and relating it to structure, symbol, and theme of the novel will be the concern of the following pages.