A Passage to India

Interpretations of the Echoes in

A Passage to India

1.

Introduction

Edward Morgan Forster (1879 ---1970), was an English novelist, short story writer, essayist and

librettist. He had five novels published during his lifetime, among which

A Passage to India

was

the

most

renowned.

Forster

took

the

title

of

the

novel

from

American

author

Walt

Wh

itman’

s

poem

Passage

to

India

,

published

in

1871.

In

Forster’s

masterpiece

A

Passage

to

India

,

he

describes cultural communication between the English and the Indian, indicating the difficulties in

cultural communication between the East and the West.

The Marabar Caves is the central part of the novel, and it contains the climax.

The “echo” in

A

Passage to India

referred to the reflected sound in Marabar Caves. It played a significant role in

the

novel,

and

was

mentioned

several

times

throughout

the

text.

Many

critics

have

noticed

its

significance. E. K. Brown writes, “The greatest of the expanding symbols in

A Passage to India

is

the echo. The most lasting among the effects of the visit that Mrs. Moore and Adela Quested made

to the Marabar Caves was the echo.”

(Brown 1950: 98)

This paper will explore the implied meaning of the echo. And, it aims to answer the following

questions. Why did Mrs. Moore become apathy after she came out of the cave? What resulted in

Adela Quested’s muddle in the cave?

What did the echo refer to?

2.

The Echoes in the Marabar Caves

2.1 The Echoes and Mrs. Moore

Mrs. Moore, the most reflective of the English characters, is the mother of Ronny Heaslop, the

Chandrapore

city

magistrate,

by

her

first

marriage.

Mrs.

Moore

serves

as

the

moral

center

in

A

Passage to India

, a woman of exemplary behavior and intentions towards others.

She appeared in an image of a kind-hearted Christian, and objected to the Anglo-

Saxons’ rude

attitude towards the Indians. She said to her son

: “God…is…love”, “God has put us on the earth

in order to be pleasant to each other”, “India is part of the earth”, “the English are out here to be

pleasant”, and “the desire to behave pleasantly satisfies God.”(Forster 1985: 23)

However, later on, the Marabar Cave incident changed her. Since she heard the echoes in the

cave, she became apathy. A

t the first beginning, she was friendly to Aziz. “I like Aziz, Aziz is my

real friend” (Forster 1985: 41), said Mrs. Moore.

Now, she lost all interest in everything, even in

Aziz:

“the affectionate and sincere words that she had spoken to him seemed no longer hers but

the airs.” (Forster 1985: 64)

When Ronny asked her to be a witness, she said:

“Why should I be in

the

witness

box?”

“I

have

nothing

to

do

with

your

ludicrous

law

courts,”

“I

shall

attend

your

marriage, but not your trial”, “Then I shall go to England.”

It seems that after the Marabar Cave

incident, her Christian belief of God and love faded away as well. Her Christian love was the base

of all her pathos, tenderness, or sympathy, so it was understandable that her disappointment at God

would necessarily result in her apathy.

2.2

The Echoes and Adela Quested

Adela

Quested,

a

British

schoolmistress,

arrives

in

India

to

decide

whether

to

marry

Ronny.

And she declares to see the

real “India”. The attempt of Adela to make clear of Indian culture and

to

know

the

real

India

was

proved

na?

ve

and

unfeasible.

The

character

Fielding

calls

Adela

Quested “one of the more pathetic products of Western education”.

In one of the caves Adela had a hallucination that Aziz intended to make a sexual assault on her.

Since she returned from the Marabar Caves, she stayed in a wavy emotion: intellect for one time

and muddle for another. The echoes made her vibrate between commonsense and hysteria. When

it came to the question whether Aziz had followed her into that cave, she became hesitated and

calmed

down

to

straighten

out

all

her

tangled

emotion

and

answered:

“I

cannot

be

sure…I’m

afraid I had made a mistake…Dr. Aziz never followed me into the cave.”(Forster 1985:100) Then

the buzzing sound which she called an echo in her ears was finally gone.

Her hallucination is not only connected with the echo at the Marabar Caves but also related to

her encounters in India, as she said,

“I have been unwell ever since that expedition to the caves,

and possibly before it” (Forster 1985: 104).

As a result, not only the echo but also the uncanny and

unknown culture disturbed her original logical intellect into a muddle or a hallucination.

2.3

The Symbolic Meaning of the Echoes at the Marabar Caves

At the centre of the novel is the visit to the Marabar Caves. All the connections and friendships

established in the former chapters lead to this expedition. Critics have argued about the symbolic

meaning

of

the

cave.

It

is

at

least

certain

that

whatever

else

they

might

suggest,

they

stand

for

misunderstanding and meaningless, or what Mrs. Moore calls “muddle”.

The echo at the Marabar Caves is the central imagery in the novel, which bears some symbolic

meanings. First of all, it stands for mystery. It is so mysterious and uncanny that even the locals