Racial conflict and the Marabar Caves trial in *A Passage to India*

Passage to India

Colonial India is a place of mystery and subterfuge. Situations of racial and ethnic strife, occurring long before the development of a British colonial India create a landscape that is worsened in some ways by the British presence. Though it was in the British interest to subvert social conflict, it was only for the purpose of allowing commerce to continue and when racism became an issue of conflict between white (British) residents and dark skinned Indians, the need for efficiency of resolution was urgent. This is especially the case when the innate fear of white women being at risk of sexual aggression from black Indians. In the novel Passage to India the stark realization of such a conflict is played out within the symbolism of the Marabar Caves, as the ideal of Indian mystery, and the fear of such mystery is played out when Aziz is accused, arrested and tried for an incident that he was innocent of, the supposed assault (rape) of the white woman.

The description of the trial of Dr. Aziz is one of the most overwhelmingly exciting things in English literature....It is the pinnacle of the miserable comedy. It does not cease to be grotesquely funny because it is also sternly serious.

Gardner 217)

The situation of the trip to Marabar Caves, a mysteriously dark place, and the fear of this aggression toward white women by black men is a paramount concern. Though Aziz is a relatively well respected physician he is also a black native, and his own fear of being left alone, by chance with a white woman is evident. Forster describes his unease and subsequent poor choices as a mark in the character of all "Orientals" and yet it would also seem that his fears of reproach, being left alone in the company of a white woman were founded on real occurrences. "Suspicion in the Oriental is a sort of malignant tumour, a mental malady, that makes him self-conscious and unfriendly suddenly; he trusts and mistrusts at the same time in a way the Westerner cannot comprehend. It is his demon, as the Westerner's is hypocrisy." (Forster 311)

As soon as the news spreads at Chandrapore that Adela Quested, "an English girl fresh from England" (Forster142) 2 (in the self-righteous words of one British official) has accused Aziz of making "insulting advances" (144) to her in a Marabar cave, the machinery of fear and loathing of dark-skinned natives is set in motion among the Anglo-Indians. www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=54837078"((Myrsiades & Myrsiades 207)

The resulting spread of racial hatred nearly turns the trial into one where even the testimony of the accuser, upon her realization of the accused innocence is almost subverted by the British officials who wish to be seen as efficient and in control of the "Indian problem."

Though Forster allows Adela to recover a more authentic voice during her electrifying testimony at Dr. Aziz's trial, the Indian judge, anxious to show his impartial efficiency, interrupts her before she can discover who did attack her. Like an analysand stunned by the recognition of the "gaps" in her recall of her sexual experiences, is abruptly dismissed when the judge declares Aziz's innocence. I do not mean to suggest that the judge made a technical error. But by refusing to clarify what happened to her in the cave, Forster makes it impossible for readers to understand's experience or assess the meaning of her refusal to continue to play the only acceptable part as a rape victim at Dr. Aziz's trial. Thus, Forster uses the insights of psychoanalytic thought to explode the standard colonial rape script by making Englishwomen's sexual experiences unspeakable.

Myrsiades & Myrsiades 207)

During the trial there is a clear sense that there are some officials who wish real resolution, who wish for the Miss Quested to have the opportunity to clear her head and therefore clear Aziz of the accusations of wrongdoing.

I want someone who believes in him to ask her." "What difference does that make?" "She is among people who disbelieve in Indians." "Well, she tells her own story, doesn't she?" "Yes, but she tells it to you." (179)the point is lost on McBryde, but its importance is proved in the conversation between Ronny and in chapter 22, when he dismisses her statement that Aziz is innocent. The gaps in's story are readily filled by the community that rallies round her, while her own doubts are silenced. In effect, the narrative presented by the prosecution at the subsequent trial is a collective one. Chapter 22 foreshadows the trial in three respects: when articulates her belief in Aziz's innocence, her "echo" briefly dies away; Mrs. Moore also pronounces him innocent, and intuits this belief before it is actually spoken, just as the crowd's chant outside the court, "Esmiss Esmoor," fortifies her in the witness box; and finally, Ronny's reaction to his mother's statement, "She can think, and Fielding too, but there's such a thing as evidence, I suppose,'" ironically anticipates the lack of evidence in support of the charge.... Fielding's rational and interpersonal commitments and, therefore, functions metonymically as a refutation of the authoritarian narrative that Indians cannot be trusted and must be kept in check by force.

Dolin 339)

The description of the subsequent "storms" of racial passion that are incited by the accusations, arrest and trial is paramount to the entire story.

A the incident, the subsequent arrest and trial, let loose two conflicting storms of racial passion, and the excitement comes to a climax in court, when Miss Quested recovers sufficient sanity to withdraw her charge. This is the central theme of a long carefully-written story, of which the details are more important than the centre. For neither Miss Quested nor Dr. Aziz has any separate life.

Gardner 220)

In the true character of colonialism the attempt at a bridging between two apposing races, is dashed upon the rocks of providence and collective fear of the unknown. As the acquaintance of Adela would not have even come about had it not been for the chance meeting of Aziz and Mrs. Moore, the mother of the local magistrate. Aziz's interest in her was piqued by Mrs. Moore's respect for his culture.

Dr. Aziz, a Mohammedan surgeon and poet, makes the acquaintance of Mrs. Moore in a mosque. She has thoughtfully removed her shoes, which delights him: she talks to him as to an equal, which delights him more: she understands what he is talking about, which delights him most of all. But hence tragedy, or the inept and ungraceful antics of pain which life sometimes offers us in place of the tragic dignity.

Gardner 219)

Adela's, insanity is a witness to the strength of the fear that grips a conservative society, when such a situation arises where they must face the company of a culture, that they see as not so conservative, or at the very least mysterious enough to be dangerous. When Adela, emerges from the cave, which she has wandered into without the guide or Aziz, "she comes out insane, alleging that he followed her in and insulted her. What exactly did happen in the cave we are never told: a heavy veil of mystery hangs over all.

Gardner 220)

Adela's insanity is a clear description of the assumptions of colonial usurpers, with regard to native motives and realities. The sense of not knowing but assuming the worst is played out between the lives of these two people and by default at the racial strife is reflected throughout the culture, to every household and street corner, throughout the events that unfold. The subsequent result being that the reader, can assume that such a thing could happen to anyone, at any inopportune time and that the stress that was revealed during the events is a universal symbol of the constancy of fear in the colonial reality.