A Passage to India: Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

The novel will now begin to shift its focus until Fielding becomes one of the main protagonists. He is a sort of stand-in for Forster himself, as an Englishman who feels out of place among his countrymen (as Forster did because of his homosexuality) and finds himself sympathetic to the Indians, making many Indian friends.

Fielding’s worldview is essentially Forster’s humanist ideal—that true friendship can overcome racial and cultural boundaries—although Forster will later prove pessimistic about this possibility. For the Anglo-Indians, “white” signifies superior culture, religion, and morality, and justifies their colonial rule. If “white” is just a color, then there is no real difference between the English and the Indians, and so no reason for one country to rule the other.

The two men feel an instant connection, and Aziz is delighted to find that Fielding lacks the qualities that most repel him about the English—unlike his compatriots, Fielding is messy, informal, and friendly. The effusive Aziz immediately makes an offer of friendship through an act of generosity: by lending his collar stud.

The relationship between Aziz and Fielding brings up the important tension between practical truth and emotional truth—a great source of cultural miscommunication in colonial India. Forster portrays the Indians as being especially perceptive of the “truth of mood.” They judge the intention behind one’s words, and often say something different than what they mean. The English, however, take things more at face value. Fielding gets along well with Aziz because he is better able to perceive this “truth of mood.”

We see here that Aziz is also quite snobbish regarding beauty, as he treats Adela entirely differently because he finds her unattractive. The Englishwomen’s interaction with the Bhattacharyas ended up in cross-cultural miscommunication—perhaps because of the English tendency to take things at face value. Aziz is quick to disparage Hindus, showing an important division within India itself.

This exchange helps clarify the important theme of “muddles” and “mysteries.” Fielding (and often Forster himself) views India as a muddle of confusion and chaos, while Mrs. Moore is associated with the view of India as a “mystery,” or confusion with an underlying purpose or meaning. Aziz intends to convey a feeling of hospitality with his invitation—he is not actually inviting the women to his home—but the literal-minded English accept.

Fielding proves himself unique among the English with this “Indian” quality of recognizing the intention behind words as much as the words themselves. Adela still wants to see India as a kind of cultural experience for herself.

Professor Godbole appears as an important character somewhat similar to Mrs. Moore. He is mysterious and mystical, and represents the Hindu India that has not yet been shown in the novel. Adela is suddenly carried away by this exposure to what she sees as the “real India,” and she spontaneously decides not to marry Ronny.

To escape the awkwardness of the English again coming to his house, Aziz lets himself be lured into Adela’s desire to see India, and he sets himself up as a tour guide—which places him into the “helper” role that fits into the power dynamic of English control at play in India. The Marabar Caves finally enter the story, and immediately they seem indescribable, famous for some reason that cannot be expressed. That Aziz is now serving as a tour guide who has never seen the destination hints at the underlying tensions that will ultimately mar this tourist trip to the unfathomable caves.

Aziz shows his sensitivity to the intention behind words as he can tell that Godbole is withholding something about the caves. Aziz’s Islam, like Mrs. Moore’s Christianity, is unable to encapsulate the “Ancient Night”—the meaningless void of existence—that the caves will come to represent.

Ronny’s appearance disrupts the cordial tea party, but he only aggravates tensions that were already there to start with. Aziz becomes overly familiar and confrontational, intoxicated by his new closeness to Fielding and Mrs. Moore. Ronny overreacts to such familiar Indian/English relations, as he has learned from his superiors, and treats the Indians as inferior.

Ronny’s fear of being gossiped about or ostracized by the club leads him to be especially rude and prejudiced. We see the inherent fear many Englishmen hold regarding Indian men and English women—regarding one as “savage” and the other as “pure,” and seeing the pure women as needing to be protected. Godbole’s song is the first intrusion of the “mystery” of Hinduism in the novel.

Godbole’s song deepens the mystery Forster sees in Hinduism, where God is called but does not come. This unexplainable quality feels more true to him than the more rigid systems of Christianity or Islam. The song will profoundly affect Mrs. Moore, who continues to feel dissatisfied with Christianity while in India.