A Passage to India: Part 2, Chapter 25 Summary & Analysis

Adela is seen as having “renounced her own people,” and she is pulled into a mass of Indians and carried to the courtroom’s exit. She finds herself next to Fielding, who asks where she is going. She says she doesn’t know, and Fielding warns her of riots, advising her to “keep to her own people.” Adela feels stunned and apathetic, and lets herself be carried along by the crowds.

Concerned with her safety, Fielding reluctantly takes Adela to his carriage. He intends for her to ride off and return it later, but there are no horses. Fielding’s students surround the carriage, draping him in flowers, and they convince him to get inside with Adela. The students ignore Fielding’s protests and act as the “horses,” pulling the carriage through town as a victorious procession. As they pass through the streets the crowds drape Adela with flowers, though some people criticize the two English people for sticking together.

The procession winds through town, unsure where to go. The students eventually take Fielding’s carriage to the college, where everything is quiet, but the servants are gone and the phone lines have been cut. Fielding longs to leave Adela and go celebrate with Aziz, but his conscience won’t let him leave her helpless. Fielding gives Adela a room, encourages her to lie down and rest, and then lies down himself.

Meanwhile Aziz calls out for Fielding, whom he feels has abandoned him. He takes no joy in his victory, as ever since he was arrested he has felt crushed by fate and the knowledge that “an Englishwoman’s word would always outweigh his own.” He tries to stop his victory procession to look for Fielding, but Mahmoud Ali urges them all on, calling out for rebellion and violence.

Mahmoud Ali leads the procession to the hospital, saying that they must rescue Nureddin, the Nawab Bahadur’s grandson. Mahmoud Ali says that he heard Callendar boasting about torturing Nureddin. The Nawab Bahadur unsuccessfully tries to restrain the crowd, hoping that the rumors of torture are untrue. The crowd marches on the hospital intending to do harm to Callendar, but disaster is diverted by the appearance of Dr. Panna Lal.

Panna Lal had offered to help the prosecution, as he hates Aziz and wanted to please the English, and he thinks the crowd has come to the hospital to punish him. Lal plays the buffoon to try and diffuse the crowd’s anger, acting pathetic and making the other men feel superior. He then learns that they are looking for Nureddin, and so hurries to fetch him. Nureddin emerges with a bandaged face, and the Nawab Bahadur controls the situation by giving a grandiose speech renouncing his British-conferred title.

The Nawab Bahadur announces that there will be a celebration at his house that night, and he recruits Hamidullah to find Fielding and Amritrao and invite them. Now that the crowd’s rage has died out, the heat of the sun starts to stupefy everyone in Chandrapore, and almost everyone (even the frightened English) eventually falls asleep.