A POSTCOLONIAL READING OF RACIAL AND CULTURAL TRAUMAS IN E. M. FORSTER’S A PASSAGE TO INDIA

Abstract

A Passage to India is a seminal source, which has a clinical approach at the colonial outrages, racial traumas, and the multifarious ramifications of racism that the Anglo Indians perpetrated on the locals. The novel socially and psychologically explores the unhealthy dimensions of the colonizer-colonized relationships. The disgusting attitudes of the English expatriates as well as the hatred of the Indians, is the primary foundation of the racial tension between the two races. The antagonistic relationships between the two extreme communities made the social life in India unbearable and miserable. The miserable situation in colonized India deteriorated due to the violations of the values and rights of the indigenous Indians. In A Passage to India, the average Indian individual seems to consider mistrust and suspicion as his/ her best guide. However, Indian citizens are exploited by the colonizer’s rude demeanors and racial, condescending and frustrating attitudes which eat into the vitals of the Indian community, In A Passage to India, E. M. Forster, highlights these biased and prejudiced racial attitudes. E.M. Forster in the novel clinically excoriates the patronizing British ruling caste. He also condemns the intolerance of the Indian community represented by Dr. Aziz, who is guided by his intuitions, imagination and emotions rather than his sense of intellect and reasoning. This racial tension in the colonized Indian society can be condensed by adopting a sensible attitude based on adopting human values, such as interracial love, peace, harmony and understanding. This paper delineates how racism and its different multiple manifestations have an effect on the relationships between the characters of different races. Forster furthermore underscores various human values such as interracial tolerance, love and understating. The violations of these values, however, is considered as the root cause of the racial tensions in the British Raj. Forster channels his biting satire and harsh criticism against the British rulers due to their unbearable racist discriminations against indigenous natives. This study, therefore, critically highlights race relations and the traumatic effects of the British colonization.