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A Passage to India
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BetaPart 1, Chapters 4-6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Mosque”
Part 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Mr. Turton, known colloquially as the Collector, sends out invitations to a party to the Indian gentleman he knows. Mahmoud Ali, Mrs. Ram Chand, the Nawab Bahadur, and several others discuss whether to attend or not. The Nawab Bahadur decides to attend and because he is influential in the community. His status is described as “a big proprietor and a philanthropist, a man of benevolence and decision” (36). His reputation for being exceedingly generous and free with his money is not only indisputable to the other men but “if he said he would come, he would come, he would never deceive his supporters” (37). The others plan to attend in solidarity with him.
The narrator describes two missionaries, Mr. Graysford and Mr. Sorley. They attempt to soothe religious tension by assuring potential converts that there is space in Christianity for them despite their race. They attempt to make allowances in Christianity for the Hindu worships of the natural world. Mr. Sorely “became uneasy during the descent to wasps and was apt to change the conversation” (38). Though they attempt to graft Christian ideals onto local customs and beliefs, they fail to fully appreciate the nuances of the Hindu faith.
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
Mr. Turton’s gathering (the Bridge Party, so named as it bridges two cultures) is not considered a success by Adela or Mrs. Moore. The Indian and English guests stay in separate groups. Ronny attempts to explain that “it’s simply not worth conciliating them […] Most of the people you see are seditious at heart…” (39). The English women are harsh towards the Indians, repeatedly telling Adela that they are not worth her time and that she is “superior” to them.
Adela is unfazed and strikes up a conversation with Mrs. Bhattacharya, who then invites Adela and Mrs. Moore to visit her Thursday morning. They learn that Mrs. Bhattacharya will need to put off a trip to Calcutta to accommodate them but cannot persuade them otherwise. The Indians are described as fascinated by the English club and gratified for Mr. Turton’s attention.
Mr. Fielding approaches Adela and asks herself and Mrs. Moore to tea Thursday afternoon. Adela expresses the shame she feels for how the English behave towards the Indians. “Fielding resented it too, but did not say so to the girl,” instead offering to invite Dr. Aziz and a Hindu music professor to their tea (47). Adela is delighted; she experiences a sudden vision of her marriage to Ronny and a cloistering in the English customs of the club as the “true India” escapes her.
Mrs. Moore and Adela drive home to entertain Miss Derek, who works for a nearby Maharani, and the McBrydes for dinner. Their food is not enticing and seems to represent their expatriate status.
After dinner, Mrs. Moore talks with Ronny. Again, his position against the Indians and his warning to be careful of adhering to local conventions surprises Mrs. Moore, who notes that “Englishmen like posing as gods” (51) to those perceived to be below them. Ronny rationalizes his opinions by saying he is merely a government employee. When Mrs. Moore invokes God and a Christian love for others, Ronny ends the conversation. He does not subscribe to spirituality.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Aziz did not attend the Bridge Party because he was occupied with several medical and surgical patients which made him feel “independent and healthy” (54). Moreover, the party took place on the anniversary of his wife’s death. Though Aziz did not love her at first, “he was won by her love for him, by a loyalty that implied something more than submission” (57).
Aziz goes to the Maidan (an Arabic word for “square,” or open lawn), using Hamidullah’s horse to play polo. He runs into a young English officer with whom he plays polo. Both are surprised to find the interaction pleasant, but don’t pursue a friendship beyond playing together as “athletics can only raise a temporary glow” (60). As he is leaving the Maidan, Aziz is approached by Dr. Lal, an associate who intended to give Aziz a ride to the Bridge Party. Dr. Lal criticizes Aziz for his absence, and Aziz privately wonders whether he is “in bad odour with the powers that be” (62)
However, when he reaches home, he finds an invitation from Mr. Fielding to attend tea on Thursday afternoon. Aziz decides to go. He has never met Mr. Fielding before and considers him a gracious man worthy of Aziz’s attention.
Part 1, Chapters 4-6 Analysis
The Bridge Party and the discrepancies between Adela and Mrs. Moore with the established Anglo-Indian families living in Chandrapore highlight the notion of putting on the appearance and social expectations of a desired race or culture. The Anglo-Indians largely regard themselves as living in a kind of exile and suffering for this, exemplified in their disappointing dinner: “the food of exiles, cooked by servants who did not understand it” (49). Putting up the appearance of English middle-class society is of the utmost importance to those living behind the civil lines, who harbor anxiety over how to best “dress up as the middle-class English people they actually were” (40).
Newcomers Mrs. Moore and Adela struggle to understand the harsh social boundaries between the Anglo-Indians and the Indians and how the purportedly English society behind the civil lines is different from what they are used to in England. At the Bridge Party, Adela’s attempts to see the “real” India and become friends with Indians sparks exasperation in Mrs. Turton: “Mrs. Turton waited for them with a detached expression; she had known what nonsense it all was from the first” (43). Ronny tries to explain the heaviness of the Anglo-Indian and Indian social conventions in Chandrapore to his mother, but neither Mrs. Turton nor Ronny fully succeeds. That Adela and Mrs. Moore fail to act as expected foreshadows future social transgressions the two women make in their attempt to forge to be anti-racist and forge genuine connections with others.
Indian Islamic culture in Chandrapore is exemplified through Aziz’s inner monologue and actions. In remembering his wife, Aziz details the specific gendered expectations that Islamic Indian culture holds, including the idea of submission: “He was won by her love for him, by a loyalty that implied something more than submission” (57). Aziz’s uses of the word “submission” in this context suggests his surprise at finding his wife (or any woman) with a greater emotional and intellectual capacity than expected.
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