A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year Book and Most Important Question & Answers.

A Passage To India Book – E. M. Forster

A Passage To India Book

Honours 4^th year

20^th Century Novel

A Passage to India – E. M. Forster

Part A : Brief Question with Answers

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

When and where was E. M. Forster born?

Ans. Edward Morgan Forster was born on the first January, 1879 at Marylebone, London.

What was his father?

Ans. Forster’s father, Edward architect of Anglo Irish extraction.

Who was Forster’s mother?

Ans. Alice Clara ‘Lily’ Thornton was Forster’s mother.

What do you know of Forster’s education?

Ans. In 1890 Forster enters a preparatory school named Kent House. In 1893 he attends Tonbridge School, and in 1897, King’s college, Cambridge, where he studies Classics and History.

When does Forster become a teacher in Latin and where?

Ans. In 1902, Forster becomes a teacher of Latin at the working Men’s college.

What is the name of Forster’s first novel?

Ans. The name of Forster’s first novel is Where Angels Fear to Tread, published on October 5, 1905.

When did E.M. Forster visit India for the first time?

Ans. In 1912 E.M. Forster visited India for the first time with Lowes Dickinson and R.C. Trevelyan and became friendly with the Maharaja of Dewas State Senior.

When did Forster come to India for the second time and in what capacity?

Ans. In 1921 E.M. Forster came to India for the second time and was appointed the Private Secretary of the Maharaja of Dewas State Senior and remained there until January 1922, and awarded the Tukyjirao Gold Medal for services rendered to State.

When did Forster start writing A Passage to India.

Ans. Forster started writing A Passage to India in 1922.

When was the novel, A Passage to India published?

Ans. A Passage to India which is a masterpiece of E.M. Forster was published on June 4, 1924.

What prizes were awarded to Forster for writing A Passage to India?

Ans. E.M. Forster was awarded the Famina vie Heureuse and James Tait Black Memorial Prizes for fiction in 1925.

When was Forster awarded the Benson Medal?

Ans. Forster was awarded the Benson Medal in 1937.

When did Forster visit India for the third and last time?

Ans. In 1945 Forster visited India for the third and last time to attend a conference in Jaipur.

How Forster honoured by King’s College was Cambridge?

Ans. Forster was elected to an honorary fellowship of King’s College, Cambridge in January, 1946.

When did Forster decline a knighthood?

Ans. Forster declined a knighthood in 1949.

When was Forster made a companion of Honour to the Queen of England?

Ans. In 1953 E.M. Forster was made a companion of Honour to the Queen by Elizabeth II.

When did Forster become a member of the Advisory Council of the British Humanist Association?

Ans. In 1963 Forster became a member of the Advisory Council of the British Humanist Association and held the position until his death.

When did Forster die?

Ans. E.M. Forster died of a stroke in Coventry on June 7, at the age of ninety-one.

What is the setting of A Passage to India?

Ans. The setting of Forster’s novel, A Passage to India is the imaginary city of Chandrapore, a few miles north of the Marabar hills. It is situated on the bank of the Ganges.

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

What does the word passage mean in the novel, ‘A Passage to India’?

Ans. The word ‘passage’ literally means a journey but broadly it means a journey of the soul to understand thoroughly what India really is.

How many communities do live in the city of Chandrapore?

Ans. Three distinct communities live in the city of Chandrapore-the Europeans, the Indians, and the Euro-Asians. They all live in separated localities on either side of the railway line and on the rise near it.

Where from does Forster take the title of his novel, A Passage to India?

Ans. Forster takes the title of his novel A Passage to India from LA Walt Whitman’s famous poem, ‘Passage to India’, written to celebrate the founding of the Suez Canal.

What does the mosque symbolize?

Ans. The mosque symbolizes Islamic brotherhood, the oneness of God, man’s emotional nature, etc. It is also symbolic of the deep understanding between the East and the West as well as the Spring season.

Who is Hamidullah?

Ans. Hamidullah is the Muslim barrister and uncle of Dr. Aziz, the protagonist of the novel A Passage to India.

Why does Aziz come to the house of Hamidullah?

Ans. Aziz hurries to the house of Hamidullah to have dinner with his friends.

Who summons Aziz during his dinner?

Ans. While dining with Hamidullah, Aziz receives summons from the Civil Surgeon, Major Callendar, his boss, to meet him immediately.

How is Aziz humiliated at the bungalow of Major Callendar?

Ans. Aziz hurries to the Major Callendar’s bungalow at his call but he is humiliated there for a number of reasons. Major Callendar has left for the club without leaving any message for him, as per his servant’s version, Callendar has uttered “Damn Aziz”, Mrs. Callendar has driven away in his tonga without his permission.

Why does Aziz go to the mosque?

Ans. After his humiliation at the bungalow of his boss, Major Callendar, Aziz goes to the mosque to seek consolation.

Whom does Aziz meet at the mosque?

Ans. Aziz meets at the mosque an English lady, Mrs. Moore who is the mother of Ronny Heaslop, the city magistrate of Chandrapore.

Why does Aziz shout at Mrs. Moore before her entry into the mosque?

Ans. Aziz shouts at Mrs. Moore to take off her shoes and not to defile the holy place. However, he apologizes to her when he learns that she has already done so.

Part B : Short Questions

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

Show how the city of Chandrapore signifies the estranged relation between the ruling class (Britishers) and the subjects (Indians).
What is the significance of the friendship between Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Moore?
Why does the ‘Bridge Party’ fail in its purpose?

Or,

Why did the Bridge Party in A Passage to India fail?

Or,

Write a short note on “The Bridge Party”.

What is the significance of Fielding’s tea-party in A Passage to India?
Give a description of a Marabar Cave in A Passage to India.

Or,

Write a short note on Marabar Cave.

Describe the trial scene in A Passage to India.
Discuss the role of Hamidullah in A Passage to India.
What impression of Godbole do you have from your reading A Passage to India?
What is your estimate about Mrs. Turton in A Passage to India?
Give a pen-picture of the character of Adela Quested in A Passage to India.

Or,

Write a short note on Adela Quested.

Describe the Janmasthami and its significance in A Passage to India.
Discuss the underlying significance of the collision of the boats after the Janmasthami ceremony at Mau.
‘Indians are not allowed into the Chandrapore Club even as guests’, he said simply.-who said this? Why did he say this?
Why did the friendship fail between Dr. Aziz and Mr. fielding?
Write a short note on Mrs. Moore.

Explanations

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

“The sky too has its changes, but they are less marked than those of the vegetation and the river. Clouds map it up at times, but it is normally a dome of blending tints, and the main tint blue.”

Or,

“But when the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars or a benediction pass from horizon to horizon. The sky can do this because it is so strong and so enormous.”

“The secret understanding of the heart! He repeated the phrase with tears in his eyes, and as he did so one of the pillars of the mosque seemed to quiver”.
“Madam, this is a mosque, you have no right here at all; you should have taken off your shoes; this is a holy place for Moslems.”
“Indians are not allowed into the Chandrapore Club even as guests’ he said simply”.
“At Chandrapore the Turtons were little gods; soon they would retire to some suburban villa, and die exiled from glory”.
“We are out here to do justice and keep the peace. My sentiments. India isn’t a drawing room.”

Or,

“We are not pleasant in India, and we don’t intend to be pleasant. We’ve something more important to do”.

“God has put us on earth to love our neighbours and to show it, and He is omnipresent, even in India, to see how we are succeeding”.
“He had no racial feeling-not because he was superior to his brother civilians, but because he had matured in a different atmosphere, where the herd-instinct does not flourish.”
“Coming at a moment when she chanced to be fatigued, it had managed to murmur, ‘Pathos, piety, courage-they exist, but are identical, and so is filth. Everything exists, nothing has value”.
“All over Chandrapore that day the Europeans were putting aside their normal personalities and sinking themselves in their community”.
“Almost naked, and splendidly formed, he sat on a raised platform near the back, in the middle of the central gangway, and he caught her attention as she came in, and he seemed to control the proceedings. He I had the strength and beauty that sometimes come to flower in Indians of low birth.”

Or,

“Something in his aloofness impressed the girl from middle-class England, and rebuked the narrowness of her sufferings”.

“They plunged into the warm, shallow water and rose struggling into a tornado of noise.”
“India shall be a nation! No foreigners of any sort! Hindu and Moslem and Sikh and all shall be one! Hurrah! Hurrah for India! Hurrah! Hurrah!”

Or,

“We may hate one another, but we hate you most.”

Or,

“Why can’t we be friends now? said the other, holding him affectionately. ‘It’s what I want. It’s what you want”.

Or,

“They didn’t want it, they said in their hundred voices, ‘No, not yet’, and the sky said, ‘No, not there’.”

Short Notes

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

Point of View
Chandrapore
The Mosque
The Caves
The Temple
The Punkhawallah
Ralph
Stella

Part C : Broad Question

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

Discuss the symbolic significance of the Marabar Caves in A Passage to India.

Or,

Discuss the significance of the events in the Marabar Caves in A Passage to India.

Comment on Forster’s treatment of the theme of friendship in A Passage to India.

Or,

Why is reconciliation difficult for Fielding and Aziz at the end of the novel?

Or,

Do you think that reconciliation between Fielding and Aziz is not possible at the end of the novel A Passage to India.

Or,

‘A Passage to India’ assents the impossibility of a friendship between Aziz and Fielding at the close.

Or,

Write a short note on Aziz Fielding relationship in ‘A Passage to India’.

Or,

What message does Forster convey through breaking down of relationship between Fielding and Aziz in A Passage to India?

Or,

Examine and Estimate Aziz-Fielding relationship in A Passage to India.

A Passage to India is basically about the clash conflict of two cultures. Do you agree?

Or,

Forster’s A Passage to India is much more than a study of the British Raj. Discuss.

Comment on Forster’s treatment of Hindu-Muslim relationship in A Passage to India.

Or,

Comment on Forster’s understanding of the minds of the Muslims and the Hindus in A Passage to India.

Or,

How does Aziz’s trial bring about closer relationships between the Hindus and the Muslims in Chandrapore?

Or,

Comment on E.M. Forster’s study of human Comment on relationship in a colonial setting placed in A Passage to India.

Comment on the friendship between Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Moore in A Passage to India.

Or,

What is the symbolic significance of the ‘Mosque’ in A Passage to India?

“The trial of Aziz attracted every Indian with nationalist fervour; it was equally contested by the Englishmen”. Discuss.

Or,

What makes Adela withdraw her accusation against Aziz at the trial?

Or,

In what sense is Aziz’s trial a satire on the English judicial system in India?

What is the symbolic significance of the ‘Temple’ in A Passage to India?
In what way does the ‘Bridge Party’ fail to bridge the gap between the English and the Indians?
Discuss the significance of Fielding’s tea-party in A Passage to India.
What is your impression about the British Raj in India?

Or,

How does E.M. Forster portray the English in India in his novel A Passage to India?

Or,

Are the English justified in feeling superior to the natives of India? Explain with reference to A Passage to India.

Or,

Comment on the British Raj in India in A Passage to India.

Discuss Forster’s use of symbolism in A Passage to India.
How does Forster make use of irony and satire in A Passage to India?

Or,

How far do you think that A Passage to India is a satire on the British Imperialist rule in India? Or,

What use of humour, irony and satire does Forster make in A Passage to India?

What impression of British officials do you get from A Passage to India?

Or,

Are the English justified in feeling superior to the natives? Explain with reference to A Passage to India.

Or,

Comment on the Anglo-Indian’s attitude towards the Indians in A Passage to India.

How reliable is Forster’s portrayal of Indian life in A Passage to India?

Or,

“A Passage to India gives an acceptable picture of the Indians” do you agree?

Or,

Do you regard A Passage to India as a realistic novel? Illustrate your answer.

Or,

“A Passage to India gives an acceptable picture of the Indians”. Do you agree? Give reasons.

Comment on Forster’s art of characterization in A Passage to India.
Discuss the significance of the title, A Passage to India.

A Passage to India Honours 4th Year

Or,

Justify the title of the novel ‘A Passage to India’.

0.17. Trace the elements of mysticism in A Passage to India.

Write a brief note on narrative technique in A Passage to India.

Or,

Discuss the point of view followed by Forster in A Passage to India.

Compare the characters of Aziz and Fielding.
In ‘A Passage to India’, show how Ronny Heaslop, Mr. Fielding and Mrs. Moore represent three different attitudes to India.

Or,

Discuss how different characters represent different attitudes to India in A Passage to India.