“Passage to more than India! / O secret of the earth and sky! / Of you, O waters of the sea! O winding creeks and rivers! / Of you, O woods and fields! Of you, strong mountains of my land! / Of you, O Prairies! Of you, gray rocks! / O morning red! O clouds! / O rain and snows! O day and night, passage to you! (Whitman lines 234-240). This “passage” to India that E.M. Forster and Walt Whitman appeal to, seems to be the very search for truth. It is a search that will lead one to “more than India”, it will lead to the stars, the secrets of the earth, the mountains and weather. There is truth to be found through nature in E.M. Forster’s novel of the same name as Walt Whitman’s poem, A Passage to India. What truth E.M. Forster creates through the beautiful icons of the environment is something I intend to unpack in this study. To begin to understand the intricacies of the work, let us first look at how nature is portrayed and introduced.

“All the important studies on the subgenre conclude that nature writing is “in the end concerned not only with fact but with fundamental spiritual and aesthetic truth.” (Foltz, p.115) When writing about nature, spirituality and truth go hand in hand. I am not making an argument that A Passage to India is a “nature writing”, but the images and the consistency with which they appear in the novel, lend itself to assume that Forster created this vivid and iconic world for some specific reason, much like nature writing. Then in the same respect we can assume Forster was able to use this kind of “Nature writing” as a way to show aesthetic and spiritual truth.

With this in mind let us look at some of these images in the work. “The sky settles everything – not only climates and seasons but when the earth shall be beautiful. By herself she can do little – only feeble outbursts of flowers. But when the sky chooses, glory can rain into the Chandrapore bazaars or a benediction pass from horizon to horizon.” (Forster, p.5) This is one of the first colorful images of nature that Forster presents us with. Looking closely at this passage, what can we take from it? The “sky”, as it is addressed here, looks to be in control of most everything. Without it choosing to rain glory down on Chandrapore, life could not exist. We only have a story to tell here because, in a way, the sky is letting us. With the specification of Chandrapore in this passage we could also assume that at least here in this village the sky is ruler, but we cannot assume that anywhere else is governed by such a being. However, since our story mainly takes shape in this region we are able to accept this reign of the sky as a staple throughout the rest of the narrative

Something else in this passage strikes me differently. The personification of the sky shows it having a will of its own. The ability to choose denotes a rational thought, and ability to reason, which coincidently is the very thing that separates humans from animals according to Aristotle. This then gives to the sky not only human powers but many other attributes we can associate with humans, the ability to discern, to deny, to rationally weigh the consequences, to play favorites, and perhaps an ability for a sense of justice. There is the reference to a benediction or blessing that the sky gives. This implies a religious “priest like” persona, thus making any rule the sky has, a sort of theocracy. Suddenly E.M. Forster”s use of nature cannot be denied. When the sky, who rules over this land, is human-like in many ways, it is now a character in this narrative.

“It matters so little to the majority of living beings what the minority, that calls itself human, desires or decides. Most of the inhabitants of India do not mind how India is governed. Nor are the lower animals of England concerned about England, but in the tropics the indifference is more prominent, the inarticulate world is closer at hand and readier to resume control as soon as men are tired.” (Forster, p.123)

This passage is taken from chapter X in the novel, a chapter utterly devoted to the explanation of nature and its role in things thus far. This passage sets apart the nature of England and India, the West from the East. It does appear that nature has an almost volatile role, where control of the country could shift in an instant, “as soon as men are tired”. This volition speaks of the difference between West and East. Nature seems more powerful, or maybe just more involved in the lives of the beings inhabiting its space than its English counter part. It is obvious and almost redundant to assert that there is indeed a difference between West and East, but exactly what that difference is and how vicious the meeting of the two will actually be is the true question. Forster’s novel is just that, the clash of two ideals. Through the characters, which we can now include nature itself among them, Forster plays out in representational ways the collision of East and West with nature representing, in many behaviors, the East.

In the novel nature resembles different religions and philosophies that are native to the Eastern mind. With the way nature clashes with the British, and if nature represents the East, than the East or the Indians are actually oppressing the British foreigners, not literally in the novel but symbolically. This appears to be, at first glance, an argument against imperialism, but I believe there is a broader observation Forster is making, and to call it imperialism might be to put too fine a point on it.

One might dispute the notion that Forster, being a Westerner himself, is not able to symbolize Eastern thought, or that he is even aware of it. Benita Parry, in a note within the article “Materiality and Mystification in A Passage to India”, talks about how Forster feels he has obtained a good grasp of the Eastern ideals at work in his novel.

“Although Forster was not a scholar of Hindu philosophies, he was familiar with the myths, epics, and iconography of India’s varied cultures, and he found the dialectic style of Hindu thought congenial. On re-reading the Bhagovad-gita in 1912 before his first visit to India, Forster observed that he felt he had now got a hold of the structure of its thought: “its division into Harmony Motion Inertia (Purity Passion Darkness).” (Note 14)

This being said let us look at how nature and those Eastern ideas of philosophy and religion are tied to each other, first within the notions themselves and then into how E.M. Forster parallels India/the East and nature. The major philosophies of the East have been tempered within the sphere of religious influence. Buhda, and Confucius were spiritual icons as well as philosophers whose teachings are continuously studied to this day. So to get a grasp of the mindset of the East we should look to the attributes of its major religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam and Confucianism. In his article “Apropos of Nothing: Chance and Narrative in Forster’s A Passage to India,” Leland Monk describes this connection between Eastern thought and the novel, “The three sections of Forster’s A Passage to India, Mosque, Caves and Temple each represent a different aspect of Indian religions and comprise different versions of an English writer’s Western perspective on certain aspects of Indian Culture.” (392) Though different in many aspects, these religions have a common theme; their views of nature are indeed quite different from that of the West, which will be addressed later.

Buddhism’s respect for nature derives from its view of “Nirvana” a state of Zen-like consciousness defined as complete inner peace, the difficult to attain goal of all Buddhists. Suggesting another link between Buddhist ideas and nature, Michael Barnhart in his article “Ideas of Nature in an Asian Context”, says this, “If anything, Buddhist conceptions of the phenomenal and especially of nature suggest a kind of pantheism (as it is held that “plants and trees attain Buddhahood” in certain circles). (10) This gives an inherent value to the earth and a connection shared with humans when both are striving for the same goal. It also shares a connection to the divine, finding a spirit within the plants because only spirits are able to obtain nirvana. “Mahayana Buddhism, such as Huayen …view the whole as a vast organic unity of interdependent life-forms.” (Barnhart, p.5) There is a oneness within Buddhist beliefs that connect it to nature itself. Buddhists obtain nirvana through the “negation of all things” and the material things of this world are merely distractions to ones true mission. (Barnhart, p.5) Also it is believed the art of meditation is a way to achieve Nirvana. When meditating, the word “ohm” is uttered to clear one’s mind. Ohm, it is said, is the root of all speech or the “nature” of speech.

When thinking of these connections to nature and the practices of Buddhism, one will notice similarities within Forster’s novel, specifically within the Marabar Caves. Inside the caves there is nothing, “Nothing is inside them, they were sealed up before the creation of pestilence or treasure; if mankind grew curious and excavated, nothing, nothing would be added to the sum of good or evil.”(Forster, p.124) This is the absence of all things, good or evil, that the Buddhist ways say is the path to enlightenment or Nirvana. “The “caves” section of the novel is, quite literally, about nothing.” (Monk, p.394) When meditating, one’s eyes are closed not unlike the utter darkness found within the caves. The Ohm, which is said also when meditating, is frighteningly similar to the noise of the echo found in, and special to, the Marabar Caves. “Whatever is said, the same monotonous noise replies, and quivers up and down the walls until it is absorbed into the roof. “Boum” is the sound as far as the human alphabet can express it, or “bou-oum,” or “ou-boum,” – utterly dull.” (Forster, p.163)

A major facet of Hinduism revolves around reincarnation, the act of being reborn after one dies. When reincarnated the being “evolves” toward a Godlike existence or “devolves” further down the scale toward a worm or insect. I use the words evolve and devolve connotatively, I do not wish to state that humans born to different families are somehow less evolved than others, I am appealing to the fact that a human can reincarnate as a worm and visa-versa To assure a higher place in the next life, Karma is practiced. Karma basically states that, the better the works one does within his life, the better the chance is of moving upward. This however also boasts a relationship then between nature and the humans living in India. “Defining karma as “the persistence of moral value,” … indeed, if we can be reborn as slugs or worms and moral value is conserved across transmigratory relations, then slugs and worms have value.” (Barnhart, p.4) A simple bit of conversation had by Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Moore demonstrates this theory of value in terms of East and West and a deep respect for nature. “She exclaimed; she had forgotten the snakes. “For example, a six-spot beetle,” he continued. “You pick it up, it bites, you die.” “But you walk about yourself.” “Oh, I am used to it.” “Used to snakes?” They both laugh.” (Forster, p.19)

Here the Westerner, Mrs. Moore, (who only really represents the West in this scene because she is among the first Westerners we meet in the story and it is not until later we realize she is closest to the Eastern ideas than almost any other) would disturb nature with the act of picking up the beetle, which results in death. The Easterner however realizes the value of even the insects of India and respects the beetle and snakes enough to know not to disturb them. Value is defined by Webster’s dictionary as a principle regarded as worthwhile or desirable. Because Aziz understands and is “used to” his environment, he has the consideration or respect of its inherent worthwhileness, so to not pick up the beetle thus dying. This is also a great example of an Easterner who practices the Eastern Hindu philosophies even if he is not of that faith, giving a more widespread quality to Eastern thought. “Eastern views do have an understanding of nature and ground an arc of value over the phenomenal.” (Barnhart, p.6) Michael G. Barnhart elucidates the ideas of the East’s acceptance of the unknown. This statement isn’t saying Eastern thought idealizes “value” over the “phenomenal”, but the East is more at ease with such notions because they see the value in it, even if they don’t understand it. Eastern philosophy suggests, as we just witnessed in the Hindu view of nature, that a mystery such as our world should earn our respect and a sense of significance.

Taoism and Confucianism’s ideas of yin and yang also play a large part in the ideals of the novel. These ideas of opposing contradictory forces keeping existence in balance are a staple of Eastern thought.

“Forster’s A passage to India is constructed upon a double vision which encompasses two opposing verities – Being and non-Being. The notion of non-Being involves the cosmos in an undifferentiated muddle devoid of significance and hierarchy. In the novel it is epitomized by the Marabar Caves whose genesis lies beyond space, time and consciousness. The Caves precede in time Vishnu and Siva and thus the Hindu pantheon to another undistinguished detail.” (D’Cruz, p.193)

This concept of being and non-being is directly expressed in the difference between the major plot points of the first two sections of the novel. (Barnhart, pp.4-6) In the “Mosque” the major plot point, or action the narrative centers on, is the bridge party; the idea of bringing the Indians and the British together for a social event, this is the “being”. Because many of the characters are not looking forward to this engagement the concept is felt forced. The bridge party is also filled with many different “things”. It is decorated and filled with conversation. Contradictory, the “Caves” section of the novel, which suggests a volatile separation of Indians from the British, this is “non-being”. The Caves themselves are devoid of “things”, dull in appearance and lacking conversation, just “boum”. The very structure of the novel in the first two sections denotes the Eastern yin and yang principle. If we are then to follow the logic of yin/yang, which states that for every deed of yin there is an equal deed of yang, than we are also to assume that the “Caves” section is caused by the “Mosque”.

The concept of “ch’i”, also a Taoist belief, asserts that there is a life force or a “ch’i” in every living thing, concluding that all of existence is connected by this energy. This is also found in A Passage to India perhaps not as frequent, but less subtle. “The squeals it (the squirrel) gave were in tune with the infinite.” (Forster, p.123)

“Nature’ has at least two rather different meanings in English: (1) not artificial, free of human contrivance, and (2) the way something is, its physis.” (Barnhart, p.7) These meanings in themselves seem to contradict each other. If (2) is true then (1) can also be true, it is a refinement perhaps of the definition. But if (1) is true than (2) is not necessarily true. The Nature of a computer is its miniscule bits of technology; the very thing the first definition says is not nature. This contradiction in definition is a perfect example of the difference between Eastern and Western views of nature. Eastern thought is at ease with contradiction (Yin and Yang) and prizes the phenomenal over the rational (the Hindu belief that value can be found in phenomenon). Nature is described by its very definition as a paradox. Nature’s links to Eastern thought in the novel are the characteristics portrayed by Forster. “There is a genuine reluctance to draw metaphysical distinctions between the predominant feature of humans, their mental capacities, and the rest of what there is.” (Barnhart, p.10) The “oneness” the Indians share with nature through the concepts of ch’i, Hindu value, the act of meditation, the narrative device of personification, and the fact that nature appears to mirror the beliefs of the Indians and the East in general. “Indeed the use of India as icon of the metaphysical derives from what has been described as a “scholarship … replete with preferences for the speculative, religious minded, idealist and/or Orientalist kind.”” (Parry, p.176)

Now, understanding the link between Eastern thought and nature as being represented in a very Eastern way, let us look to the British in the novel. To grasp a secure handle on the concept of the West, one will look at (among others) Mr. Fielding, Mrs. Moore, and Adela Quested. These three characters seem to be at different places on a ladder of connection to nature and the East. At first glance we might be able to tell the hierarchy as well from just their names. Mrs. Moore’s last name is piece of environment in itself, a moor. However this is a very English bit of terrain, I would say you would be hard pressed to find many moors in India, but they are plentiful in the United Kingdom. This signifies that Mrs. Moore is in touch with the Eastern ideas of nature and fits in quite comfortably, but is still very English. If anyone in the story truly bridges the gap it is her. Mr. Fielding, as his name might suggest, is “fieldish”. He is perhaps closer to these ideas than even he himself would care to think, but is not quite there yet. Mr. Fielding though certainly finds a friend easily in Aziz. Ms. Quested however appears to be searching for her truth. She is on a “quest”, a passage to her own India. This is also mirrored by desire to “see the real India.”

Before we look at the West’s view of nature itself it might be useful to examine what the novel says the characters think of the scope of Eastern thought, especially that of yin/yang, the negation of deities, and a Buddhist view of reality. Mr. Fielding and Adela quested are less inclined to understand the Eastern mind, as indeed Forster implies in his novel by the reactions to different Eastern sayings, and therefore setup for the Western mindset.

“To the Western mind this simultaneous affirmation and negation of divinity in Indian religious belief is confounding. Fielding the rational Englishman dismisses the phrase “There is no God but God” as “only a game with words, really, a religious pun not a religious truth” … Adela Quested repeats to herself the phrase “[i]n space things touch, in time things part” and in her rational mind, “she could not decide whether the phrase was a philosophy or a pun” For fielding and miss Quested, such phrases seem to dissolve the logical premises of their own assertions. They simply cannot comprehend this “mixture of fatuity and philosophy” that is India.” (Monk, p.397)

The West views nature as something that must be conquered and has been at war

with nature, since the book of Genesis where a serpent tricks Adam and Eve into eating a piece of forbidden fruit. (Genesis chapter 3)

“In “The Historic Roots of our Ecology Crisis,” … historian Lynn White Jr… documents the rise of new technologies during the Western middle ages … Wind power was “Harnessed” for the first time, and water power was extended far beyond the milling of grain to power the sawing of timbers and pump the bellows of blast furnaces. The old “scratch plow” was abandoned in favor of a new kind of plow built like a gigantic knife blade to “attack” the earth with “ruthlessness” and “violence” while at the same time requiring plow teams of eight oxen and thus entirely new forms of social organization.” (Foltz, p.119)

The novel is set in a time (early 1900’s) when the West has a decent grasp of, and

adapted to, their own environment. Automobiles kept travel in adverse weather miniscule. Homes had many comforts that shun the elements such as steeped roofs to keep the snow from piling and fireplaces to heat the house. Even in India they have already begun defying nature with technology and their own religion by appealing to God. Jeffrey Heath describes this very observation in his article, “A Voluntary Surrender: Imperialism in A Passage to India.”

“Most of the British characters resist their environment, sometimes with the aid of the national anthem (’that curt series of demands on Jehovah’), and at other times with such mechanical “defences” as perforated zinc doors, electric fans, and refrigeration. While Godbole is at home in a universe which he accepts as a mystery, the British handle it, as they do India, by force and brain-work, and by refusing to leave “a gap in the line.” (Heath, p.288)

Heath draws the connection that the English try to manage the environment as

they do India itself. Perhaps a connection can be made then that Nature will act as India intends to. Benita Parry describes the situation in the novel resides not simply in a critique of the British in India, “but in configuring India”s natural terrain and cognitive traditions as inimical to the British presence.”(180) At this point, at the commencement of the story, India had not started the revolution that was soon to come, though Forster was aware of such things, having published the book in 1924 several years after Gandhi had risen as a political figure. The differences of East and West have collided in this one place, India. This is the response as E.M. Forster sees it. This is the way India is viewed through the eyes of the British, with quotes from A Passage to India. “Primal,’ “Dark,” “Fists and fingers,” “unspeakable,” Fearsomely advancing to the town with the sunset – these phrases signal the fear and insecurity the imperialists experienced, confronted with what they could not master; to reduce it to stasis was to contain that fear and hold that threat at bay. (Parry, p.185) Then there is Nature’s/the Eastern view of the British, “A Passage to India construes the sub-continent’s material world, cultural forms and systems of thought as a resistant to discursive appropriation by its conquerors” (Parry, p.175) On the one hand there is the fear the British possess of a potentially violent situation which they feel they should control by force, but is untamable. On the other hand there is a defiant spiritual landscape representing all the deliberations of the East.

“The eloquent stones, boulders, rocks, and caves of an awesome and ancient geological formation, the animate fields and ambulant hills, the inhospitable soil, the importunities of a prominent inarticulate world, the creaturely power of the sun, these speak a defiant material presence which is both a scandal to the invaders’ epistemological categories, and a threat to their boast of possessing India.” (Parry, p.180-181)

The situation is at a boiling point when the section of the “Caves” begins in the novel. Nature begins to assert her power over the British. “The heat had leapt forward in the last hour, the street was deserted as if a catastrophe had cleaned off humanity during the inconclusive talk.” (Forster, p.123) With its heat India is attacking its invaders. Men start to retreat when they know of “The bad weather coming,” (Forster, p.123) This is not an isolated event either, “All over the city and over much of India the same retreat on the part of humanity was beginning into cellars, up hills, under trees.” (Forster, p.123) This passive aggressive behavior does not last for long. With Mrs. Moore and Ms. Quested’s “invasion” into the caves the violence has turned simply aggressive. While the Indians, (at least Aziz) are innocent, a type of rape did occur. “To the Anglo-Indians, Miss Quested is the victim of the infamous lust of Indian men; and in the story of her derangement, the Indian Landscape figures as a violent male principle- the rocks of the Marabar Hills appearing to rise “Abruptly, insanely”, and her body pierced by the spines of the cactuses growing on the hillside. (Parry, p.179)

The environment around Ms. Quested is ambiguous in that we could argue the hills are not at fault for Ms. Quested running down them half mad. But one could indeed argue that something about the caves, something natural caused her to flee them, they certainly had an affect on Mrs. Moore as well. The British response is to lash out, seizing the opportunity to attack the East and India. The passive attitudes shift during the trial and now both sides are at each other’s throats. Mr. McBryde wants all of nature, symbolized by the caves, and thus representationally, all of the different Eastern way of thinking to disappear. “I wish the Marabar hills and all they contain were at the bottom of the sea.” (Forster, p.185) It is notable why Mr. McBryde said “All they contain” for the caves are famous for containing nothing, nothing of material substance that is. This line states that Mr. McBryde wishes all of the Eastern philosophies and religions’ ideals to be cast into the sea. Even through his bigotry, he puts into words an interesting truth.

“Mr. McBryde was shocked at his downfall, but no Indian ever surprised him, because he had a theory about climatic zones. The theory ran: “all unfortunate natives are criminals at heart, for the simple reason that they live south of latitude 30. They are not to blame, they have not a dog”s chance – we could be like them if we settled here.” (Forster, p.184)

Besides the horrid imagery of Indians like dogs and criminals that his prejudiced nature concocted, there might be some truth to his climatic zone theory. The Eastern philosophies built on traditional Eastern religions have always been settled in these climates, whereas the Western philosophy in a cooler climate. Is it wrong to think that a person’s world view is affected by his environment? Is this why there is such a clash of ideals in the city of Chandrapore? Would the Indians, had they been the opposing force within Britain, faced an opposition by nature itself? Is this more evidence for anti-imperialism as Forster sees it? These are obviously tough questions to grapple with, so let us keep them in mind as we continue onward through the texts.

“A passage to India is a book about latecomers and invaders on foreign soil. The intruders are the Hindus, the Moslems, and the British in India, but they can also be seen as novelists attempting to shape in regions as yet uncolonized by the imagination.” (Heath, p.287) Nature was India before Indians set foot on it. The locals have not any more right to rule over India as the British do, for India cannot be ruled. So, if all these groups of people are foreigners on India’s soil than why are the British the only ones so affected? Heath goes on to explain how beneficial “it is to realize that no conquest is ever fully accomplished by force, and not even by such graceful means as elegant entertainment, magnanimous justice, or, especially, beauty. (Heath, p.291) With statements like these to say that no one has a right to claim this land and no one can take it by force, we could assume India can never be conquered without a spirit of acceptance. To realize, as the East does, that a connection with the environment will allow one to live peacefully without a constant war with nature, is to realize that is the most ownership one could achieve in this land. “India is a diverse place. With its kaleidoscope of cults and factions, it is too vast to manage or comprehend. The mind can’t “take hold of such a country”. (Heath, p.289) The British have no hope if they desire to rule India. Not only is India and its nature uncontrollable, but it is incomprehensible. India is a mystery that cannot be solved. So when East and West meet, which principles are more likely to accept the surrounding nature for what it is? The East will.

With this revelation does this mean again that there is a deterrent against imperialism here? A fundamental fallacy to this argument would be to decipher these environmental representations found in A Passage to India in light of, perhaps China”s, invasion of India. This would also be an imperialistic relationship without the philosophical consequences of nature’s power over a different paradigm of thinking. This leads me to think there is something further-reaching than this.

“Traces of Imperialism’ in modernist writing, must not be sought “in obvious places, in content, or in representation”. Rather they are to be found in the invention of “forms that inscribe a new sense of the absent global colonial system on the very syntax of poetic language itself” (Parry, p.175)

A modernist novel speaking of India will in fact inherently possess an imperialist sense, so if it were to be “represented”, in this case by nature, it would be fundamentally redundant and a waste of novelistic space. Realizing this makes us ask the question as to what E.M. Forster is getting at. Since this is not simply an anti-imperialist novel let us go over the facts again to sum up the argument. Nature is in control of India. Nature affects the British in a harmful way, but it is not abrasive to the Eastern ways of life. Nature is in conflict mirroring the conflict of East and West within the novel. The novel ends with the possible union of East and West with a friendship of Aziz and Mr. Fielding. E.M. Forster seems to be relating a story of the flawed relationship between Eastern and Western thought “Eastern views are essentially irrelevant to the West because of the radical differences in their respective traditions.” (Barnhart, p.6) E.M. Forster is making a case that unity and peace will not work until the West is able to understand these Eastern philosophies which the people of the East model their lives after. I also feel it is safe to conclude that the East should also understand the West. How many times in the novel does a misunderstanding occur? Is it not this the basis for every single conflict in the narrative? The ending of the novel reiterates this point when Aziz and Mr. Fielding go riding through the woods together.

“Presently the ground opened into full sunlight and they saw a grassy slope bright with butterflies, also a cobra, which crawled across doing nothing in particular, and disappeared among some custard apple trees. There were round white clouds in the sky, and white pools on the earth; the hills in the distance were purple.” (Forster, p.356)

The animals, sunlight, trees and landscape all seem to be celebrating the union of the two men. Once again when all seems right and peaceful there is the discussion of ruling India, and who should be in power and the mocking of Aziz’s beliefs; the once peaceful unity the men had with the environment makes one final decree. When the two men ask why they can’t be friends even though they do desire it, this is nature’s response.

“But the Horses didn’t want it – they swerved apart; the earth didn’t want it, sending up rocks through which riders must pass single file; the temples, the tank, the jail, the palace, the birds, the carrion, the guest house, that came into view as they issued from the gap and saw Mau beneath: they didn’t want it, they said in their hundred voices, “No, not yet,” and the sky said, “No, not here.” (Forster, p.362)

Eastern thought is connected to Nature in this novel because it has a oneness, or at least an understanding with, nature. Accepting nature as a mystery is not something the British are able to do, thus never fully accepting Indians either. Without understanding of the Eastern thought process These British will never attain their goal of ruling India. “The world of A Passage to India repeats ad infinitum the cosmic contradiction in terms of the self and not-self, the ruler and the ruled, illusion and reality. Only when the vision is turned on both sides of the contradiction is understanding possible. (D’Cruz, p.204) This statement speaks to a stalemate where the British are not yet willing to begin the process of accepting this. There is then a rift between East and West that E.M. Forster documents in his novel. His final conclusion is that when East and West cannot fully understand where each other is coming from, if they cannot grasp the understanding of other cultures than there will always be a rift. To be on the “passage” to “more than India”, that search for truth and understanding must come about, without this E.M. Forster’s bleak conclusion rings true. There will never be a friendship, “No, not here.”