57 pages • 1-hour read
A Passage to India
A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Summary
Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Character Analysis
Themes
Symbols & Motifs
Important Quotes
Essay Topics
Tools
Symbols & Motifs
Echoes
With the introduction of the Marabar Caves, the motif of echoing recurs through the narrative. Adela hears an echo in her ears prior to the trial that only pauses when she is around Mrs. Moore and discussing Aziz’s innocence. However, when Mrs. Moore leaves and Adela has only the words of the English to surround her memory, the echo returns to her ears as a symbol of the imperialist and racist evil the English perpetuate in India.
The motif of echoing evil is materially grounded at the Marabar Caves, “because a Marabar cave can hear no sound but its own” (171). Evil works upon evil and instigates more evil in an accumulation of negative energy, inescapable and a product of imperialism. Fielding considers the nature of echoing as the perpetuation of the same evil, exploitative, and divisive actions taken up repeatedly by classes of men unable to fathom a different path.
The Ghost
As the Nawab Bahadur drives Ronny and Adela around the outskirts of Chandrapore, their car crashes into something unidentifiable. Ronny and Miss Derek pass it off as an animal, while the Nawab Bahadur keeps silent until away from the English. Then, he considers the encounter to have been a metaphysical one, their attacker the ghost of an old rival: “None of the English people knew of this, nor did the chauffeur; it was a racial secret communicable more by blood than speech” (106). When Mrs. Moore is told of the incident, her instinct is to call their attacker a ghost but, being in the presence of Ronny and Adela, the idea “was reabsorbed into the part of the mind that seldom speaks” (104).
The ambiguous spiritual entity that crashes the Nawab Bahadur’s car connects to the theme of spirituality in A Passage to India. That Mrs. Moore and the Nawab Bahadur react similarly to the encounter signifies Mrs. Moore’s spiritual connection to India and foreshadows her eventual role as spiritual and moral mediator both before and after her death. Neither can explain their reasoning for believing the attacker to be a ghost as their belief resides somewhere in the back of the mind, in Mrs. Moore’s case, or in the blood for the Nawab Bahadur.
That this spiritual encounter instigates Adela’s engagement to Ronny, yet neither take seriously the potential spiritual nature of the car crash, symbolizes the brunt force of spirituality that both ignore prior to the trial. Because of this, Aziz is imprisoned, Adela’s mental health wavers, and racism threatens to overhaul the entire city of Chandrapore.
Tardiness
Frequently through the novel, Indian characters are criticized by the English for their tardiness and lack of reliability. This motif connects to the novel’s relationship with Orientalism. By constantly disparaging the Indian characters (so much so that Aziz sleeps at the train station overnight to not be late for the Marabar train) the English characters reveal their condescending attempts to change Chandrapore society.
Unlock the meaning behind every key symbol & motif
See how recurring imagery, objects, and ideas shape the narrative.
- Explore how the author builds meaning through symbolism
- Understand what symbols & motifs represent in the text
- Connect recurring ideas to themes, characters, and events