Questions About A Passage to India

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Answered Questions (8)

Sravya Personally,I feel like her engagement with Ronny created a sort of disillusion for her. Which in turn, gave her an overwhelming feeling and constraine…morePersonally,I feel like her engagement with Ronny created a sort of disillusion for her. Which in turn, gave her an overwhelming feeling and constrained her. India is very humid, and so that adds to the pressure and feeling of being closed in, almost claustrophobic in a way. All the pressure just sort of pushed on her and created this sort of closeness/intimacy that she did not wish to have. So I think that feeling is what brought on the supposed "insult", not an actual physical male trying to mess with her. But this is just my viewpoint :]
I would really like to know what actually did happen in that cave though, from the author's perspective in writing the story. Or maybe he doesn't know himself. It could just be a "left to the imagination" thing.(less)

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what is good about the book?

Alex I think these are good things about the book:
1. Characters are inconsistent like real people: they have conflicting motivations and emotions; their ac…moreI think these are good things about the book:
1. Characters are inconsistent like real people: they have conflicting motivations and emotions; their actions aren't always consistent or easily explicable.
2. There is muddle everywhere. What really happened? The explanations don't always match the events; the events themselves aren't always 'facts' - i.e. what happened depends on your point of view. People jump to the wrong conclusion, and act on prejudice and 'gut' rather than any rational working-out of what's best. Bit like life.
3. Beautifully and subtly written, and on each reading something new comes to the fore.(less)

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what is the significance of the passage She had come to that state where the horror of the universe and its smallness are both visible at the same time—the twilight of the double vision in which so many elderly people are involved. If this world is not to our taste, well, at all events, there is Heaven, Hell, Annihilation?

Huck Flynn Mrs Moore is an important character in the book. She has no real allegiance to either side socially, politically or religiously - in fact she is rathe…moreMrs Moore is an important character in the book. She has no real allegiance to either side socially, politically or religiously - in fact she is rather tired of the pettiness of colonial life and its "muddle". She enters the mosque, not for religious reasons but for a more simple spiritual respite from the Club and its formality and conventions and rules. Her spirituality is humanistic and unprejudiced; she shows respect for the muslim tradition by being barefoot in the mosque, to Aziz surprise. She accepts him as an equal in a natural, unaffected way that disarms him. Early in the book she contemplates a wasp and accepts its right to exist - this is a very Hindu belief and suggests Mrs Moore is some sort of unifying force. However, it is also clear that she is old and perhaps is feeling approaching intimations of her own mortality. It is a sort of world weariness (twilight) where she accepts the unimportance of our mortal existence and can no longer cope with the complications of life she has stopped trying to understand. Heaven, Hell, Annihilation - i don't think she cares what her destiny is. Ironically she becomes a sort of deity symbol to the Indians at the trial who chant "Esmiss Esmoore". By this time she has become a divisive figure who Ronnie, her son, sends away because he realises she will be of no benefit to the Anglo-Indian case.(less)

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What is a suitable age for reading the book?

Huck Flynn i studied and enjoyed this at A Level and i'd say that any earlier and it would have been completely wasted on me. So 16-17 minimum.…morei studied and enjoyed this at A Level and i'd say that any earlier and it would have been completely wasted on me. So 16-17 minimum.(less)

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Is the movie exactly the same as the book?

Huck Flynn The movie follows the book fairly faithfully - i'd generally recommend you read the book first for a much more profound philosophical experience - it …moreThe movie follows the book fairly faithfully - i'd generally recommend you read the book first for a much more profound philosophical experience - it will always have more detail and depth and lives more powerfully in the imagination. As an interpretation the casting is good although it always annoyed me that they got Alec Guinness to "black up" as Prof Godbole - a minor character and a needless decision. (less)

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