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Forster<-novels<-chapter 8<-contents<-position

Where Angles Fear to Tread
    The title of the novel comes from the proverb “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. It is Forster’s first novel attacking on the conservatism of the middle class in England. The Herritons, especially Mrs. Herriton the mother, cannot accept the fact that her daughter-in-law, a young widow, Lilia Herriton remarries an Italian dentist Gino Carella. Lilia dies in childbirth. Then there is a conflict between the Herritons and the Italian father for the baby. The infant is stolen and killed in an accident. Here the narrow-mindedness and hypocrisy of the Herritons who represent the middle class are sharply criticized.

Howards End
    The story focuses mainly on two families in England who represent different social classes. The Wilcoxes belong to the affected and hypocritical upper class, while the Schlegels petty bourgeoisie intellectuals with more liberal views. The Schlegel sisters, Margaret and Helen, meet the Wilcox brothers during their holiday trip. Then Helen on her visit to Howards Ends, one of the country houses of the Wilcoxes, falls in love with Paul Wilcox. But the relationship is soon prevented by her aunt. The Schlegel sisters get to know a clerk, Leonard Bast who lost his job. The Schlegel sisters want the Wilcoxes to help Leonard to find a job but are refused. Jacky Bast, the wife of Leonard, is revealed as a former lover of Henry. However, Margaret forgives Henry Wilcox and marries him. Helen is pregnant with Bast’s child. Leonard Bast dies of heart failure, when Charles Wilcox struck him down for his seduction of Helen. At the end, they live in the Howards End with the child.
     Forster develops a complicated plot in this novel. He intertwines the stories of these three classes’ people gradually until they are inextricably linked. At the end of the novel, Margaret, Helen, Helen and Leonard's son, and Henry all live at Howards End suggesting that, like the characters of the novel, the classes of England are mixing beyond recognition. As a novelist he tried to connect people of different backgrounds and different cultures. His liberal humanist concern with the personal relationships tries to bridge the gap between people from different backgrounds.
A Passage to India
    Forster’s best-known work, the novel can be divided into three parts: Mosque, Caves and Temple, each of them bore profound symbolic meaning. The story begins when Mrs. Moore, an elderly English lady, and her future daughter-in-law Miss Quested arrives in India to see the son of Mrs. Moore, the city Magistrate. Adela says from the outset that she wishes to see the "real India" and Mrs. Moore soon befriends an Indian doctor named Aziz of Minto Hospital in Mosque. In the meanwhile, Cyril Fielding, an Englishman and the principal of a local government college, soon becomes acquainted with everyone. The two ladies accept Aziz’s invitation to see the famous Marabar Caves twenty miles away from the city. When visiting the Caves, Mrs. Moore was left behind after the first cave. So Dr. Aziz, Miss Quested and a guide go on the visit. Then suddenly Miss Quested is caught by a hallucination of being insulted. Soon Dr. Aziz was accused of insulting Miss Quested and arrested. While Aziz’s Indian friends try to defend him and Fielding is the only Englishman standing for Aziz’s innocence, all the white people believe in the testimony of Miss Quested. Although it turns out to be Miss Quested’s mistake and Aziz is released from prison. Mrs. Moore dies at sea on her voyage from Bombay to England. With the help of Fielding, Miss Quested tries to compensate Aziz for injury to his reputation. Aziz gets a new job at the Indian State of Mau. Mr. Fielding comes for a visit. After clearing up the misunderstanding, they become friends again.
    This masterpiece of Forster is a novel about preconceptions and misconceptions and the desire to overcome the barrier that divides East and West in colonial India. It shows the limits of liberal tolerance, good intentions, and good will in sorting out the common problems that exist between two very different cultures. However, the title of the novel A Passage to India poses the question of whether it is possible for an Englishman and an Indian to ever be friends within the context of British colonialism. In the first part of the book Forster has given some examples of racial prejudice in India. When the great wrong is done to Aziz, he remarks: “I wish no Englishman or Englishwoman to be my friend”. Although friendship is desired, the two cultures are not yet ready for it and the passage or journey to the real communication is really difficult. But we should bear in mind that Forster has optimistic attitude and explicit belief in liberalism and freedom. Mrs. Moor and Miss Quested actually stand for the more enlightened English people. Mr. Fielding represents the hope of understanding between Englishmen and Indians.

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