AL- NEELAIN UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Postgraduate Studies

English Language Department

THE IMAGE OF THE COLONIZED AND THE COLONIZERS

IN HEART OF DARKNESS AND A PASSAGE TO INDIA

(A CRITICAL STUDY)

A Thesis Submitted in Fulfillment of Requirement for the Degree of Doctorate of

Philosophy (Ph.D.) in English Literature

Conducted by

Mr. Haider Mohammed Mezaal

Supervised by

Dr. Hala Salih Mohammed Nur

2019

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Certification

I hereby certify that all the corrections and suggestions pointed out by the State Sudanese

examiner(s) are incorporated in the thesis entitled “The Image of the Colonized and the

Colonizers in Heart of Darkness and A Passage to India” submitted by Mr. Haider

Mohammed Mezaal.

Date: 21/02 /2019

Place: Khartoum, Sudan

Research Supervisor

Dr. Hala Salih Mohammed Nur

Associate Prof., Dept. of English,

Khartoum University, Khartoum, Sudan

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Dedication

To my dearest mother, the soul of my deceased father, my wife, sons and daughters

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

iv

Page No.

Certification .................................................................................................................................... i

Dedication ..................................................................................................................................... iii

Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................ vi

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ vii

ix ........................................................................................................................................... مستخلص

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.0 Overview .................................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 Background ............................................................................................................................. 2

1.2 Statement of the Problem ....................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Rationale of the Study ............................................................................................................ 4

1.4 Study Aims ............................................................................................................................... 5

1.5 Research Questions ................................................................................................................. 5

1.6 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 6

1.7 Study Limits ............................................................................................................................ 6

CHAPTER TWO

Literature Review

2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 7

2.1 Theoretical Framework .......................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1 Twentieth- Century Literature: Trends and Themes .......................................................... 7

2.1.1.1 Modernism ................................................................................................................... 7

2.1.1.2 Post- Modernism........................................................................................................ 14

2.2 Colonial literature and Theory ............................................................................................ 17

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2.2.1 Colonial Literature ........................................................................................................... 17

2.2.2 Post- Colonial Literature .................................................................................................. 19

2.2.3 Post- Colonial Theory ...................................................................................................... 23

2.2.3.1 Orientalism ................................................................................................................ 24

2.2.3.2 Mimicry ..................................................................................................................... 28

2.2.3.3 Subalternity ................................................................................................................ 31

2.3 Works of Colonial Literature .............................................................................................. 34

2.3.1 William Shakespeare: The Tempest ................................................................................. 36

2.3.2 Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe ....................................................................................... 44

2.3.3 Rudyard Kipling: Kim ...................................................................................................... 49

2.3.4 George Orwell: Burmese Days ......................................................................................... 55

CHAPTER THREE

The Image of the Colonized and the Colonizers in

Heart of Darkness

3.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 63

3.1 Image of the Colonized ......................................................................................................... 64

3.2 Portrayal of the Colonizers .................................................................................................. 81

3.3 Illustration of the Relationship between the Colonized and the Colonizers ................. 109

3.4 Representation of the Clash of Cultures ........................................................................... 118

3.5 Depiction of Africa as Character ....................................................................................... 121

3.6 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 130

CHAPTER FOUR

The Image of the Colonized and the Colonizers in

A PASSAGE TO INDIA

4.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 133

4.1 Characterization ................................................................................................................. 133

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4.1.1 Image of the Colonized .................................................................................................. 134

4.1.2 Portrayal of the Colonizers ............................................................................................. 144

4.2 Image through Cross Relationships .................................................................................. 161

4.2.1 Aziz’s Conception of the Colonized and the Colonizers ............................................... 162

4.2.2 Mrs. Moore’s Impression of the Colonized and the Colonizers .................................... 169

4.2.3 Adela’s Thought of the Colonized and the Colonizers .................................................. 174

4.2.4 Fielding’s Idea of the Colonized and the Colonizers ..................................................... 180

4.2.5 Ronny’s Opinion of the Colonized and the Colonizers.................................................. 184

4.3 Image through Clash of Different Cultures ..................................................................... 187

4.3.1 The Marabar Caves ........................................................................................................ 189

4.3.2 Charge of Rape ............................................................................................................... 195

4.3.3 Portrayal of Confusion ................................................................................................... 198

4.4 Image of India as Character .............................................................................................. 208

4.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 214

CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Research

5.0 Overview .............................................................................................................................. 216

5. 1 Findings ............................................................................................................................... 219

5.2 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 225

5.3 Summery .............................................................................................................................. 227

5.4 Suggested Topics for Future Research ............................................................................. 228

Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 229

Acknowledgments

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All the praise and thanks are due first and foremost to Allah the Almighty for showering

me with His favors of knowledge, health and patience, and enabled me to finish this project in

the best way I can.

I find myself wordless to express my deep sense of indebtedness towards my Research

Supervisor, Dr. Hala Salih Mohammed Nur, Associate Professor, Department of English,

Khartoum University. My thanks also go to Al Neelain College of Graduate Studies, Khartoum,

Sudan for the incredible help in guidance which fathomlessly deepened my insights. I also

acknowledge my special thanks to Dr. Ra’d Abd Aun, Dr. Maitham Fadil, Dr. Mustajeeb Khan

for providing me the necessary guidance, books and support. I have greatly benefited from the

fruitful discussions I had with them during the course of my research.

I am deeply indebted to my friends: Hasan Abd Moslem Ouda, Hussein Ali Hussein and

Hasan Uleiwee who have always whole-heartedly supported me. Thanks are also due to my

colleagues: Saif Lateef Al- Safi and Sa’d Lafta for their consideration, warm feelings, constant

backup and support during our study. I have truly spoken no words that could find the

equivalence of my indebtedness to my family’s strenuous and yet intimately consistent helping

attitude. My mother’s constant prayers, encouragement, love and inspiration kept me upbeat

about my work during the strenuous phases of my research work. My thanks are due also to all

those whom I forget to mention.

Abstract

viii

THE IMAGE OF THE COLONIZED AND THE COLONIZERS IN HEART OF DARKNESS

AND A PASSAGE TO INDIA

Colonialism has been a theme in many literary works since it was seen as a practice of

domination and subjugation of one people to another politically and economically under the

excuse of civilizing and enlightening of the colonized nations. The aim of this study is to show

the images of the colonized and the colonizers as used by Joseph Conrad and E. M. Forster in the

selected novels of Heart of Darkness and A Passage to India as colonial novels. Putting this in

mind, the study examined the different types of colonization in Africa and India through the

identification and analysis of the style of relationship between the colonizers and the colonized

nation in each text. The qualitative research methodology was used in the research with critical

analysis used as tool. The study described and analyzed the social communication, types of

relations, main occurrences and characters in the Indian- British and Belgian- African

communities. The findings of the study in Heart of Darkness were that Conrad portrayed the

Africans as cannibalistic savages with no civilization, comprehensible language or even

recognizable shapes. They were further depicted as skinny creatures plagued by starvation and

fatal diseases whose main concern was how to survive. The colonizers, on the other hand, were

portrayed as ruthless and uncivilized people indulged with ivory collection. In their evilness and

actions of barbarism, they were depicted as no less savage than the Africans. In Forster’s A

Passage to India, however, the colonizers were depicted as planning to reside permanently in

India, though they consider the Indians as uneducated people and inferior in rank and race to

them. The novel illustrated images of the British humiliation and dehumanization against the

colonized natives, who are portrayed as sociable people aspiring to win the colonizers’

sympathy. The Indians are further depicted as people with a proper level of education, jobs,

social prestige, and could use the colonizers’ language to connect. Yet, they appear as a divided

nation with different castes, languages and religions. In conclusion, it becomes apparent that both

Conrad and Forster wrote their novels to critically attack the evilness of the European

colonialism and expose its hypocrisy, but the images they presented were undoubtedly unlike.

ix

مستخلص

"ممر الى الهند"و " قلب الظالم" فيصورة المستعِمر والمستعَمر

أحد المواضيع المهمة في كثير من األعمال األدبية نظرباًعتباره كممارسة لقد كان وما يزال موضوع األستعمارهو

وعلى هذا األساس . للتسلط واألستعباد تقوم به أحدى األمم على أمة أخرى سياسيا وأقتصاديا بذريعة تنوير وتثقيف تلك األمة

تعماري لتسليط الضوء على الصورالتي وهما روايتين من األدب األس" ممر الى الهند" و " قلب الظالم"أختارت الدراسة

وعلى هذا األساس سيكون هدف الدراسة هو . رسمها أي أم فورستر و جوزيف كونراد للمستعَمر والمستعِمر في هذين العملين

البحث في أنواع األستعمار المختلفة الموجودة في كل من أفريقيا والهند وذلك من خالل التعرف على نموذج العالقة بين

لقد أختارت الدراسة أسلوب ألمنهجية النوعية كأداة للتحليل النقدي حيث قامت . تعَمر والمستعِمر وتحليلها في كال النصيينالمس

بتوضيح وتحليل صورة التواصل األجتماعي وأنواع العالقات باألضافة الى األحداث والشخصيات الرئيسية في المجتمعين

قيام الكاتب : خلصت في نهاية المطاف الى عدد من األستنتاجات كان من بينها ما يليو بلجيكي -بريطاني واألفريقي -الهندي

كونراد بتصويراألفارقة كشعب متوحش من أكلي لحوم البشر ال يمتلكون حضارة وليس لديهم لغة مفهومة وال حتى مظهر

بالجوع واألمراض الفتاكة فكان همهم ثم استطرد كونراد يصفهم كمخلوقات هزيلة أَبتُليَت. يمكن التعرف عليهم من خالله

الوحيد هو البقاء على قيد الحياة أما المستعمرين األوربيين فقد صورهم كونراد بأنهم قساة القلوب وغير متحضرين جل همهم

" الى الهندممر "أما في رواية . وبسبب الشر الكامن في نفوسهم وأعمالهم البربرية فقد كانوا كاألفارقة المتوحشين. جمع العاج

فقد تم تصويرالمستعمرين األنكليز كمجموعة تخطط للبقاء مدة طويلة في الهند رغم أنهم ينظرون الى الهنود كشعب غير

وقد وضحت الدراسة من خالل الصور ما يمارسه األنكليز من أهانة للهنود وتجريدهم . متحضرأدنى منه في المنزلة والجنس

أستمر فورستر بوصفه للهند كشعب يتمتع بمستوى جيد . الهندي يسعى الى كسب ود المحتل من شخصيتهم األنسانية بينما كان

رغم ذلك يبدون . من التعليم والمنزلة األجتماعية ولديه مهن يزاولها باألضافة الى قدرته على أستعمال لغة المحتل للتواصل

في ختام الدراسة اصبح من الواضح أن كونراد وفورستر و. كأمة غير موحدة بسبب تعدد الطبقات األجتماعية واللغات واألديان

.قد كتبا الروايتين لينتقدا فظائع األستعمار األوربي ويكشفا نفاقه

1

CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

1.0 Overview

The study is an attempt to analyze the image of the colonized and the colonizers in

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Forester’s A Passage to India.

This research is a descriptive analysis that looks into the novels of Conrad’s novella

Heart of Darkness and Forester’s A Passage to India. The study aims at identifying the images

of the colonized as well as the colonizers, the styles of social relations and the types of

communication channels available. The study also looks into the chances for enhancing the

relationships of the colonized and the colonizers in future. Furthermore, the study is a criticism

for the main characteristics of the characters in the White- colored community.

To bring closer the concept of the unattainable communication of both people, the

author of A Passage to India selected a variety of characters such as Aziz, the Indian doctor and

his British friend, Fielding, Mrs. More as well as Adela Quested. In Heart of Darkness, on the

other hand, Conrad’s focal characters were mainly the colonizers, whereas he introduced the

colonized as phantoms- without names or definite shapes. Kurtz was used as an example of the

European man desirous of dominating, enslaving, exploiting and finally eliminating the

inhabitants of the occupied lands. As opposed to Kurtz, Conrad introduced Marlow as European

character who tends to sympathize with the African natives. He entrusted him with the mission

of narrating the miseries and pain of the Congolese locals.

Meanwhile, the study argues that the difficulty of establishing a sound communication

lies in the fact that colonialism is basically a struggle for supremacy not only of the white race

against the colored but among the European nations themselves as well.

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1.1 Background

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness was originally published as a three- part serial story in

Blackwood’s Magazine, Heart of Darkness has been variously published and translated into

many languages. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Heart of Darkness as the sixty- seventh of

the hundred best novels in English of the twentieth century.

The novella revolves around a voyage up the River Congo into the Congo Free State, in

the heart of Africa. It is narrated by Marlow who tells his story to friends aboard a boat anchored

on the River Thames, London, England. This setting provides the frame for Marlow’s story of

his obsession with the ivory trader Kurtz, which enables Conrad to create a parallel between

London and Africa as places of darkness.

Central to Conrad’s work is the idea that there is little difference between so- called

civilized people and those described as savages. Heart of Darkness raises important questions

about imperialism and racism.

The novel A Passage to India, on the other hand, was chosen as one of the 100 great

works ever written in English literature by the Modern Library, and won the James Tait Black

Memorial Prize for fiction.

In this novel, Forester seems to observe the English Empire from a critical point of view

rather than a nostalgic one. The theme of the book is the non- superficial relationship of the

Indians and the English. It is an attempt at understanding the country India and Indians from a

more personal, positive and meaningful perspective. However, it holds out little hope either for

social interaction between Europeans and Indians, or for Indian national independence. But

independence came nonetheless.

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In A Passage to India, the colonizers are definitely the stronger race and have authority

over the locals. This authority gives them power which they use against the inferior race, the

Indians. The Indians are considered weak, outcast, and second rate. They are believed to be

different from Europeans, especially the English. Even though the British might have their own

different categories like social class and religion, they are united as opposed to the local natives.

There is very little social integration between the colonialists and the Indians. Yet there are

incidents in the novel that show that the Indians are more sophisticated than the colonialists.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The study of colonialism represents a fundamental way of understanding the roots of

contemporary global political and economic processes. Some of the most critical issues that

affect the world today are definitely owing to colonialism. As such, the study of colonialism is

crucial in helping scholars and students of literature to understand political conflicts such as the

conflicts of Israeli-Arab, the India- Pakistan, the race of nuclear arms, and the rise of Third

World nationalisms. Studying colonialism also helps scholars develop practical solutions that can

bring about peace and stability in the world. Furthermore, it seeks to arm researchers to

understand the detailed histories of particular regions of the world as well analyze broader

international issues. To conclude, the study of colonialism paves the way to understand the

justifications of the European powers, the various strategies which these powers used to rule the

native populations and the devastating effects that such hegemony left behind on the part of these

subjugated indigenes. The strategies of the European domination often differed in a number of

ways on the ground that some of them were direct forms of control over local populations while

others were more indirect by means of using native rulers who were selected or supported by the

colonial powers. Some colonial strategies tried to transform the local societies through forcing

4

religious conversion, or tried to use native religious and legal traditions as part of their system of

colonial rule. Nonetheless, all the strategies had serious effects on the colonized populations for

they changed local, social, cultural and economic traditions.

1.3 Rationale of the Study

The study aims to address European colonialism in Africa and India. Furthermore, the

study seeks to explore evil in the human nature, fake principles of the European civilization,

agonies of the colonized nations, and the impossibility of encounter between West and East.

While doing this, the study portrays images of the European violence and dehumanization in

treating Africans and Indians. In projecting the scenes of the colonizers’ atrocities, the study

explicates the mendacity of the European claims in civilizing other nations, and corroborates that

colonialism is a political system that plans to exploit the raw materials of the colonized nation

and subjugate its people.

From the economic viewpoint, the benefit of studying colonialism is that it sheds light on

the devastating financial effects it had on the colonized regions because European colonial

powers used colonies as a source of raw materials to their factories. As a result, the colonies

were kept in an economically dependent relationship with Europe, and this definitely led to

poverty and economic backwardness even after decolonization. Approaching colonialism from

this angle helps to understand and respond to some of the pressing political and economic

questions of the world. Such tools can empower students to develop practical solutions to

problems that hamper global peace, stability and economic equality. The present chapter goes on

to shed further light on the way gender, race, and class function in colonial and post- colonial

discourse; it helps sort out which writers should be included in the post- colonial canon and most

importantly how post- colonial literature should be approached.

5

Concerning the field of the study which focuses on such important issues as to why a

reader is interested in or repugnant of colonial issues, the study provides a number of

epistemological and philosophical frameworks which the thesis uses to respond to as far as the

images of the colonized and the colonizers are concerned.

1.4 Study Aims

The study aims to critically analyze the images of the colonized and colonizers along

with the way both people view each other in each novel. The thesis also identifies the styles of

social relationships between the colonized and the colonizers in each narrative. Last but not the

least; the study seeks to analyze the actual types of communication of the existing relations

between the colonized and the colonizers and how the differences in their cultures lead to clash.

And lastly, the present thesis aims to examine the type of colonization in each continent and the

sort of attitude between the colonized and the colonizers in each story.

1.5 Research Questions

The study approaches a set of questions, like:

1. What are the images of the colonized and the colonizers, and how do they view each

other?

2. What are the styles of social and imperial relationships available between the colonized

and the colonizers in terms of social satisfaction?

3. How are the actual types of communication between the natives and the colonizers

analyzed?

4. What type of colonization is there in each novel and how do the colonizers treat and react

towards the colonized in each story?

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1.6 Methodology

This study is analytically, descriptively, qualitatively designed employing a document

analysis in which social communication, types of relations, main occurrences and characters

from the Indo- British and Belgian- African communities will be analyzed by using the target

novels, Heart of Darkness and A Passage to India.

From the viewpoint of a thematic content analysis, the study examines themes and

patterns of responses. In this sense, the study is highly diverse in the use of references; it

employs various types of resources such as books, essays and websites.

1.7 Study Limits

The study will be limited to Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1902) and Forester’s A Passage

to India (1924). Both novels belong to colonial literature and are used here to study the images of

the colonized and the colonizers as presented by Conrad and Forster. Meanwhile, the study

investigates the social communication in the European- colonized communities along with other

questions such as criticism of focal characters, colonialism, nationalism, race superiority,

segregation, exploitation, subjugation and imperialism.

7

CHAPTER TWO

Literature Review

2.0 Introduction

Chapter two aims to cast light the most noticeable trends and literary movements in the

twentieth century along with their distinguished themes and characteristics. Accordingly, the

literary movements in this century are divided into modern and post- modern on the basis of their

emergence and closure.

The present chapter further analyzes colonial and post- colonial schools as two literary

eras completing each other through shedding light on their significance, cause of emergence, and

span of time. To do this, it selects three prominent figures: Edward Said, Homi K. Bhabha, and

Gayatri Spivak as they approached the literatures of colonies each one from his own critical

perspective.

The current chapter further discusses the colonial and post- colonial theory via the

presentation of selected literary texts. It raises critical issues on the works of Shakespeare’s The

Tempest, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Rudyard Kipling’s Kim, and finally George Orwell’s

Burmese Days wherein it shows the Eurocentric bias towards the indigenes of the colonized

lands. The current chapter concludes by briefly studying the prominent literary works of Conrad

and Forster.

2.1 Theoretical Framework

2.1.1 Twentieth- Century Literature: Trends and Themes

2.1.1.1 Modernism

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The major literary movements in the twentieth century are by and large divided into two

principal trends: modernism and post- modernism. ‘Modernism’ inaugurates the era commencing

approximately from 1900 to 1940 whereas ‘post- modernism’ follows starting from 1960 to the

end of the twentieth century. The concept of ‘modernism’ is of crucial importance in

understanding the twentieth- century culture. The consensus is that English literature opens up

with modernism as its first part to describe certain tendencies in pre-World War I literature.

Ousby, in The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English, argues that:

[Modernism is] the term for an international tendency in the arts brought about by a

creative renaissance during the last decade of the 19th century and lasting into the post-

war years… Technically, modernism was distinguished by its opposition to traditional

forms and to the aesthetic perceptions associated with those forms. It was persistently

experimental. (1988: 675)

In his comment on the same conception, Barry says that: “‘Modernism’ is the name given to the

movement which dominated the art and culture of the first half of the twentieth century.

Modernism was that earthquake in the arts which brought down much of the structures of pre-

twentieth century practice in music, painting, and architecture” (2011: 78). This indicates that

modernism brought down all the literary trends prevailing during nineteenth century and

rendered them to be no longer inapplicable. This means that modernism challenged and changed

all the fundamental elements of practice in all art forms. In literature, for instance, there was a

rejection of traditional realism in favor of experimental forms of various kinds.

Prior to the appearance of modernism, it is chronologically essential to state that the

Victorian age in England had been unique in the expansion of industry, trade and wealth. But the

enthusiastic energy, self- confidence and objectiveness which were evident in mid- Victorian

grew weaker before the century ended. The last decade of the nineteenth century and the first

9

decade of the twentieth can be understood as one period in which attacks were made on

Victorianism from every possible point of view. Novelists, dramatists, and poets started

scrutinizing, criticizing and condemning the age that was passing. Some of these writers were

merely destructive in their attacks; others, like Wells and Shaw, offered basic plans for a new

social order to replace the imperfect Victorian system. Thus, the last decade of the nineteenth

century was the time of definite change.

Modern literature was mostly characterized by fiction writing English which came into

existence due to increasing industrialization and globalization. The new technology in addition to

the horrifying events of World War I made many people question the future of humanity.

Resultantly, writers reacted to this concern by turning toward modern sentiments wherein

modern fiction spoke of the inner self and consciousness. Instead of progress, the modern writer

saw a decline of civilization. This evidently signifies that the modernist writer saw that cold

machinery and increased capitalism would alienate the individual and led to loneliness.

To speak of the emotions described above, most modern fiction was written in first

person pronoun, whereas earlier, most literature had a clear beginning, middle, and end. This

means that it had introduction, conflict, and resolution in which the modern story was often more

of a stream of consciousness. Moreover, irony, satire, and comparisons were often employed to

point out the problems of society.

In the early twentieth- century literature, modernism developed in the English- speaking

world due to a general sense of disillusionment with the Victorian period attitudes of certainty,

conservatism, and belief in the idea of objective truth. The movement was influenced by the

ideas of Charles Darwin’s On Origin of Species, Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, and the

psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud.

10

Young men and women during the early decades of the twentieth century regarded the

Victorian Age as hypocritical and suffocating. They said that Victorian ideals were mean,

superficial and stupid. They mocked at Tennyson, George Eliot and Dickens. This rebellious

mood caused the consequent changes in literature of the first quarter of the twentieth century.

This means that the period from 1901 to 1930 English literature was directed by mental attitudes,

moral ideals, and spiritual values. The old certainties were no longer certainties in the sense that

everything was held to be opened to question right from Deity to the construction of verse forms.

While H. G. Wells was revising God, Rupert Brooke was inverting the sonnet and aspiring

readers to Helen of Troy that she became at length an old ugly woman. Standards of artistic

craftsmanship and of aesthetic appreciation began to change fundamentally. The writers of the

early twentieth century attacked the Victorian idea of ‘permanence’ in which they argued that the

institutions of the empire, home country, constitution and Christian religion cannot be replaced

by any other alternative institutions. This indicates that these institutions are not subject to the

natural processes of change. Shortly before the end of the nineteenth century there

simultaneously came two revolts, the first one was against the conventional morals whereas the

second one was against the romantic convention in art. The second revolt took two forms: a

revolt in the direction of realism and a revolt against symbolism and mysticism. Accordingly, the

process of change in literature started but in a slow mode. The novelist and poet understood their

Victorian society though they disliked it. Yet, they had no difficulty in presenting a clear picture

of their contemporary life and ideals. The collapse of the Victorian system was due to many

causes; perhaps the most important of these was Darwin’s theory of evolution which had

opponents and proponents. This argument between the two competing sides of the theory

resulted in a wave of pessimism.

11

Prior to World War II, the availability of education led to the decrease of the literacy.

Hence,

the effect on literature was profound wherein the demand for all types of fiction arose,

and the books started pouring from the presses. The spread of literacy was accompanied

by the awakening of the national conscience to the evils resulting from the Industrial

Revolution. Social reformers used plays and novels of social purpose as a means of

propaganda to educate the public. In the view of the above outlined developments, it is

for the first time in its history the novel now became the dominant literary form in

English; it worked as a tool for sociological studies in the sense that it dealt with

pathological cases and illustrated a particular psychological theory. (Klein, 1983: 300)

In this sense, modern writers felt that their new way of looking at life required that they follow

more experimental and individualistic forms of writing mainly because they were stimulated

factors such as the growing critique of British imperialism and the ideology of empire, the

warfare escalation, and the invention of new information technologies such as radio and cinema.

Writers of modernism attempted to search for new values and aspects in modern

literature. This does not necessarily imply that modern poetry and fiction are meaningless simply

because they succeeded in establishing a communication between the writer and the reader.

The modern novelists started employing the new psychological theories and methods

soon after they emerged. The next was that they psychoanalyzed their unfortunate victims by

uncovering the ambiguous secrets of which their victims were ignorant. They were no longer

content with their old magic faculty of entering into their consciousness because they were then

able to enter into their unconsciousness for the sake of expressing the irrationality and

disconnectedness of their mental processes in a better way. These writers might even neglect

12

syntax altogether and merely join disconnected phrases, unrelated words or illogical sounds to

express the sensations of their victims.

Writers, in this particular era,

“became convinced that literature was useless if it did not serve social and political

purpose, and those who failed to share this belief were thought to serve mere literary art.

The poetry and prose of the nineteen- thirties returned therefore to the serious mood

which had dominated the mid- Victorian period; but in a different way in the sense that

the Victorian had been mainly preoccupied with the condition of England issue, that is to

say the problem of how to support the poor. Their literature, therefore, was affected by a

spirit of non- violent humanitarianism, whereas the writings of the nineteen- thirties were

preoccupied with the condition of the whole world” (Goodman, 1988: 600- 01)

The influence of poetry in the years of the pr- World War I had become very weak.

During this time, the novel and drama dominated the literary genres. Nevertheless, poetry again

became a vital literary form closely in touch with life. The romantic poetry of Wordsworth does

not exist any longer in this age; it is replaced by descriptive, narrative and meditative verse. In

general, the style of poetry is cultured, careful and descriptive.

Novel was the form of literature that has come to dominate all the other forms. The

modern novel reflected the general features of the age to a large extent; it is much more frank

than the Victorian one in seriously discussing the everyday issues of the people. It took the

initiative to examine, criticize and assess larger aspects of life. The purpose of the novel widened

and deepened on the ground that the main interest in the novel was not only in telling a story but

it was psychological, too.

It is very essential to remember that the influence of inventing radio and cinema had an

enormous impact on literature due to the fact that they brought literature into England, “in the

13

form of broadcast stories, plays, literary discussions, and opened up an entirely new field for

authors. Another significant merit of invention in technology was that the quantity and variety of

the radio entertainment reduced the amount of time devoted to reading.” (Harris, 1981: 211). The

same thing may be said of the cinema which became the main form of leisure activity for many

people. It must be remembered, however, that film techniques were the basis of a number of

experiments in the novels.

As for drama, the modern literary age witnessed a growth of prose drama, and the kind

that flourished here was the candid, critic and comic one which examined the problems and tried

to prescribe the remedies. In this century, drama appears as an important literary form after it

was ignored for a hundred years. Like the novelists, most of the important dramatists were

chiefly concerned with the contemporary social scene. Despite the fact that there are few

examples of using poetry in drama; yet, prose is the normal medium. Long before the year 1918,

it became obvious that the old traditional forms of literature in novel, poetry and drama were no

longer used. The fact is that writers in all the three genres developed new forms to take into

account the new demands of the age. Progress was faster in drama, and novel underwent radical

changes due to the tragic and startling experiments of World War I. It is significant to argue that

the bulk of poetry which is published during this period is written in the traditional manner. For

the first time for many years, poetry is the least significant of the important literary forms.

As for the literary features in modernism,

“honesty was the most fundamental one. Poetry, for instance, now drew its inspirations

primarily from realities which constitute the people’s common experience of living and

found a place in modern verse. In drama, there were new and more honest methods of

production which showed the sole reality. The writer of the twentieth century conveyed

14

throughout his art what was happening in his intellectual and social environment to the

world” (Castle, 2007: 325).

The world has become a very complex experience in its political and social development, and it

was the writer’s duty of that time to report his impression to the world simply because he was

part of the world in which he lived. He was always seeking new forms of expression and

adequate techniques. It was his main purpose not to make confusion more confused, but to arrive

to imaginative unity, order and harmony out of chaos.

Some of the literary figures of the movement were T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Ezra Pound,

Wyndham Lewis, Virginia Woolf, Wallace Stevens, and Gertrude Stein. These writers practiced

some of the important characteristics of the literary modernism in their writings. There was, for

instance, a new emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity. This means that they focused on

how they see rather than what they see. In other words, they were evidently preoccupied with the

technique of stream of consciousness. But there was confusion in distinguishing between the

literary genres in the sense that novels tended to become more lyrical and poetic and that poems

were more documentary and prose- like. Furthermore, there was a tendency towards reflexivity

so that poems, plays and novels raised issues concerning their own nature, status, and role. As a

result, these changes produced a type of literature which was dedicated to experimentation and

innovation.

2.1.1.2 Post- Modernism

The second phase of the twentieth- century literary movement is labeled as ‘post-

modernism’. This term is often used to define the style or a trend which emerged in the post-

World War II era. Post- modern works are seen as a reaction against the radical mode of

enlightenment thinking and modern approaches to literature. The natural fact is that every

15

movement in history definitely has a number of features on the basis of which it is

distinguishable, and modernism is unquestionably one of these movements. Post- modern

authors are certainly not the first to use irony and humor in their writing. But for many post-

modern authors, these become the distinguished characteristics of their style for they often

treated very serious subjects such as history, World War II, the Cold War, and conspiracy

theories with sarcasm. Many post- modern writers use pastiche to combine elements of other

genres and styles of literature for the sake of creating a new narrative voice. Also, they apply

irony, playfulness, and black humor on art forms like detective fiction, science fiction, war

fiction, and songs.

‘Pastiche’ is another feature that characterizes the literary works of many post- modern

authors in the sense that they combine elements of previous genres and styles of literature to

create a new narrative voice, or to comment on the writing of their contemporaries. It must be

noted that post- modernism does not treat individual writings as isolated entities. Accordingly,

the study of post- modern literature is marked by intertextuality. Here, it must be understood that

the relationship is between one text and another or one text within the interwoven fabric of

literary history. Intertextuality in post- modern literature, however, can be in connection with or

parallel to another literary work that would come in the form of an extended discussion of a

work, or the adoption of a particular style.

Post- modern literature is also characterized by ‘metafiction’, a type of fiction in which

the author consciously refers to the artificiality of a work by parodying or departing from the

traditional narrative techniques. Many post- modern authors tend to display metafiction in their

writing s in an evident attempt to make the reader aware of its fictionality and the presence of the

16

author. They sometimes even use this technique to allow for incorrect shifts in narrative,

impossible jumps in time, or to maintain emotional distance as a narrator.

Post- modern literature is well- known for ‘historiographic metafiction’ which is

essentially term created by Linda Hutcheon and it refers to novels that fictionalize actual

historical events and characters. ‘Temporal distortion’ is yet another literary technique that uses a

nonlinear timeline.

The author may jump forwards or backwards in time, or he may employ cultural and

historical references that do not fit. This technique is frequently used in literature but it

has become even more common in films. But many post- modern authors are evidently

influenced by the concept of ‘paranoia’ in the sense that they write under the assumption

that modern society cannot be explained or understood. From that point of view, any

apparent connections or controlling influences on the chaos of society would be very

frightening, and this lends a sense of paranoia to many post- modern works.

(Baldick, 1990: 449).

By and large, post- modern authors adopt the feature of ‘maximalism’ in writing. This indicates

that they do not stick to the prescribed conventional narrative techniques and rush to write

disorganized, excessively long, and emotionally disconnected narratives. Authors who use this

technique defend their excessively long work to cover the length of subject matter. Furthermore,

the post- modern writers tend to use the theme ‘faction’ pretty much in their works which is very

similar to historiographic metafiction in that its subject material is based on actual events. But

writers of faction tend to blur the line between fact and fiction to the degree that it is almost

impossible to know the difference between the two kinds. Last but not the least; it may be argued

that the most important post- modern technique is the ‘magical realism’ which is performed by

applying the introduction of fantastic or impossible elements into a narrative. Magical realist

17

novels may include dreams which take place during normal life. They may also include subjects

like the return of previously deceased characters, extremely complicated plots, unexpected shifts

in time, myths and fairy tales that become part of the narrative. Lastly, many post- modern

authors attempt to involve the reader as much as possible over the course of a novel. This feature

of participation can take the form of asking the reader questions including unwritten narratives

that must be constructed by the reader or allowing the reader to make decisions regarding the

course of the narrative.

Despite the fact that there are some differences between both trends; yet, the study finds a

shared common ground where both eras, modern and post- modern narratives can meet. It is

evident that their literatures represent a departure from nineteenth- century realism, in which a

story was told from an objective or omniscient point of view. In character development, both

modern and post- modern literatures explore subjectivism on the basis that they both turn from

external reality to examine inner states of consciousness. The Waste Land is often cited as a

means of distinguishing modern and post- modern literature. Modernist literature sees

fragmentation and extreme subjectivity as a crisis of existence. It is simply a problem that must

be solved, and the artist is often referred to as the one who must solve it.

2.2 Colonial literature and Theory

2.2.1 Colonial Literature

Colonizers in Africa and Asia have tried to enforce their language on the part of the

indigenes of the occupied lands to make them adapt themselves with the Christian- European

norms and conducts for the sake of exploiting and enslaving the subjugated lands. In other

words, they wanted to impose their culture, doctrine, philosophy and religion on the territories

under their hegemony.

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When Queen Elizabeth was in throne, England became a super power both in military

and economy. This definitely resulted in the fact that England ruled over many colonies in Asia

and Africa where it established a number of companies like ‘The East Company in India’ and

‘The Royal Company in Africa’. To keep these companies and other commercial settlements

working, growing and expanding in size, England needed a strong army to protect their existence

there. As a result, right from middle of the eighteenth century the British colonial strategy had

gone into two directions commercially and militarily.

Part of the strategy to continue guarding its colonies scattered in the globe, England

needed to disguise the actual intentions for exploiting the colonized areas. Bearing this in mind, a

variety of unreal moral and religious justifications was submitted to convince the European

people as well as the indigenes of the occupation. In this sense, England suggested itself as a

leader to bring welfare, civilize and educate the people of these colonies.

But it was obvious that the real reason for the colonizers to dominate others was the fact

that they considered themselves superior to the people of the colonized lands due to their

physical features, courage and civilization. So, religiously speaking, the holy Christian

missionaries claimed that their mission was to liberate the mindset of the so- called primitives in

those lands and teach them The Bible.

By introducing themselves as the savior of the world, the colonizers concealed their

inhumane goal of exploiting other nations by conquering them. However, before digging deep

into the topic in hand, it seems helpful to define some terms like ‘colonialism’, ‘colonial

literature’ and ‘post- colonial literature’.

‘Colonialism’, then, is a political- economic phenomenon that started around the year

1500 in Europe aiming to conquer and exploit other lands in the world. Colonial literature, on the

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other hand can be defined as writing produced by authors who belong to the colonizing power,

for instance white writing about India, Africa or the Caribbean. This type of literature is written

before independence in the relevant region. This suggests that it is taken to mean “writing

concerned with colonial perceptions and experience, written mainly by metropolitans, but also by

creoles and indigenes, during colonial times” (Boehmer, 2005: 2). Generally speaking, literature

was widely utilized as a means of propaganda to convince the Europeans and the natives of the

colonies that the aim of colonization is humanitarian and that the colonized could gain benefit

from it. And, novel was used besides other literary genres to achieve this purpose.

Colonial writing, of course, comes in many other shapes and forms. This literary genre

covers a large era that starts from the sixteenth to twentieth century and its writers certainly vary

in their illustration and opinion of empire. Colonial writing can be seen as a background

highlighting the basic concerns of post- colonial authors who have, in various ways, responded to

it.

2.2.2 Post- Colonial Literature

By implication, therefore, post- colonial literature can be defined “as that [genre] which

critically or subversively studies the colonial relationship. It is writing that sets out in one way or

another to resist colonialist perspectives” (Boehmer, 2005: 3). Post- colonial writers work to

renounce the discourses which support colonization. For this reason, post- colonial literature can

still be defined as writing which has been, Bill Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia argue, “affected by

the imperial process from the moment of colonization to the present day” (2001: 2). In cases of

India and Nigeria, this includes novels, poetry, and drama which were written both during and

after the era of colonization. Hence, post- colonial literature implies that it is written after the end

of formal colonial rule. The British retreat from empire after the World War II and the gaining of

20

independence by the vast majority of its colonies has meant that new conflicts and power

struggles have arisen; the television screens of Europe often show pictures of ethnic conflict or

famine as well as corruption. Colonialism has also resulted in internal conflict, particularly in

countries such as India or Nigeria where isolated or conflicting groups were brought within

national boundaries. This is another context which can be seen as a good source of information

to the authors of post- colonial literature, like the problems of lack of security and certainty that

independent countries faced. On one level, post- colonial literature is an expression of these

crises as well as a proof to those who resist them. More importantly, post- colonial literature

presents alternative perspectives of Third World countries to those presented on the television

screens of the West.

Putting in mind that post- colonial writing is an international genre entails that it would

be a mistake to imply that all authors can be tied, either culturally or personally, to their

countries of origin. Indeed, a sense of origin or belonging is often absent. Furthermore, the

setting and scope of much post- colonial writing is international rather than local in focus.

Deciding whether a work should be placed in a local or international context is a vital issue when

approaching post- colonial writing. The global nature of post- colonial literature means that the

reader needs to be aware of a variety of contexts. Because of the influence of migration and the

availability of global travel, writers may not belong to or identify with one geographical region,

but cross both regional and cultural boundaries through their writing. In spite of the fact that

there are common issues across the globe, much post- colonial writing reflects the concerns of

the particular region in which it is written in English language.

In The Empire Writes Back, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin argue that,

“More than three-quarters of the people living in the world today have had their lives shaped by

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the experience of colonialism” (2002: 1). They further say that this effect is quite visible in a

number of life spheres, and literature is the highly significant one in the sense that it, “offers one

of the most ways in which these new perceptions are expressed and it is in their writing, and

through other arts such as painting, sculpture, music, and dance that the day- to- day realities

experienced by colonized peoples have been most powerfully encoded and so profoundly

influential” (2002: 2)

Post- colonial literatures of formerly colonized countries such as India, African countries,

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Australia, Canada, Caribbean countries, and Singapore have a number of

significant concerns and characteristics that can be stated in two substantial dimensions: the

concerns and the characteristics. Now, under the heading ‘The concerns of post- colonial

literatures’, three principal items are going to be listed. Firstly, the colonial literary works are

implicitly interested to reclaim job vacancies in the native lands under occupation. The truth is

that colonialism, as a philosophical, political and economical doctrine was a means of exploiting

foreign lands, resources and people. Enslavement, indentured labor and migration forced

indigenous populations to move from the places that they considered home. Hence, post-

colonial literature attempted to oppose their alienation from their areas by restoring a connection

between indigenous people and their places throughout narration and dramatization. Secondly,

the post- colonial literatures cast a considerable amount of light on the natives while struggling

so hard to confirm their cultural integrity. On the opposite side, colonialists are depicted trying to

throttle and deface the cultural identity of the local people. During colonization, the indigenous

cultures were often marginalized, suppressed, and openly degraded in favor of promoting the

social and cultural preferences and conventions of the colonizers. In response, much post-

colonial literature seeks to assert the richness and power of indigenous cultures in an effort to

22

restore pride in actions and traditions that were systematically degraded under colonialism.

Thirdly, and no less importantly, post- colonial writers of literature very often portray their

colonial subjects as uncultured savages existing in prehistoric societies, unable to progress or

develop without their intervention and assistance. In this way, they justified their actions,

including violence against those who resisted colonial rule. Revising history to tell things from

the perspective of those colonized is thus a major concern of post- colonial writing.

In coming up to inspect the underlying features of post- colonial literatures, the study lists

down three main characteristics, too. To start with, post- colonial writers utilize an abundant

quantity of resistant description to convey a counter representation about the ugliness and

inhumane treatment of the colonizers they showed to their subjugated subjects. Armed with

plentiful description of the indigenous people, locales and daily social cultural practices and

transactions, post- colonial writers succeeded in illustrating the symptoms of resistance the

indigenes showed against the patterns, inaccuracies and generalizations which the Western

colonizers used in their educational, legal, political, social texts and situations. Ashcroft and Pal

Ahluwalia argue that, “Gauri Viswanathan’s analysis of the use of the discipline of English

literature in India as a discourse of socio- political control shows very clearly how a hegemonic

discourse can operate and be effective in the same arena as acts and discourses of open social

resistance” (2002: 73). Bill Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia further argue that,

Gauri Viswanathan submits a classic example of the hegemonic control Colonialism

practices on the locals by showing how the humanistic functions traditionally associated

with the study of literature- for example, the shaping of character or the development of

the aesthetic sense or the disciplines of ethical thinking- can be vital in the process of

sociopolitical control. (2002: 135)

Lastly, post- colonial writers attempt to reshape the literatures and art forms of the

23

colonized. They rework European art forms to reflect Western styles of invention and creation

throughout utilizing literary forms, styles, structures, and themes.

2.2.3 Post- Colonial Theory

Post- colonial theory concentrates on a set of principal ideas and concepts which are

developed during the era of colonization resistance. As a result, post- colonial literature and

criticism arose both during and after the struggle of many nations in Africa, Asia, Latin America

and elsewhere for the independence from the colonial rule. Of course, post- colonial criticism has

embraced a number of aims, such as:

to seek to develop new forms of engaged theoretical work that contribute to the creation

of dynamic ideological and social transformation…, to articulate itself with different

forms of emancipatory politics, to synthesize different kinds of work towards the

realization of common goals that include the creation of equal access to material, natural,

social and technological resources, the contestation of forms of domination, whether

economic, cultural, religious, ethnic or gendered, and the articulation and assertion of

collective forms of cultural and political identity. Above all,… to make effective political

interventions within and beyond its own disciplinary field by developing significant

connections between the different forms of intellectual engagement and activism in the

world today. (Young, 2015: 11)

The era of imperial domination left behind ills that have long been waiting for remedy,

and as such it could not remain without a literary response. While early post- colonial texts were

still under the control of imperial power, for they were either produced by “a literary elite whose

primary identification is with the colonizing power [that is to say, the gentrified settlers] or the

representatives [the natives and outcasts] who wrote under imperial licence” (2002: 5), as Bill

Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin explain in The Empire Writes Back. They further

24

argue that it was not until the late 1970s that “the term post- colonial [started to be] used by

literary critics to discuss the various cultural effects of colonization” (2002: 168).

2.2.3.1 Orientalism

One of the most influential books of modern era is the Palestinian immigrant Edward

Said’s Orientalism (1978) that inaugurated the post- colonial studies. This book set very actively

an intellectual revolution that changed the canon of Western and Eastern Academia. What

readers see today in the work of post- colonial writers in American, European and South Asian

studies is the influence of this text. As a term, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin

define that, “Orientalism’ is popularized by Edward Said in his book Orientalism, he examines

the processes by which the ‘Orient’ was, and continues to be, constructed in European thinking”

(2007: 153). The significance of Orientalism as a mode of knowing the ‘other’ was a supreme

example of the construction of the ‘other’ and a form of authority. The Orient is not an inert fact

of nature, but a phenomenon constructed by generations of intellectuals, artists, commentators,

writers, politicians and, more importantly, constructed by the naturalizing of a wide range of

Orientalist assumptions and stereotypes. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin proceed

to state that, “The relationship between the Occident and the Orient is a relationship of power, of

domination, of varying degrees of a complex hegemony” (2007: 153). They, then, conclude in

their book, The Post- Colonial Studies Reader that, “Orientalist discourse, for Said, is more

valuable as a sign of the power exerted by the West over the Orient than a ‘true’ discourse about

the Orient” (1995: 185).

Edward Said has a viewpoint of colonialism; he considers it as a political and military

mission. In this regard, Said further argues that the colonial Occident considered the Orient as a

primitive and pagan entity. Here, Said is interested in casting light on the way the literary

25

European cultures and texts talk about the East. In his book, Orientalism, he argues that the

definition of ‘Orientalism’ held in the late eighteenth century stated that, “The Orient is an

integral of European material civilization and culture. Orientalism expresses and represents that

part culturally and even ideologically as a mode of discourse with supporting institutions,

vocabulary, scholarship, imagery, doctrines, even colonial bureaucracies and colonial styles”

(1978: 10). Said proceeds to explain that this means that, “Orientalism is a style of thought based

upon an ontological and epistemological distinction made between the Orient and …the

Occident” (1978: 2). Bill Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia define Orientalism from Said’s viewpoint

as “the the relationship of power between the Occident and the Orient, in which the balance is

weighted heavily in favour of the former. Such power is connected intimately with the

construction of knowledge about the Orient” (2001: 61). For this reason “a very large mass of

writers…have accepted the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for

elaborate theories, pics, novels, social descriptions, and political accounts concerning the

Orient…” (Said, 1978: 2- 3).

For Said, ‘Orientalism’ is “a way of coming to terms with the Orient that is based on the

Orient’s special place in European Western experience” (1978: 9). This description of the Orient

is significant to Europe because it is “the place of Europe’s greatest and richest and oldest

colonies, the source of its civilizations and languages” (1978: 9). Furthermore, it is “Europe’s

cultural contestant, and of its deepest and most recurring images of the Other. For Said, this

description “helped to define Europe (or the West as its contrasting image, idea, personality,

experience” (1978: 9). Said goes on to argue that: “Orientalism can be discussed and analyzed as

the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient by making statements about it, authorizing

views of it, describing it, by teaching it settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a

26

Western style for dominating restructuring, and having authority over the Orient” (1978: 11). In

the late eighteenth century, Orientalism was first defined that it:

can be discussed and analyzed as the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient

dealing with it by making statements about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by

teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as a Western style for

dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the Orient. (1978: 3)

However, Bill Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia argue that “Orientalism, then, pivots on a

demonstration of the link between knowledge and power, for the discourse of Orientalism

constructs and dominates Orientals in the process of ‘knowing’ them” (1978: 51). It is

specifically important to shed some light on the way Said analyzes and discusses Orientalism in

his book Orientalism by stating that it is:

the corporate institution for dealing with the Orient- dealing with it by making statements

about it, authorizing views of it, describing it, by making statements about it, authorizing

views of it, describing it, by teaching it, settling it, ruling over it: in short, Orientalism as

a Western style for dominating, restructuring, and having authority over the orient.

(1978: 3)

Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia comment on Said’s explanation of ‘Orientalism’ by stating that

“Orientalism, in Said’s formulation, is principally a way of defining and locating Europe’s

others. Orientalist analysis almost universally proceeded to confirm the primitive, exotic, and

mysterious nature of oriental societies” (2001: 48, 49). In putting West and East in oppositional

columns, Said clarifies that “the Orient has helped define Europe or the West as its contrasting

image, idea, personality, experience . . . It also tries to show that European culture gained in

strength and identity by setting itself off against the orient as a sort of surrogate and even

underground self” (1978: 1- 3).

27

In Orientalism, Said also argues that, “the relationship between the West and East is a

relation of power, of domination, of varying degrees of complex hegemony” (1978: 5). He

further states that,

There are Westerners, and there are Orientalists. The former dominate; the latter must be

dominated, their internal affairs rigidly controlled, their blood and treasures put at the

disposal of one or another Western power . . . For Orientalism was ultimately a political

vision of reality whose structure promoted the difference between the familiar (Europe,

the West, ‘us’) and the strange (the Orient, the East, ‘them’). (1978: 36, 43)

Said argues that Orientalist scholars of the nineteenth century highlighted particular

features of the Orient in their writing, such as:

its eccentricity, backwardness, silent indifference, feminine penetrability, and supine

malleability [This is why, for Said every writer on the orient saw the orient] as a locale

requiring Western attention, reconstruction, and even redemption… [To these are added]

ideas about the biological bases of racial inequality,… a second-order Darwinism, which

seemed to accentuate the ‘scientific’ validity of the division of races into advanced and

backward, or European-Aryan and Oriental-African. (1978: 205- 6)

Said further states that:

The construction of identity…involves establishing opposites and ‘others’ whose

actuality is always subject to the continuous interpretation and re-interpretation of their

differences from ‘us’. [This implies that] Each age and society re-creates its ‘Others’. Far

from a static thing then, identity of self or of ‘other’ is a much worked-over historical,

social, intellectual, and political process that takes place as a contest involving

individuals and institutions in all societies.

(Said, 1978: 332)

28

In Said’s perception this can be concisely formed to mean that the construction of identity is

bound up with the disposition of power and powerlessness in each society, and is therefore

anything but mere academic wool- gathering. In his explanation reference to his actual motive of

writing Orientalism, Said argues that his aim,

was not so much to dissipate difference itself…but to challenge the notion that difference

implies hostility, a frozen reified set of opposed essences, and a whole adversarial

knowledge built out of those things. [What he called for in Orientalism] was a new way

of conceiving the separations and conflicts that had stimulated generations of hostility,

war, and imperial control. And indeed, one of the most interesting developments in post-

colonial studies was a re-reading of the canonical cultural works, not to demote or

somehow dish dirt on them, but to re-investigate some of their assumptions, going

beyond the stifling hold on them of some version of the master-slave binary dialectic.

(1978: 252- 3)

That was the way Said views the term Orientalism in terms of its “application and

existence in general culture, literature, ideology, and social as well as political attitudes” (1978:

341). But, the Orientalists’ viewpoint was totally diverse. So, “To speak of someone as an

Oriental…was not just to designate that person as someone whose language, geography and

history were the stuff of learned treatises: it was often meant as a derogatory expression

signifying a lesser breed of human being” (1978: 341).

2.2.3.2 Mimicry

A key element in post- colonial studies is the examination of the processes through which

the native is a marginalized subject with little agency and identity. The Indian critic, Homi K.

Bhabha states in his book The Location of Culture that “mimicry emerges as one of the most

elusive and effective strategies of colonial power and knowledge” (1994: 85). He argues that

29

colonialism practices its authority through the signs of irony, mimicry, and repetition. Bhabha

points out that the colonized may very possibly slip into mockery while mimicking the colonizer.

The mimic man here appears to follow the white man’s authority to show the power of the

colonial discourse but in effect fractures and disrupts it. Bhabha quoted Benedict Anderson, the

twentieth century Anglo- Irish historian, political scientist, and polyglot arguing that the figure of

mimicry is locatable within “the inner compatibility of empire and nation” (Bhabha, 1994: 87).

Bhabha further interprets, “What emerges between mimesis and mimicry is a writing, a mode of

representation, that marginalizes the monumentality, quite simply mocks its power to be a model,

that power which supposedly makes it imitable [and the outcome is that] Mimicry repeats rather

than re- presents…” (1994: 87- 8). The native presents himself and/ or herself rather than be

represented, which eventually results into the fact that “the great tradition of European humanism

seems capable only of ironizing itself” (Bhabha, 1994: 87). As Bhabha puts it, “The menace of

mimicry is its double vision which in disclosing the ambivalence of colonial discourse disrupts

its authority” (1994: 88). Bhabha’s ‘Ambivalence’ and ‘Mimicry’ are principal words which he

uses very often in his works. Robert J. C. Young argues that Bhabha borrows the term

‘ambivalence’ “from psychoanalysis where it was first developed to describe a continual

fluctuation between wanting one thing and its opposite” (2015: 153). Young goes on to comment

on the reason why Bhabha borrows the term for by saying that he used the term to refer to a

“simultaneous attraction toward and repulsion from an object, person or action” (2015: 153). Bill

Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin argue Bhabha adapted this description into the

colonial discourse theory to describe:

the complex mix of attraction and repulsion that characterizes the relationship between

colonizer and colonized. The relationship is ambivalent because the colonized subject is

never simply and completely opposed to the colonizer. Rather than assuming that some

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colonized subjects are complicit and some resistant, ambivalence suggests that complicity

and resistance exist in a fluctuating relation within the colonial subject.

(2007: 13)

They further state that the most significant issue in Bhabha’s theory is that:

…ambivalence disrupts the clear-cut authority of colonial domination because it disturbs

the simple relationship between colonizer and colonized. Ambivalence is therefore an

unwelcome aspect of colonial discourse for the colonizer. The problem for colonial

discourse is that it wants to produce compliant subjects who reproduce its assumptions,

habits and values, that is, ‘mimic’ the colonizer.

(2007: 13)

They proceed to argue that this paves the way to the second term in Bhabha’s postcolonial

theory, mimicry, which,

has come to describe the ambivalent relationship between colonizer and colonized. When

colonial discourse encourages the colonized to mimic the colonizer, by adopting the

colonizer’s cultural habits, assumptions, institutions and values, the result is never a

simple reproduction of those traits. Rather, the result is a ‘blurred copy’ of the colonizer

that can be quite threatening. This is because mimicry is never very far from mockery,

since it can appear to parody whatever it mimics. Mimicry therefore locates a crack in the

certainty of colonial dominance, an uncertainty in its control of the behaviour of the

colonized. (2007: 124- 5)

The term mimicry has been crucial in Bhabha’s view of the ambivalence of colonial

discourse, too. For him, mimicry is the process by which the colonized subject is reproduced as

“a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of a difference that is almost the same, but not

quite” (Bhabha, 1994: 86). The process of copying the colonizing culture, behaviour, manners

and values by the colonized, Bhabha explains, contains both mockery and a certain menace, “so

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that mimicry is at once resemblance and menace.” (1994: 86) Hence, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth

Griffiths and Helen Tiffin say that, “mimicry reveals the limitation in the authority of colonial

discourse, almost as though colonial authority inevitably embodies the seeds of its own

destruction” (2007: 125).

They further state that:

the consequences of this for post- colonial studies are quite profound, for what emerges

through this flaw in colonial power is writing, that is, post- colonial writing, the

ambivalence of which is ‘menacing’ to colonial authority. The menace of mimicry does

not lie in its concealment of some real identity behind its mask, but comes from its

‘double vision which in disclosing the ambivalence of colonial discourse also disrupts its

authority’. The ‘menace’ of post-colonial writing, then, does not necessarily emerge from

some automatic opposition to colonial discourse, but comes from this disruption of

colonial authority, from the fact that its mimicry is also potentially mockery. (1995: 125)

2.2.3.3 Subalternity

The task of finding a politically and theoretically correct term that would appropriately

describe the literatures of the colonies other than the term ‘Commonwealth literature’ or ‘Third

world literature’ was a challenging task up until the 1960s when both terms are replaced by a less

connotative term “postcolonial literatures” (2007: 150) as stated by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth

Griffiths and Helen Tiffin. In spite of the fact that the debates about the lack of a suitable term

that would describe the literary works emerging from post- colonial societies, yet there is a

consensus among scholars that post- colonial writing mostly represents the focus on ‘cultural

difference’. This indicates a fact that naming the writings of the colonized societies is a hard and

complex process. Besides, it is “not simply a matter of language [as Homi K. Bhabha argues, but

more often a] quest for the Voice” (Bhabha, 1994: 177). This approach supports the argument of

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Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak who, in her innovative essay “Can the Subaltern Speak?”, suggests

that the Western act of benevolence toward the ‘Third World others’ is indeed an act of violence

since the intellectual tradition of the Western world that attempts to teach, and eventually save,

the oppressed by ‘civilizing’ them indeed denies their voices. Moreover, Spivak, in “Can the

Subaltern Speak?” goes on to say that, “if, in the context of colonial production, the subaltern has

no history and cannot speak, the subaltern as female is even more deeply in shadow” (1990: 83).

In “Can the Subaltern Speak?” they proceed to say that Spivak surveys that, “whether

subalterns can speak for themselves, or whether they are condemned only to be known,

represented, and spoken for in a distorted fashion by others, particularly by those who exploit

them” (2005: 452). Spivak’s “Can the Subaltern Speak?” begins with the analysis of silencing of

the contemporary subaltern by western ‘radical’ intellectuals who ostensibly seek to champion

those who are most oppressed by neocolonialism. Spivak, in the perception of Henry Schwarz

and Sangeeta Ray then,

…links these aspects of contemporary western theory to the colonial history of the

construction of subject-positions for the colonized. Spivak takes part in the discussion

surrounding the prohibition of sati (the immolation of Hindu widows) in early nineteenth

century India. At the heart of this competition to represent the colonized female’s ‘best

interests’ between ‘progressive’ colonialist males and “traditionalist” indigenous men

who defended the custom as a symbol of the integrity of Indian (Hindu) cultural identity,

was the ascription of ‘voice’ representing free will and agency to the Indian women. In

British discourse, this voice supposedly cried out for liberation, thus legitimizing the

colonial mission; whereas according to the native the male, the voice expressed the

subaltern woman’s attachment to tradition by assenting voluntarily to sati. In both cases,

Spivak argues, the voice of the female subaltern is in fact ventriloquized. (2005: 45)

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Spivak discusses the same issue in her essay “The Rani of Sirmur.” The British Raj

disposed the Raja of Sirmur, Karma Prakash, and established the Rani, his wife, “as the

immediate guardian of the minor king Fatteh Prakash, her son, because there are no trustworthy

male relatives in the royal house” (2016: 265). She further argues that:

it was necessary to hold Sirmur under a child guided by a woman … because the entire

eastern half of Sirmur had to be annexed immediately … to secure the East India

Company’s trade routes and frontier. This, then, is why the Rani surfaces briefly in the

archives [of the East India Company]; because she is a king’s wife and a weaker vessel.

We are not sure of her name. (Spivak, 2016: 265- 6)

Spivak carries on saying that “a title and a vaguely sketched first name [referred to once

as Rani Gulani, and another as Gulari] will suffice for the king of Sirmur’s wife because of the

specific purpose she is made to serve” (Spivak, 2016: 267). The Rani of Sirmur was helpless to

make resolutions since this power is afforded to a British officer who dwells in her palace. After

that, Spivak argues that the Rani disappears from the archives. “She emerges only when she is

needed in the space of imperial production” (Spivak, 2016: 267). Reference to which side is

more significant to Spivak, Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin argue that:

Spivak’s target is the concept of an unproblematically constituted subaltern identity,

rather than the subaltern subject’s ability to give voice to political concerns. Her point is

that no act of dissent or resistance occurs on behalf of an essential subaltern subject

entirely separate from the dominant discourse that provides the language and the

conceptual categories with which the subaltern voice speaks. (2005: 247)

Young describes Said, Gayatri C. Spivak and Bhabha as “The Holy Trinity of colonial

discourse analysis” (2015: 154). Schwarz and Sangeeta Ray further acknowledge Said’s

Orientalism (1978) “as their immediate inspiration” (2005: 451). To Spivak, for example, Said’s

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work is described as “the source book in our discipline” (1993:156). Henry Schwarz and

Sangeeta Ray argue that, according to Bart Moore- Gilbert, the Indian scholars Spivak and

Bhabha, “each substantially develops the project of Said’s Orientalism to bring Western theory

to bear on post- colonial issues and to bring the latter to bear on the former” (2005: 451). Spivak

notices that Said, in his Orientalism, focuses on the colonizer and pays relatively a little attention

to the colonized. They continue to state that her response to remedy this imbalance is that she

pays “a consistent attention throughout her career to the less privileged sectors of the colonized

peoples” (2005: 452). To illustrate these processes, the former critics say that “Spivak adapts the

term ‘subaltern’ from Antonio Gramsci [a seventeenth Italian neo- Marxist theorist and

politician] in whose writing it signifies subordinate marginalized social groups in European

society” (2005: 452). In this sense, ‘subalterns’ are those groups in society of inferior rank who

are subject to the hegemony of the ruling classes.

2.3 Works of Colonial Literature

Colonial narratives are very significant to study how the colonized as well as the

colonizers are viewed and treated during the colonization era as they contribute extensively to

the literary creativity and perform a historical and social function. As such, these colonial literary

works reflect the ideologies, cultures and values of the era. They also present the social

background that in turn assists the scholars and readers in understanding the vantage point of the

author. The emergence of the British Empire during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries gave

rise to colonial literature in India and other countries in Africa and Asia that were taken in as

colonies. The unrivalled and great victory of the British Empire led to perspectives on both sides

of the colonized and the colonizers. The foreign territories of the British Empire attracted many

writers who produced prolific literary works dealing with these exotic themes and settings.

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Rudyard Kipling is practically considered the pioneer of the colonial genre, and other writers like

William Somerset Maugham, George Orwell and Conrad rapidly adapted themselves to this

newly prosperous area.

To begin with, post- colonial literature is concerned with the literature of countries that

were colonized by European countries. It often addresses the problems and consequences of the

decolonization of a country, especially questions relating to the political and cultural

independence of formerly subjugated people, and themes such as racialism and colonialism. For

Boehmer, this topic seems to be peculiarly large in scope. Instead, she suggests narrowing the

field by studying literature written in English. She continues to argue that “it is the late Victorian

age which outlines the boundaries of discussion pertaining the century of British colonialism on

a grand scale and the decades of anti- and/ or postcolonial activity which followed” (2005: 2).

Hence, the term of ‘colonialism’ tackles the policy of extending the control over foreign

lands as a means of exploitation of resources, and as an attempt to govern the indigenous

inhabitants of the occupied lands by force. The expansion of imperialism in the nineteenth

century was reflected in complex ways in the works of writers, artists, and composers. Those

who colonized relied also on the processes of the transmission of Western culture to the colonies

in order to create a culturally unified empire. For one reason, the colonizers believe that the

cultural forces of imperialism are as effective as any military conquest.

This section is devoted to study a selection of four works from four different English

literary eras that have emerged right from seventeenth to twentieth century. These writings deal

with the societies which were previously part of the British Empire. The present section

discusses the authors’ texts and raises questions reference to post- colonial studies. Among the

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selected writings, there are Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1611), Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe

(1719), Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (1901), and finally, George Orwell’s Burmese Days (1934).

2.3.1 William Shakespeare: The Tempest

Critics have found a critique of colonialism in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. The most

fundamental of these analyses consider Prospero as a European invader of the magical and

primitive land that he comes to rule by using his superior knowledge to enslave its original

inhabitants, namely Caliban and Ariel, and force them to execute his commands.

In The Tempest, Caliban stands for countless victims of European imperialism. Like

Caliban, colonized natives are disinherited, exploited, and subjugated. They learn the

colonizer’s language and values in hope of getting his humane treatment and caring attention,

but the result is that they go through a series of spiteful dealings, enslavement and contempt by

European rulers, and eventually they rebel. During this struggle, the indigenes are torn between

their native culture and the culture which is imposed on them by their own conquerors.

The English colonialists’ use of religion and superior technology to manipulate the

natives is analogous to Prospero’s use of magic which he received from books to control and

enslave Caliban and Ariel. Caliban says that Prospero repeatedly insisted on using his power to

compel his slave to, “make our fire/ Fetch in our wood, and [serve] in office/ That profit us”

(Shakespeare, 1980: I.ii.311-313).

Of course, the creed of colonial superiority and view of ‘Otherness’, to the subjugated

natives evidently characterize their relationships with the people of the ruled lands. And, this fact

is clearly illustrated in the way Prospero addresses the native inhabitants of this island as he

persists to refer to them as his ‘slaves’. He calls Caliban, “Caliban, my slave…” The Tempest I.ii.

308) and to Ariel, “my slave.../ What is’t thou canst demand?” (Shakespeare, 1980: I.ii.345).

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Caliban’s protest and resistance to Prospero’s colonial power by using the language of his master

often helped to interpret the play as a colonial text simply because Prospero, from the very

moment he arrived at Sycorax’s island, started acting as a ruler imposing his own culture on the

natives of the island, enslaving them, and making them execute his orders. Like all the

colonizers, he is overwhelmed with an obvious sense of superiority because he visualizes the

natives of the island, namely Caliban and Ariel, as inferior subjects, marginalizing them and

placing himself as the chief master of everything on the island. One of the instances cited here is

when he made Caliban work for him as a servant calling him “Dull thing” (Shakespeare, 1980:

I.ii.285). This treatment of Caliban as a subhuman or as an inferior creature definitely projected

Prospero as the supreme and ultimate power on the island. In The Tempest, he described Caliban

as deformed, evil smiling, treacherous, drunkard, violent, savage, devil worshipping, and so on.

He argues that, “This thing of darkness, I acknowledge mine” (Shakespeare, 1980: V. i. 275- 6).

The play examines the way in which certain ideals are used as a form of control, such as freedom

and education. It is also argued that Prospero’s gift of language was just a way to control

Caliban; the actual reason for the exploitation of language is because he desires to maintain

entire control over the island. Prospero is ultimately the controlling force which he used to create

a sense of order and disorder. This quite truly proves that Caliban, in Prospero’s perception, is

not believed to be human, but rather born as devil. Here, Shakespeare is no exception from other

colonial writers because he, in projecting Prospero’s statement, simply attempts to illustrate the

way the colonizers approach the colonized people in the sense that they always degrade them.

Caliban, in this context, is projected as a despicable entity, and that the White men despise the

people of another color. This sort of criticism builds up for a concrete truth: according to the

mindset of colonizers, some of the human beings, basically the Europeans, are born to dominate;

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while others, namely Non- Europeans, are born to be dominated. It is argued that colonizers have

persisted to use words like enlightenment and knowledge to refer to themselves, whereas they

have used terms such as darkness and ignorance to describe the colonized. This binary

opposition shows how Prospero as a colonizer creates canons about the colonized people. In

other words, Prospero sees himself as a ruler carrying out his civilizing mission by enlightening

the ignorant, uncivilized natives. In his perception, this holly mission is very much like the way

the light dispels darkness and knowledge dispels ignorance. Shakespeare’s Prospero is projected

here as a colonizer who is granted with a holly mission to educate and cultivate Caliban, but he

was incapable of achieving much success in his endeavors due to Caliban’s resistance and firm

resolution to set himself free out of this captivity.

As a colonial play, The Tempest was written down to represent to the European

colonizers’ imperial philosophy since they usually take a negative stance against the colonized

indigenes. Caliban is, therefore, dispraised even before he appears as “A freckled whelp, hag-

born” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 283), as “my slave, who never/Yields us kind answer”

(Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 309-10), and as “a villain, sir! I do not love to look on” (Shakespeare,

1980: I. ii. 310-11). Prospero explains:

But as ‘tis

We cannot miss him: he does make our fire,

Fetch our wood, and serve in offices

That profit us. (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 311-14)

Caliban, as perceived from the standpoint of the colonized, definitely emerges as a

revolting patriot against the colonial hegemony right from the beginning of the play. He takes the

initiative to express his hatred and strong resistance against his subjugator, Prospero in every

possible way. This is all happening due to the ill- treatment of Prospero who works so hard to

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manipulate and control the indigenes. This whole bunch of degradation incites Caliban to strike

back against Prospero either by showing disobedience or creating problems as this can be traced

in his attempt to rape Miranda. This lustful act, on the other hand, is regarded as a real threat to

the safety of her father, Prospero, and Caliban’s verbal rebellion is ignited when he accuses his

colonizer of usurping the island of his mother forcefully. Caliban time and again claims his

island back because it allegedly belongs to him arguing that he is the true legitimate inheritor.

Therefore; he repeatedly says, “This Island is mine, by Sycorax, my mother/ Which thou tak’st

from me” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 332-33).

Another example of Caliban’s resistance can be seen in his refusal to learn or recite

anything from Prospero’s own language. This opposition keeps Caliban unchanged in terms of

language and nature until the very end of the play. In the instance of language, Prospero is

similar to the White men in their illusion that they work for the goodwill and well-fair of the

colonized. But such notion proves to be fallacious because he is unable to accomplish this goal

till the very closing stages of the play, and Caliban ended up using Prospero’s language only in

cursing the latter. These attempts by Caliban to protest and resist can support the concept that

The Tempest can be interpreted as a colonial play.

When Prospero first arrived on the island, he treated Caliban with kindness and lodged

him in his own cave. Furthermore, he and his daughter, Miranda, taught him to speak their

language, and Caliban in turn showed them where to find fresh water and edible plants, as well

as how to trap animals and birds worth eating. Caliban referred to these facts by telling Prospero:

When thou cam’st first,

Thou strok’st me and madest much of me, wouldst give me

Water with berries in’t, and teach me how

To name the bigger light and how the less,

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That burn by day and night. And then I loved thee,

And show’d thee all the qualities o’ th’ isle,

The fresh springs, brine pits, barren place and fertile. (Shakespeare, 1980: I.ii. 397-405)

Caliban showed Prospero how to survive on the island and, in return for this favor;

Prospero took care of him and taught him to speak the human language. Also, Prospero treated

Caliban with humane care that he even let him stay at his pad. He argues: “I have used thee…

with humane care/ and lodged thee/ In mine own cell” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 346- 48). Later

on, unfortunately, the relationship between Prospero and Caliban deteriorated for Prospero

enslaved, insulted, and punished Caliban with the weapon of hunger. Consequently, Caliban’s

reaction was that he tried to rape Miranda in an attempt to, “...peopled… this isle with Calibans”

(Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 351- 52). But this monstrous behavior of resistance was inexcusable.

For this reason Prospero treated him disrespectfully. Nevertheless, Caliban is a figure who can

still be read as a victim of Prospero’s tyranny. However, Caliban’s constant claim over the

island, “This island’s mine, by Sycorax, my mother” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii.332), always

reminds the readers that Prospero basically usurped the island and made Caliban his slave. But

Caliban never yielded; he challenged Prospero’s authority in a striking way, especially when he

pointed out that learning Prospero’s language gave him the ability to curse his tormenter. Here,

Caliban developed a real hatred of Prospero telling him, “You taught me language, and my profit

on’t/ Is, I know how to curse...” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 364-65).

This might very possibly be taken as a confirmation of Caliban’s brutishness because all

he can do with the gift of language is curse. He accused Prospero of usurping his island that he

inherited from his mother Sycorax since he was her legitimate heir. Caliban did not complain of

being exploited though he showed Prosper the whereabouts of the island; rather, he complained

of being betrayed. He says explicitly,

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...When thou camest first

Thou strok’dst me, and mad’st much of me; wouldst give me

Water with berries in’t; and teach me how

To name the bigger light, and how the less

hat burn by day and night: and then I lov’d thee. (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 333- 337)

But now, “...you sty me/ In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me/ The rest o’ the island”

(Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 343- 345).

In his justification for the usurp of Caliban’s island, Prospero claimed that he offered the

island a big favor for it wasn’t, “honour’d with A human shape” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 283).

He argued that he set it free from Sycorax, the witch, and populated it with the human race. But

Caliban refuted this allegation by saying, “This island’s mine ... Which thou tak’st from me”

(Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 331- 32).

Subsequent to her arrival to the island, Miranda told Caliban that she could not put his

action or thoughts into words. She argued, “I endowed thy purposes/ With words that made them

known” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 356- 58) , but she could not change his savage nature, and the

tragic outcome was that he persisted to act as an evil barbarian who did not hesitate to plan to kill

his master, Prospero, or even rape her. This explains why Prospero calls him “A devil, a born

devil” (Shakespeare, 1980: IV. i.188), simply because, “on whose nature Nurture can never

stick” (Shakespeare, 1980: IV. i.189). Miranda shared her father’s judgment on Caliban by

stating that, “thy vile race/ ... had that in ‘t which good natures/ Could not abide to be with”

(Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 358- 60). That part of Prospero’s response to his “lying slave” is the

assertion to “have us’d [him]/ (Filth as thou art) with human care” (Shakespeare, 1980: I.ii.345-

46) did not support the justice of his claiming back the island.

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The case that Prospero can use the White man’s tongue to accuse Caliban of being a

savage, “a born devil, on whose nature/ Nurture can never stick” (Shakespeare, 1980: IV. i. 188-

89) is inadequate. Naturally, the eloquent power of civility allowed Prospero to express himself

but it compelled Caliban’s potentials and finally reduced him to silence. This civility that

oppresses local subjects as well as renders them to silence may be taken as an indication of

resistance to their own oppressor. Resultantly, Prospero is referred to as the tyrant and sorcerer

who, “by his cunning hath/ Cheated me of the Island” (Shakespeare, 1980: III. ii. 46-7).

In the colonial discourse, however, the theme of rape committed by natives is very

common. The Tempest presented Miranda as a virgin who ought to be protected from the rapist

native and presented to a civil lover. Caliban denied the accusation of attempting to rape Miranda

because of lust but rather to populate the island with Calibans. He argues, “...I had peopled else/

This isle with Calibans” (Shakespeare, 1980: I.ii.350-351). This statement is an implicit

indication of the property ownership which Caliban and Prospero shared. Caliban desired

Miranda, and specifically saw her as a mother of his potential heirs.

Miranda reacted to Caliban’s attempt of raping her by suggesting that Caliban’s evil race

and lack of language suited his status as a slave. What is interesting here is that Caliban is

destined to serve in the light of the fact that when he conspired with Stefano and Trinculo to kill

Prospero, he promised to serve Stefano, “I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’ th’ island/And I will

kiss thy foot. I prithee, be my god” (Shakespeare, 1980: II. ii. 154-155).

When Shakespeare made Caliban contemplate upon the issue that magic power which is

learned from books is by no comparison stronger than the natural magic of Sycorax; he wanted

his readers to compare the civilized beliefs with the savage superstitions and consequently be

able to draw a typical conclusion that European power is stronger. So, when Prospero threatened

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to punish Caliban with his magic, he promptly begged him not to. Aside, he assumed that he

must obey Prospero’s commands admitting that Prospero’s magic power was unquestionably

stronger arguing that:

No, pray thee.

[Aside] I must obey. His art is of such pow’r

It would control my dam’s god, Setebos,

And make a vassal of him. (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 371-73)

Shakespeare proves to be quite successful in projecting the low race of the inhabitants on

the island through the use of adjectives: Caliban, for instance is treated as a beast. Prospero,

Stephano and Trinculo considered him inhuman, ‘moon-calf’ and ‘monster’. Shakespeare’s use

of adjectives illustrates hegemonic relationships between Europeans and natives. Trinculo feels

free to call Caliban ‘weak’, ‘credulous’, ‘perfidious’, ‘puppy-headed’, ‘scurvy’, ‘abominable’

and ‘ridiculous’. In general, Caliban is variously described as ‘monster’, ‘devil’, “… A freckled

whelp, hag- born, not honored with/ A human shape” (Shakespeare, 1980: I.II. 285), ‘earth’, and

‘natural’. In this sense, Caliban is Nature in all its rawness and mystery. Very interestingly, even

Caliban’s name can be traced as bearing a colonial bias; it became a European term used to

describe those species which are basically flesh- eaters. It associates him with the kinds of

savage man- eaters, or cannibals, that Europeans were reading about in travel literature. It is also

possible that Caliban’s name may mean something associated with blackness. Here, Prospero

related his slave to dirt, “thou earth” (Shakespeare, 1980: I. ii. 313) and says of him, “This thing

of darkness I / acknowledge mine” (Shakespeare, 1980: V.i.275). Caliban is apparently a symbol

for the colonial injustice under which the indigenes underwent a series of sufferings resulted

from racial discrimination and ending up with land usurpation and man’s power exploitation on

the hands of the European colonizers.

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2.3.2 Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe dealt with the concept of colonialism by projecting a series of images of the

colonized as well as the colonizers in his masterpiece, Robinson Crusoe (1719). In the novel,

Defoe’s call to civilize the non- European savage people is just a concealed justification for

colonizing other nations. It is, in fact, an invitation for conquering and exploiting fortunes of

these lands so as to meet the needs of the European countries in industrial trading and

agricultural fields of life.

Robinson’s attempt of transforming the primitive Friday into a civilized man violates

Friday’s cultural rights and refers to the dominant position of white male authority. In this sense,

Robinson Crusoe follows the same colonial strategy that his predecessors had. In Robinson

Crusoe, Daniel Defoe considered Man Friday and the rest of the ethnic group on the island as

barbaric savages and that Crusoe’s relationship with his servant Friday served as an allegory for

British imperialists through dislocating other cultures for the sake of civilizing them. This

relationship between the colonizer and the colonized is clearly illustrated when Robinson Crusoe

first saved Friday from being killed. Friday returned Robinson’s favor when he “laid his head

upon the ground, and taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head” (Defoe, 1994: 205). This

serves as a proper illustration of the situation in which the white man keeps the minority group

down.

In all forms of colonization, the hegemonic ruling class manages to convince the native

people that their interests are the interests of all and the outcome of this success makes the

colonized subjects understand themselves as minor to imperial values, beliefs and attitudes, and

accept their centrality. Crusoe’s desire for a companion and a servant is yet another sign of his

colonialism. In creating Friday, Defoe desired to extend Crusoe’s isolation on the island, and this

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ultimately revealed one of basic criteria of colonialism in which Friday not only rehearsed

Crusoe’s words or even imitated his actions; but he also signified an extension of Crusoe

himself. In this regard, Friday was similar to Crusoe’s pet parrot in the sense that he learned to

repeat Crusoe’s words and thoughts, “Poor Robin Crusoe, where are you? Where have you been?

How came you here?” (Defoe, 1994: 152- 4). In this respect, the Crusoe- Friday relationship

exemplifies what Bhabha means by colonial mimicry and ambivalence. In The location of

Culture, Bhabha argues that:

Colonial mimicry is the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of a

difference that is almost the same, but not quite. Which is to say, that the discourse of

mimicry is constructed around an ambivalence; in order to be effective, mimicry must

continually produce its slippage, its excess, its difference. (1994: 86)

In Crusoe’s relationship with Friday, Friday willingly yielded to his white savior through

changing himself into a copy of his master. Friday’s perfect mimicry of Crusoe reinforced the

master’s belief in the superiority of his religion, culture, and values. At the end of his stay on the

island, Crusoe developed from a man saved by God to one who was a savior appointed by God,

“And where, sir, [ Crusoe asks the Captain of the English ship] is your belief of my being

peserv’d here on purpose to save your life?” (Defoe, 1994: 253).

The act of naming is yet another feature of Crusoe’s colonialism on the island, for shortly

after rescuing Friday, Crusoe explained, “I made him know his name should be FRIDAY, which

was the day I sav’d his Life... I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that

was to be my Name” (Defoe, 1994: 208). The act of naming is viewed as a means of taking

possession of Friday as well as nullifying his identity and history through the imposition of the

name ‘Friday’. Here, Friday’s transformation was achieved in large part through education,

which included instruction in the true knowledge of religion. Friday became, in many ways, a

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carbon copy of his white savior in many ways, “and thus he was cloath’d for the present,

tolerably well; and was mighty well pleas’d to see himself almost as well cloath’d as his Master”

(Defoe, 1994: 210). In making laws and giving names to places and things on the island, Crusoe

both created and assumed control over the island. By choosing the name ‘Friday’, Robinson

created a new identity for the servant as all colonialists do after they put the lands they arrive to

under their control. The process of naming, generally, leads to dehumanization of the servant as

it dispossesses the indigenes of their identities and grants them a new social, moral and religious

code. Brett McInelly comments on this by stating that “Crusoe’s tendency to imagine and create

through language his own reality reveals something of the nature of colonialism in general,

namely, that it involves an assembly of images and cultural constructs, as well as material

practices and circumstances” (2003: 5).

Not only this, Robinson even practiced his colonial authority with the clothes through

dressing Friday in new clothes that he made, imagining himself “a tolerably good taylor” (Defoe,

1994: 209). Robinson noted that Friday “was mighty well pleas’d to see himself almost as well

cloath’d as his Master” (Defoe, 1994: 209). To Friday, the clothes are “very awkward [and] they

hurt him [at first, but soon] he took to them very well” (Defoe, 1994: 210). This event serves as

another example of Robinson stripping Friday of his personality and identity. It is important to

note that Friday’s transition to match Western styles of clothing is not very much comfortable at

first, but he gradually became accustomed to it. The reader never has the chance to hear things

from Friday’s perspective, but the implication is that the transition to Western clothing is

uncomfortable in a physical motional way, since the unease is obvious to Robinson. This shows

that the colonizer perceives the pain of the colonized, but does not feel sorry about causing it.

From the colonizer’s perception, this process of converting indigenes from savagery to civility

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should be commended. That is why Robinson praises himself because he considers himself the

noble white person who always does favors to the savage people. This is quite clear in the

following statement which he makes when he said that Friday’s “Affections were ty’d to me, like

those of a child to a father” (Defoe, 1994: 210). Yet, Robinson was unable to see that the actual

type of this relationship was a slave- master, not a child to a father one. As McInelly points out

in his article, “Crusoe’s tendency to imagine himself in grandiose terms replicates something of

what was occurring in the culture at large in the early eighteenth century” (2003: 5).

The island of Robinson Crusoe could also be interpreted as a symbol of a colony since it

idealizes the master- servant relationship wherein Robinson appears as the savior of the

cannibals and savage people, though the price of this rescue is that Man Friday had to serve as a

slave forever under his power. Hence, the novel is laid down in a particular way to show the

superiority of the White man over the colored indigenes. In this novel, Defoe divided the world

into master and slave categories. Everyone should take this fact as his destiny to a certain extent

that no one can escape from it since it is an enclosed circle. Time and again, the reader is given

the impression that Crusoe and Friday have a superior- inferior relationship in which Crusoe is

the master and Friday is the servant who is to serve as long as he lives. This colonial relationship

is expressed repeatedly in the text, for instance, “I [Crusoe] made him know his name should be

Friday … I likewise taught him to say Master, and then let him know, that was to be my Name”

(Defoe, 1994: 208). Friday, however, had to respect and obey this particular type of relationship

in a cordial way. In fact, he welcomed it in an extremely grateful manner and showed readiness

and submission to serve, “he kneel’d down again, kiss’d the ground, and laid his head upon the

ground, and, taking me by the foot, set my foot upon his head; this, it seems, was in token of

swearing to be my slave for ever;” (Defoe, 1994: 205). Crusoe felt so comfortable for the

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symptoms of submission that he received from Friday to an extent that his reaction is, “I took

him up, and made much of him, and encourag’d him all could … he spoke some words to me,

and though I could not understand them, yet I thought they were pleasant to hear” (Defoe, 1994:

205). However, this behaviour may be due to mere relief of having another human companion

with him who would help him overcome the many years of solitude, “for they were the first

sound of a man’s voice, that I had heard, my own excepted, for above twenty five years” (Defoe,

1994: 205). Crusoe took Friday under his protection after he was certain that the remaining

savages were dead, “I carry’d him not to my castle, but quite away to my cave, on the farther part

of the island” (Defoe, 1994: 206). But he separated Friday’s bed from his own as a proper

precaution due to his natural fears from being attacked during the night, “I made a little tent for

him in the vacant place between my two fortifications … I barr’d it up in the night, taking in my

ladders too, so that Friday could no way come at me in the inside of my innermost wall, without

making so much noise in getting over, that it must needs waken me” (Defoe, 1994: 210). This

quotation clearly states that Crusoe does not have full trust in Friday. The behavior of low trust

supports the colonial master- slave relationship, where the master will not fully trust the slave in

his work.

When Robinson saw Friday digging up corpses to eat them he stated that, “I appear’d

very angry, express’d my abhorrence of it, made as if I would vomit at the thought of it” (Defoe,

1994: 208). Here, Robinson’s angry reaction was interpreted in one possible sense that he

attempted to liberate Friday of his cannibalistic tendencies. Instead of gradually changing

Friday’s lifelong habits, Robinson wanted to alter his servant’s cultural values extremely quickly.

Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe can also be estimated for its religious, moral, and economic

aspects in which it shows the superiority of the Christian religion over other beliefs. In other

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words, it also reveals the great Christians’ desire for globalizing Christianity. During Crusoe’s

discussion of his attempts to convert Friday to Christianity, his language was extremely hateful.

One of the instances that can be provided here is that Robinson compared the natives of the area

to “the most blinded ignorant pagans in the world [and states that their religion is a] fraud”

(Defoe, 1994: 217). In this scene, Robinson frequently referred to Friday as a “poor savage [and

a] poor ignorant creature” (Defoe, 1994: 210), thereby contributing further to the constant

dehumanization of Friday. These interactions show that the colonial process is psychologically

brutal and hard. Presenting a British trader as a hero and setting him on a distant Caribbean

island, justifies the need to study Robinson Crusoe in a colonial context.

2.3.3 Rudyard Kipling: Kim

Rudyard Kipling is another writer of imperialism. Critics and readers believe that he is a

keen supporter of the superiority of British Raj over the colonized locals. Yet, he bears an

ambivalent attitude towards India in the sense that he reassesses his approach, nostalgia and love

for India, the place of his childhood. In this duality, Kipling is paradoxical; he is an advocate of

The White Man’s Burden to civilize the natives, in that way justifying the superiority of the

British over the indigenes.

A critical analysis of Kipling’s fiction shows that he is a racist and imperialist. A very

good example on this trend is his long narrative Kim (1901). The novel speaks about the Orients’

lack of sense of time and discipline in which the Indianized Westerner, Kim, recreates his own

consciousness of Indian life.

As the reader goes through Kim, he finds that Kipling, consciously or unconsciously acts

as an imperialist supporter. Imperialism was not just the practice of the British Empire’s acts of

colonization of other lands and people; imperialism was a philosophy that assumed the

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superiority of British civilization and therefore the moral responsibility to bring their enlightened

ways to the uncivilized people of the world.

The colonial boy, Kim who is both black and white, developed and reached his peak in

Kim. He is aware of his nativity and colonial sense at the same time simply because he

descended from imperial origin. He is a Sahib, but participated in the English cultural practices

as well. He moved between the two identities, cultures and communities but belonged to neither.

And here, the orphan Anglo- Indian embraced the whole of the Indian sub-continent as his home.

India became a landscape colored by the Indian and English voices.

For A. R. Sarath- Roy in his article “Rudyard Kipling Seen through Hindu Eyes”, Kipling

is a basically a representative of the Occident and hence he is supporter of colonial hegemony.

He argues that, “The man as a man is an ingrate; the man as one of the conquering race is

without chivalry and manliness when he ridicules a conquered nation” (1914: 271). Colonial

writers always represented the Indian as an inferior person to an Englishman. Kipling writes to

exaggerate the hardships and responsibilities of his fellow- countrymen as they work hard to

build an empire. He writes to praise the colonial system through overstressing the ways that the

colonizers face the dangers of climate, disease and intrigues to erect their empire. Sarath- Roy

continues to argue, “That Kipling has enhanced these dangers and hardships so abnormally is

easy to understand… to be expected from so enthusiastic an imperialist” (Sarath- Roy, 1914:

278).

Kipling succeeded in offering Kim as an oriental character who attempts to conquer the

barriers of racial differences. Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffin argue that Kipling

performed this by means of allowing “the emotions and values instilled in him during his social

formation in an alien culture to inform his appraisals of the Other” (2007: 22). Readers of the

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novel can notice that Kim’s religious views depend on oriental religions. It is also noticed Kim is

a disciple of Lama who knows very little about Christianity. This clearly indicates that the

protagonist of the novel has a religiously- oriented bias. The author indirectly characterized

Kim’s religious views by giving him the opportunity to question his religious faith, “Who am I?

Mussulman, Hindu, Jain, or Buddhist? That is hard knot” (Kipling, 1946: 29).

Kipling, through the presentation of Kim’s character as the prominent figure in the

narrative, desires to show that there are mixed elements of British ruler with those of ruled

Indians in terms of symbols. Kipling, here, believes in the necessity of the ruler - ruled

relationship between the Indians and the British through illustrating that Kim’s different aspects

of identity are very complicated. And, this is why a paradoxical situation arises in the novel on

the grounds that Kim is brought up in the native environment; yet he is very unhappy as a captive

within a British military unit due to the strangeness of the surroundings as well as the reason of

the European’s treatment. This explains why he takes pride in his European decency. For one

reason, if Kim had not had European parents and had been a native Indian, he would not have

suffered from the exclusion of the European treatment.

Now, this becomes quite evident that the origin of the Occident has a clear prominent

impact on Kipling’s writings in the sense that East is multicultural and cosmopolitan whereas

West is bicultural . This viewpoint resulted from Kipling’s Western decency can be very much

applied to his novel Kim to an extent that he embarked on describing his characters from a

western point of view though they are indigenes. Some scholars found out that this is an

imperial- biased outlook in Kipling’s Kim due to the fact that Indians do not find the identity of

Kipling’s characters as truly Indian. Kim and Hurree, another focal character, tried to solve the

problem of their double identity in the same way as Europeans because both of them held the

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author’s ideas. Achis Nandy tried to clarify the intellectual world of Kipling in these words:

“This other Orient was... beyond the dreary middle-class horizons of Kipling and his English

contemporaries. They forced themselves and every bicultural Westerner to make his choice”

(1999: 72). Because he biologically descended from British origin, Kipling was unquestionably a

spokesman of the colonial system in India at that particular era. Therefore, he provided his

readers with a picture of the prevailing opinions and prejudices that the Europeans had, and, as a

result, prevented them from being interested in the Oriental views. Patrick Williams pointed to

the frequent occurrence of stereotypes in the colonial literature and underlined them as “the

principal mechanism in ideologies of discrimination and domination at work in colonialism”

(1999: 481). This is pretty much factual, but it is more than that; it reveals the gap between the

intellectual worlds of the Europeans and the natives and it is very improbable for an individual to

escape completely from the attitudes and prejudices of the society he or she had grown up in. To

sum up, Kim, for modern readers, is not a source of knowing the Indians but of the European

thinking and a search for identity in a foreign country. This indicates that there are two

components merged in Kim’s character: Kipling’s praise of Indian culture and his contentment

that the British are the rightful rulers of the natives.

Another oriental figure that Kipling used to express his colonial bias is the Lama. Kipling

has the tendency to introduce the Lama as the character embodying contemporary European

views of a native but is still unspoiled by the European influences. Here, Lama is introduced as a

unique character in the novel for he is the only protagonist among the other natives who is not

exploited by the European colonizers. The Lama is an excellent scholar; he is a naive native who

is not accustomed to the advantages of civilization which would make his life easier.

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Kipling portrayed the Lama as a helpless character in a foreign part of India that he

almost starves. The author of Kim divided his characters according to the ethnicity on the basis;

this is meant to indicate that the natives are predisposed to belong to the culture inherited from

the people of their ethnic nation, and in this social environment, their positive features appear.

Kipling concentrated on the Lama’s dignity because he is related to the native culture and

religion. Also, he presented the Lama as somebody extremely impractical, living outside the real

world and not being able to understand the political events that happen around him. In his

meeting with a native British soldier, it is the soldier who is dominant whereas the Lama showed

all his ignorance of the different culture and politics, hence their communication is weak. The

Lama is portrayed to know the religious issue only but needed the colonizer’s help in practical

life situations. Accordingly, he deserved to be ruled only. Hilton Brown expressed the same

opinion. He argues that, according to Kipling, “the Real Indians, for all their excellence of heart,

were in many ways backward and inefficient; if the Sahibs did not control their interests and spur

them to higher achievement, who would?” (1945: 59). On the whole, Kipling believes in the

existence of a special law concerning the relationship between the British and the natives

because, for him, the British should be the rulers and the natives have the right only to be ruled

by the British. Kipling’s characters evidently cannot choose their path.

Kipling’s emphasis is laid on Kim to celebrate India as well as to follow up with the

search of his identity. This search implies that Kipling is in the process of a mission to discover

the natives’ characteristics. Here, the author wanted to say that the beauty of India is embodied in

the lives of common people. Kim, therefore, was able to see normal daily tasks with curiosity

and understand what the orients feel when they perform them.

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Kim is a novel about fixing British colonial identity through forcing it over the Indian

one. Hence, Kipling concluded that: “One must never forget that one is a Sahib, and that some

day, when examinations are passed, one will command natives” (Kipling, 1946: 168). As the

story proceeds, the readers can see that the minor characters contribute to a great deal to provide

a clear overall picture of India. They display aspects of life different from the search for identity;

Kipling introduced them to focus on the magnificence and beauty of everyday experience of the

Indian people. As C. S. Lewis claims “…with a few exceptions, imaginative literature in the

eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had quietly omitted, or at least thrust into the background,

the sort of thing which, in fact, occupies most of the waking hours of most men. [...] It was

Kipling who first reclaimed for literature this enormous territory” (1980: 102).

Kipling admired the work of civil servants who brought European inventions and

progress, but he also pointed to the mistakes they made. In Rudyard Kipling: His Life and Work,

Carrington argues that, “the Native- Born is an appeal from the colonial born overseas for a little

understanding on the part of his English brother” (1955: 259). The White men are uninterested

in forming any social interaction with the indigenes for they believe that they are superior to the

Indian natives. In the character of Kim, Kipling described India as a mixture of old customs and

traditional lifestyles of the native castes with the modern inventions and progress that are brought

to the country by the British. Nevertheless, these two parts of everyday life of the natives are

unmixed, or remain divided in an outstanding way. Kipling continued to prove that he is a true

colonial agent by defending the British colonizers and justifying their ways of enlightening the

ignorant Indians.

However, the author sought to demonstrate that a British citizen is tied to cultural values

which are different from the traditional ones that he or she celebrated in the British Isles. He

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believed that the British were the rightful rulers of India and the Indians should receive the

benefits of civilization from them. The novel, therefore, did not offer a study of the native

population of India living in the period under the British colonial rule, but rather presented an

image of them as it was created by the colonizers. This picture corresponded to Kipling’s ideas

that are formed in the environment of colonial power of the nineteenth century. Hilton Brown

asserts this fact arguing that “he painted not the Thing as he Saw It, but the Thing as he Thought

It Should Have Been” (1945: 66).

2.3.4 George Orwell: Burmese Days

Another important European literary figure who wrote of colonialism is George Orwell,

and his novel, Burmese Days, is the fourth colonial literary novel in this chapter. In his writings,

Orwell criticizes colonialism either by protesting against the vices of imperialism or showing

sympathy for the oppressed locals. Orwell ultimately aspires to rescue the natives from being

exploited by the imperialists.

Boehmer, in his book Colonial and Postcolonial Literature, argues that in the colonial

novel Burmese Days (1934), “George Orwell is remarkable both for his contempt regarding the

bankruptcy of the civilizing mission, and for his involvement with that same mission. It was an

involvement of which he was conscious, and with which he struggled” (2005: 152). He further

says that Orwell’s five- year- colonial experience serving in Burma as an Assistant

Superintendant of policeman makes him aware of the fact that: “The colonial discipline… was an

‘unjustifiable tyranny’” (Boehmer, 2005: 153). This awareness of the imperialistic awful deeds,

Boehmer continues, deeply affects his political stance against hegemonic powers thereafter. For

this reason, “He returned to England after five years ‘[hating]’ Empire ‘with bitterness’”

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(Boehmer, 2005: 153). Hence, comes the moment that he should free himself from the feeling of

guilt through criticizing imperialism in his novels, and Burmese Days is one of them.

Burmese Days is distinguished from the previous colonial writings by its anti-adventure

sarcasm and its penetrating insights into the less than honorable devices of empire. The novel

tells the story of Mr. Flory, the man of modernism who is transferred to the colonial town of

Kyauktada. There, he suffers the painful consciousness of imperial wrongdoing; yet helpless

against it. His failures highlight the useless fruitlessness of the colonial system. As he observes,

medical ‘progress’ is introduced to colonized peoples to combat diseases the imperialists

themselves have brought, and civilization is merely the imitation of imperial culture across the

globe.

Orwell openly expresses his views against colonialism and hypocrisy of the ruling class.

He criticizes the British rulers for hating the indigenes on the grounds of color and class by

choosing the English policeman Flory as his tool of criticism against the system of the British

colonizers. Flory loathed the colonial system declaring that,

It is a stifling, stultifying world in which to live. It is a world in which every word and

every thought is censored. In England it is hard even to imagine such an atmosphere.

Everyone is free in England; we sell our souls in public and buy them back in private,

among our friends. But even friendship can hardly exist when every white man is a cog in

the wheels of despotism. Free speech is unthinkable. All other kinds of freedom are

permitted. You are free to be a drunkard, an idler, a coward, a backbiter, a fornicator; but

you are not free to think for yourself. Your opinion on every subject of any conceivable

importance is dictated for you by the pukka sahibs’ code. (Orwell, 1989: 59- 60)

In Burmese Days, even the use of the Kyauktada, a Burmese town, bear considerable

significance as it acts like an isolated island for the British Raj in India. It isolates the colonialist

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community for fear of survival outside its enclosing borders. Besides, the British Club plans to

keep its British members off having social relationships with the colonized. The Burmese town

Kyauktada introduces two different communities that can be labeled as the ruled Burmese and

the British rulers where each community has its own standards of life. Although both of them are

human beings, yet each one looks upon the other as different entities. Ellis, a mean European

timber merchant, can never bear the idea of being friendly to the natives. For him any hint of

“friendly feeling towards an Oriental seemed to him a horrible perversity” (Orwell, 1989: 23).

He even goes further to express his attitude towards the natives in these words: “Good god, what

are we supposed to be doing in this country? If we aren’t going to rule, why the devil don’t we

clear out? Here we are, supposed to be governing a set of damn black swine who’ve been slaves

since the beginning of history, and instead of ruling them in the only way they understand, we go

and treat them as equals” (Orwell, 1989: 24).

The club becomes a symbol for widening the racial and cultural separation of the white

Europeans from the black Burmese. It serves both as a symbol and locale of the society of white

men who live among the Burmese and yet keep off from them within the boundaries of the club

to maintain themselves as superior human beings. The racial and colonial hatred between the two

races can be felt when Maxwell, another colonial character who does not like the Burmese, shot

two natives while dealing with a rebellion. The natives kill Maxwell out of hatred, anger and

vengeance for exposing the deep split among the natives and the Britishers.

From the ruled class, the author introduced two main characters U Po Kyin, a Burmese

Official and Dr. Veraswami, an Indian doctor. Both of these native characters are different in

personality, but shared one common thing that they admired the ruling class. They also competed

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with each other to secure the membership of the club of white men for the sake of their

reputation in society.

Veraswami and U Po Kyin are similar to Europeans in their perception of class

distinctions. From the very beginning, U Po Kyin always understands that “his own people were

no match for this race of giants. To fight on the side of the British, to become a parasite upon

them, had been his ruling ambition, as a child” (Orwell, 1989: 6). Veraswami, on the other hand,

has always been fascinated by the Britishers as the superior race. He has always regarded himself

as a lower race in comparison with the ruling class. George Orwell is aware of this fact therefore

he presents his view with a sarcastic humor:

Dr. Veraswami had a passionate admiration for the English, which a thousand snubs from

Englishmen had not shaken. He would maintain with positive eagerness that he, as an

Indian, belonged to an inferior and degenerate race. His faith in British justice was so

great that even when, at the jail, he had to superintend a flogging or a hanging, and would

come home with his black face faded grey and dose himself with whisky, his zeal did not

falter. (Orwell, 1989: 38)

In Burmese Days, Orwell introduced a central colonial character, John Flory, who was

determined to question the whole institutions of imperial administration as he developed a

remarkable sense of sarcasm and contempt against colonialism. Flory becomes aware right from

the beginning that the views of the British Empire in Burma are used as a means of exploitation,

and they are all just “living a lie” (Orwell, 1989: 48). Instead of looking at the imperial presence

as a civilizing force that comes to India to serve, educate and civilize, Flory adopts a hating stand

towards the whole colonial system arguing that the institution of the Empire causes corrupting

effects in Burma. Reversely, his praise of the Burmese culture can be expressed as a rebellion

against the dominant white man in the colonies. However, Flory time and again is unable to split

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up from class he criticizes, and this interior contradiction is to a certain extent, responsible for his

final destruction.

The story of Burmese Days shows that the imperialistic society is devoid of morals; it is

nothing but a world based on human exploitation. Here, Orwell attacks the rules of the

imperialist and capitalistic rules which the colonizers make. This results in Flory’s self-

alienation as he sees his own countrymen humiliating the indigenes and, as such violating the

code of human conduct. Consequently, he develops a sense of guilt which makes him suffer from

isolation under this pressure. He, therefore, says “I’ll give you my note, but I can’t do more than

that. I am sorry, but I simply can’t?” (Orwell, 1989: 100). As a result, Flory developed a sense

of guilt due to the incapability of bringing harmony and reconciliation between the two races, the

English and the Indians. As such, he shows sympathy to the natives who were victimized by the

imperialists. This reduced him to denounce the British for such inhuman acts. While talking to

Veraswami, Flory says, “My beloved fellow, empire builders, British prestige, the Whiteman’s

burden, the ‘Pukka Sahib’ sans peur et sans repoche you know. Such a relief to be out of the

stink of it for a Little while” (Orwell, 1989: 93). His consciousness of the purpose of his

existence in Burma, therefore, made him a typical imperialist. “God forbid: I’m here to make

money, like everyone else. Yet this utterance revealed the designs behind the pose of a ‘Pukka

Sahib’” (Orwell, 1989: 94). Furthermore, Flory condemned British imperialism because it did

not provide any opportunity for social understanding or cultural exchange. Ellis says, “We are;

and what’s more, we’re damn well going to go on holding out. I’ll die in the ditch before I’ll see

a nigger in here” (Orwell, 1989: 84).

The friendship between Flory and Veraswami is used to highlight Flory’s anti-imperial

views as it may be seen to illustrate Orwell’s pessimistic visions on the relationship between the

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British and the Indians in a colonial environment., in this respect, explores the situation of

Eurasians in the colonial environment; they appear as, “complete outcasts” (Orwell, 1989: 127)

due to their problem of system. Orwell depicts them with condemnation as one of the most direct

consequences of relationships between white colonizers and the native population. Additionally,

they are also exposed to some ridicule since they do not speak English quite correctly, and

Orwell shows himself to be aware of the ways in which language can be used as an instrument of

domination.

Flory’s friendship with Veraswami shows Orwell’s desire to build a harmonized society

on the basis of personal relationship if they manage to cultivate a sense of cultural understanding.

Orwell perceives that common decency and dignity based on a balanced personal relationship

alone can make life complete and happy. He himself has written, “every line of serious work that

I have written since 1936 has been for democratic socialism” (1970: 413).

Veraswami, the Burmese native official who Anglicized himself, justified the dominion

of the British Empire in order to enjoy facilities after developing friendship with Flory. He

believes that the Britishers belong to a superior race. The motive for the friendship is quite

obvious for it adds to his reputation in the native society. Veraswami recognizes the superiority

of the white men over his own race, yet he does not hate or try to eliminate them in order to

secure cheap benefits from the rulers. For Veraswami, to be a native is to serve the Empire. This

means, in his perception, the natives are supposed to be the slaves of British Imperialism and the

ultimate conclusion is that he accepts the white people as his masters in order to pass himself as a

superior among the inferiors. He is in a constant defense of his fellow citizens against the

inhumane treatment on the hands of the colonizers. This is obvious in this conversation when he

addresses Flory saying:

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But truly Mr. Flory, you must not speak so! Why is that always you are abusing the

‘pukka sahibs,’ ass you call them? They are the salt of the earth. Consider the great things

they have done consider the great administrators who have made British India what it is,

consider Clive, Warren Hastings, Delhousie, Curzon. They were such men- I quote your

immortal Shakespeare- ass, take them for all in all, we shall not look upon their like

again! (Orwell, 1989: 93- 4)

The truest and ugliest colonial representative of the club in the novel is, of course, Ellis.

He “really did hate with a bitter, restless loathing as of something evil or unclean… Any hint of

friendly feeling towards an Oriental seemed to him a horrible perspective” (Orwell, 1989: 21-2).

Along with Veraswami, he is definitely the character that most clearly gives voice to the colonial

discourse in the novel. He developed a bitter hatred against the native servants for speaking

proper English because this, in his colonial perception, goes against the established colonial

norms and codes. He viewed the Orientals as a lower status whose English should be ‘native’ not

‘English’ because it is the language of the ‘master’ not the ‘slaves’. Here, Orwell wanted to shed

extra light on the language issue as an instrument of domination that colonizers often use to rule

over the colonized.

In Orwell’s opinion imperialism causes decay of culture and the basic values of life. And

that is fairly enough cause for him to expose the hollowness and fallacy of imperialism. In his

perception, an imperialist no longer remains a man if he becomes a tyrant. He also believes

firmly that the Burmese do possess more human values, integrity, uprightness and truth than the

imperialists. Orwell supposes that racial and cultural harmony may be achieved if people

abandon the sense of racial and cultural superiority instead of adopting a sense of common

decency and democratic socialism.

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This gloomy atmosphere in the Anglo- Burman landscape Burmese Days has an awful

effect in the community. Both the colonizers and colonized lost their spiritual union with it

because it is a community that is full of hatred and disgust: “There is a prevalent idea that the

men at the ‘outposts of empire’ are at least able and hard working. It is a delusion” (Orwell,

1989: 113). This ‘delusion’ exposed the discrepancy between the white man’s burden and the

English monotony in the contemporary world. Orwell argued that oppression and dictatorship are

part of the imperialistic era that can destroy any possible relationship inside the Anglo- Burmese

Community. “But even friendship can hardly exist when every white man is a cog in the wheels

of despotism. Free speech is unthinkable” (Orwell, 1989: 113).

In sum, Orwell is a committed writer who is conscious of prevailing issues and problems

in his time. He strove for equality and freedom for individuals. Burmese Days best illustrates his

philosophy where he showed that the world of exploitation of human beings in a colonial rule is

unendurable. This is evidently traceable in the case of Flory, the hero of the novel, who is fed up

with the system and commits suicide. He prefers death to the horrors of colonial rule current in a

society devoid of conscience and love.

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CHAPTER THREE

The Image of the Colonized and the Colonizers in

Heart of Darkness

3.0 Introduction

This chapter studies the use of the images as far as the colonized and the colonizers are

concerned. The present chapter also deals with the function of these images in Heart of Darkness

as they carry a symbolic significance to the entire series of events. Conrad effectively used

imagery as a literary device to develop the plot in his novella, and skillfully describe the interior

significance of things he spotted in the Congo. Indeed, these image patterns are vivid portrayals;

they enable the readers to best understand and appreciate the novella, and perceive how the

colonized as well as the colonizers are viewed by the author. Armed with literary significance,

these images are further used to help realize the theme of the narrative. The present chapter

studies how both of the colonized and the colonizers view each other as well.

As Charlie Marlow, the protagonist and primary narrator of Heart of Darkness, travelled

from the outer station to the central station and finally up to the river to the inner station, he

encountered images of torture, cruelty, and slavery. The book offers a harsh image of colonial

system. Marlow’s journey offers an image of colonial hypocrisy inherent in the language used to

justify imperialism. The novella offers a variety of dehumanized images about the natives in

such a way that it unveils the colonial violence and racism. In this way, it is a powerful

condemnation of the hypocritical operations of imperialism against Africans. Apparently, Conrad

further used this variety of images to expose the ugliness in people when they have no moral

restraint. He wanted to show that evil is a human feature, and that people can be degenerated to

the level of bestiality. By and large, humans can become insensible monsters, killing other

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innocent humans pitilessly. The greed of the European colonizers in the company changed their

minds. They had become so obsessed with the gluttony for wealth that they did whatever they

could only to obtain more ivory. Heart of Darkness also revealed the evilness spread globally in

the hearts of humanity when a stronger nation commits a detestable act against the weak one.

Conrad wrote to expose the ugliness on the planet that all people are responsible for. In simple

words, the author wrote to be honest about what he saw in the Congo.

3.1 Image of the Colonized

Conrad’s Heart of Darkness explores a number of vivid images of the colonized. He

portrays the Congolese natives as ignorant human being indirectly influenced and made

dependent on the Europeans. The images of the natives’ wretchedness and misery clearly show

the futility of the White man’s seemingly useful work. Marlow, the British narrator who was

commissioned to restore Kurtz from the hell of the Congolese wilderness, showed a lot of black

people as naked, ill, chained, on the death bed, starving or suffering from fatal diseases. The

chained indigenes were depicted as criminals who have violated the rules set by whites and soon

they would face the death penalty. By introducing this image of the Congo, it is made obvious

that the white man’s indifference and unconcern are the main cause for degradation of the black

natives. Of course, nowhere does the novella offers any mention of any servicing being rendered

by the Whites to the natives; nothing beneficial is recorded from the colonizing system in those

regions except the subjugation of their people and extracting the riches under deceptive slogans.

However, Europe uses the theme of travelling to colonies to portray that the people of

such places are savage and uncivilized countries and that they need to be redeemed from

delusion and ignorance. Hence, the novella uses its title to picture Africa as the heart of darkness

as well as the centre of savagery wherein Africans are termed as uncivilized and cannibalistic.

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This explains the reason why a white person, like Kurtz, is said to be burdened with the mission

to save Africans. In the novella, however, darkness is part of the story where Europe and Africa

are equally dark, gloomy and full of brutality. Darkness, on the other hand, refers to the image of

human condition in which the hearts and minds are filled with savage and cannibalistic thoughts.

Bearing this notion in mind, Conrad’s portrayal of the Congolese natives takes two dimensions:

on one side, they are portrayed as victims of the hegemonic colonizing rulers who exploit them

and mock their humanity. On the other side, they are depicted as the real owners of the African

land who have full right to enjoy its potentials and natural resources.

Quite regrettably, Africans’ existence in Heart of Darkness is almost erased. Conrad

never allots names to the African natives; he only comes across them by giving them job titles.

They are even addressed as black shapes or shadows to dehumanize them in some parts of the

novel, in that; none of the natives has proper names. Conrad intended to remind the inadequate

attention his citizens pay for the natives, since they are no more than a creature or a cannibal for

the Europeans. This is quite visible in Marlow’s first encounter with the six African prisoners

after he arrives to the coast of the River Congo,

Six black men advanced in a file, toiling up the path. They walked erect and slow,

balancing small baskets full of earth on their heads, and the clink kept time with their

footsteps. Black rags were wound round their loins, and the short ends behind wagged to

and fro like tails. I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope;

each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose

bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking. [He further says of them] but these

men could by no stretch of imagination be called enemies. They were called criminals,

and the outraged law, like the bursting shells, had come to them, an insoluble mystery

from over the sea. All their meager breasts panted together, the violently dilated nostrils

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quivered, the eyes stared stonily uphill. They passed me within six inches, without a

glance, with that complete, deathlike indifference of unhappy savages.

(Conrad, 1979: 22- 3)

In this paragraph, the Africans portrayed in this section of the novella are real people and not just

savages. This portrayal reveals that these natives live under bad conditions due to the inhumane

treatment of their employers; they put an iron collar on the laborers’ neck and do not feed them

well to an extent that one can see their ribs because of starvation. However, this is the first time

Conrad uses the word ‘savage’ to depict Africans in his novella. The image of savagery roused in

Marlow an anxiety about uprising as well as insisting on acknowledging the Africans’ ability to

enact violence resistance. Soon, he introduced a much more insidious image of Africans. This

time, instead of being skinny humans, they become shadows. The natives remained an element

of fantasy for Marlow until he met them. Here, Marlow portrays the African laborers as follows:

They were dying slowly- it was very clear. They were not enemies, they were not

criminals, they were nothing earthly now, - nothing but black shadows of disease and

starvation, lying confusedly in the greenish gloom. Brought from all the recesses of the

coast in all the legality of time contracts, lost in uncongenial surroundings, fed on

unfamiliar food, they sickened, became inefficient, and were then allowed to crawl away

and rest. These moribund shapes were free as air- and nearly as thin. (Conrad, 1979: 24)

Although Marlow did not regard the first group of Africans he encountered as a major threat, the

next were hardly alive. Here, the disdainful portrayal of Africans turns the whole populations

into shadows. As he travelled deeper into the African wilderness, Marlow became worried that

these shadows could very possibly die out of starvation. By comparing colonized Africans to

‘shadows’ and ‘air’, Marlow argues that though they are suffering because of hunger, it is still

apparent that they are not a threat. Marlow saw them scattered all over the place as if they were

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the victims of a terrible massacre or an infectious disease: “...and all about others were scattered

in every pose of contorted collapse, as in some picture of a massacre or a pestilence” (Conrad,

1979: 25).

Later in his narrative, Marlow portrayed Africans, while attacking the steamer in similar

ways, by calling them ‘vague forms’. He also described the flexible and swift movements of

their opponents on the banks by saying, “I saw vague forms of men running bent double, leaping,

gliding, distinct, incomplete, evanescent” (Conrad, 1979: 65). This human ability for resistance

comes as a natural reaction against colonization and exploitation.

Conrad goes on to enlist further images of the colonized by portraying them as a barbaric

race, “burst of yells, a whirl of black limbs, a mass of hands clapping, of feet stamping, of bodies

swaying, of eyes rolling, under the droop of heavy and motionless foliage” (Conrad, 1979: 51).

Throughout this description, Conrad aims at establishing a dividing line between the Europeans

as a race of fair complexion and the Congolese natives as a savage barbaric race. He further goes

on to envisage the natives as prehistoric creatures:

It was unearthly, and the men were- No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that

was the worst of it- this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to

one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was

just the thought of their humanity- like yours- the thought of your remote kinship with

this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man

enough you would admit to yourself that where was in you just the faintest trace of a

response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning

in it which you- you so remote from the night of the first ages- could comprehend.

(Conrad, 1979: 51-2)

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It is at this point in the narrative, especially after Marlow declared his kinship with the

Africans on the shore that he began to describe Africans as more than black bodies. He even has

a feeling that there is a certain kinship to the natives, but he strongly suspected that all men are

the same at their hearts. But he states that he, as a civilized man, must attempt to restrain his

primitive nature. It is clear that Marlow despises the practices of the colonizers as they

inhumanely exploit the natives to build a railway. His sympathy towards the natives came as

natural response of forcing Africans to work under severe conditions until they get seriously

sick. Marlow concluded that the natives’ tragic sufferings are all because of the brutal treatment

of the colonizers who brought them from all over Africa to exploit them as laborers under harsh

living conditions. Throughout the series of events in the story, it becomes evident that the

Europeans treated the natives very viciously; they fed them with a bad quality of food until

became so sick and weak to work. This catastrophic result made Marlow show his sympathy

towards their plight. For example, he offered a biscuit to one of the starving natives and declared

that it was impossible to regard these poor natives as enemies. Marlow also showed his relief

when he observed a group of African men freely paddling a boat along the shore,

[The boat] was paddled by black fellows. You could see from afar the white of their

eyeballs glistening. They shouted, sang; their bodies streamed with perspiration; they had

faces like grotesque masks- these chaps; but they had bone, muscle, [Marlow expresses

his admiration of them because they have] a wild vitality [and] an intense energy of

movement, that was as natural and true as the surf along their coast. They wanted no

excuse for being there. They were a great comfort to look at. [But Marlow’s sense of

relief is damaged because] a French man-of- war disturbs this sight [as] she was shelling

the bush. (Conrad, 1979: 20)

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The image that Marlow wanted to communicate here is that those African paddlers are strong

active creatures, but with ugly faces. He also wanted to state that the white Europeans disrupted

any sense of peace that Marlow obtained from the natural world because of their greed,

arrogance, and stupidity. In simple words, it is the Europeans’ greed, arrogance, and stupidity

that resulted in disastrous circumstances for themselves as well the natives.

Marlow is hurt to see that these starving natives are finally left to crawl away and wait for

death. For Marlow, this whole treatment exposes the barbarity of the colonial system. The

imperial inhumane treatment on the hands of the colonizers motivates Marlow to depict them as

men waiting to die. To Marlow, they are fatigued black phantoms who sit under the shade of the

trees devoid of hope and are just waiting for death in the African wilderness:

black shapes crouched, lay, sat between the trees, leaning against the trunks, clinging to

the earth, half coming out, half effaced within the dim light, in all the attitudes of pain,

abandonment, and despair . . . These moribund shapes were free as air-and nearly as thin.

I began to distinguish the gleam of the eyes under the trees. Then, glancing down, I saw a

face near my hand. The black bones reclined at full length with one shoulder against the

tree, and slowly the eyelids rose and the sunken eyes looked up at me, enormous and

vacant, a kind of blind, white flicker in the depths of the orbs, which died out slowly . . .

Near the same tree two more bundles of acute angles sat with their legs drawn up. One,

with his chin propped on his knees, stared at nothing, in an intolerable and appalling

manner: his brother phantom rested its forehead, as if overcome with a great weariness;

and all about others… (Conrad, 1979: 24- 5)

To conclude, the author presents a vivid dramatic image of how the indigenous

population is subjugated on the hands of the colonizers with an overt sarcastic tone. By enlisting

the above images of the colonized, Marlow wants to articulate his despise of the inhumane

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treatment of the colonizers as well as his sympathy with the natives for being unjustly exploited.

He portrays the sufferings of the Congolese indigenes as they live on the edge of death due to

diseases and starvation. And, in order to shed light on the severe contrast of the living condition

between the black slaves who are left to die and the colonizers living extravagantly, Conrad

switches to the description of a white man who is the company’s chief accountant:

I didn’t want any more [hanging around in the shade], and I made haste towards the

station. When near the buildings I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of

get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision… Moreover, I respected the

fellow. Yes; I respected his collars, his vast cuffs, his brushed hair. His appearance was

certainly that of a hairdresser’s dummy; but in the great demoralisation of the land he

kept up his appearances. That’s backbone. His starched collars and got-up shirt-fronts

were achievements of character. (Conrad, 1979: 25- 6)

It is clear to perceive that Conrad intends to show the dramatic image and sarcasm as he brought

both situations in opposition with each other.

Conrad adds the animal imagery to the native laborers in the Central Station by

comparing them to insects: “A lot of people, mostly black and naked, moved about like ants”

(Conrad, 1979: 11). He further says that some of them seem to crawl on all-fours, like animals:

“While I stood horror struck, one of these creatures rose to his hands and knees, and went on all-

fours towards the river to drink” (Conrad, 1979: 25). Marlow further depicts Africans as

prehistoric species as they have no sense of time,

(I don’t think a single one of them had any clear idea of time, as we at the end of

countless ages have. They still belonged to the beginnings of time- had no inherited

experience to teach them as it were), and of course, as long as there was a piece of paper

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written over in accordance with some farcical law or other made down the river, it didn’t

enter anybody’s head to trouble how they would live. (Conrad, 1979: 58)

The cannibals whom Marlow is speaking of belong to such an early stage of evolution that they

have not yet developed a clear idea of time, nor they have they had any knowledge about

civilization.

The Europeans deliberately regard the natives as cannibals so as to justify their

colonialism. However, Conrad does not talk about the concrete evidence of cannibalism

throughout the novel, and this is one of the best examples of deconstruction of colonialism. In

other words, cannibalism is produced as the proof of the savagery of the natives by the

Europeans according to Conrad. Marlow’s first speech about the image of the African

cannibalism occurs when his boat is under the attack assaulted by a band of natives near Kurtz’s

station. In this incidence, Marlow underlies the image that the Africans showed an amazing

amount of self- restraint despite their cannibalistic nature. In this scene, Marlow confirmed that

though they are portrayed as cannibals, Africans turned to be more rational than their European

employers. He further stated that these cannibals are spiritually and morally more superior to

their European masters because “They were big powerful men… with courage, with strength”

(Conrad, 1979: 59) who worked hard and showed restraint in the face of hanger. Being afraid of

a possible attack, the chief cannibal on board suggested that Marlow could hand over the

attacking cannibals to them so that they would eat them. This statement freaked out Marlow,

who then reflected with horror, “I would no doubt have been properly horrified, had it not

occurred to me that he and his chaps must be very hungry: that they must have been growing

increasingly hungry for at least this month past” (Conrad, 1979: 58). Though hungry for a long

time, the African savages on board showed a high sense of self restraint; they have not even tried

to feed on their fellow white men. This incident gives an authentic proof that the cannibals are

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far more rational than the Europeans. The idea becomes stronger because Europeans regard

cannibalism as the most barbaric act and that it must be discarded from the normal civilized

behavior. Shortly after the above conversation, Marlow very reasonably wonders:

Why in the name of all the gnawing devils of hunger they didn’t go for us- they were

thirty to five- and have a good tuck-in for once, amazes me now when I think of it. They

were big powerful men, with not much capacity to weigh the consequences, with

courage, with strength, even yet, though their skins were no longer glossy and their

muscles no longer hard. And I saw that something restraining, one of those human secrets

that baffle probability, had come into play there…Yes; I looked at them as you would on

any human being, with a curiosity of their impulses, motives, capacities, weaknesses,

when brought to the test of an inexorable physical necessity. Restraint! What possible

restraint? Was it superstition, disgust, patience, fear- or some kind of primitive honor? No

fear can stand up to hunger, no patience can wear it out, disgust simply does not exist

where hunger is; and as to superstition, beliefs, and what you may call principles, they are

less than chaff in a breeze. Don’t you know the devilry of lingering starvation, its

exasperating torment, its black thoughts, its somber and brooding ferocity? Well, I do. It

takes a man all his inborn strength to fight hunger properly. It’s really easier to face

bereavement, dishonor, and the perdition of one’s soul- than this kind of prolonged

hunger. Sad, but true. And these chaps, too, had no earthy reason for any kind of scruple.

Restraint! I would just as soon have expected restraint from a hyena prowling amongst

the corpses of a battlefield. (Conrad, 1979: 59- 60)

In this paragraph, Marlow seems to think of only one reason- restraint- holding the cannibals

from feeding on him or on his European crew. The ability of the natives to control their

cannibalistic desires is a graceful feature when social conventions are absent in the European

station.

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In Heart of Darkness, the journey deep into the wilderness presents an important image

in which the farther Marlow goes up the river, the closer he gets to savagery. In this sense, it is a

journey into darkness where morality has no value. Up there, restraint and order are absent as

civility disappears. Marlow’s trip up the Congo takes him more deeply not only into the alien

world of free nature but also into the nature of human beings and dawn of humanity. It is a

journey backward in time, to an early stage in social development. And, it is a journey into the

human nature to discover what lies beneath the surface in civilized men. Marlow learns that

although human beings appear to have moved far beyond their prehistoric origins, they are still

subject to return to their primitivism when they are taken out of their cultural environment.

Marlow, therefore, encountered various stages of decivilization as he made his journey to the

European company station in Africa. There, he met with the most extreme example of the

primitive behavior. Besides his encounter with the African natives, Marlow also met with his

people in various stages of mental and moral transition, and learnt that they experienced a mental

change due to their isolation from the physical and cultural environments into which they were

born. Yet, he could empathize with the European agents at the first company station and with the

native members of his crew on the steamer. He liked the native cannibals onboard Nellie because

they seemed to be more civilized than the civilized Europeans when they refrained from eating

the civilized Europeans despite their starvation.

Marlow expressed his admiration of his African crew because they were able to restrain

their primitive cannibalistic instincts. The cannibals managed to control their primordial impulse

as they used their devotion to work as a way to keep in touch with reality. Marlow believes

strongly in this principle. Hence, he argues, “I don’t like work- no man does- but I like what is in

the work- the chance to find yourself. Your own reality- for yourself, not for others- what no

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other man can ever know” (Conrad, 1979: 41). The cannibals in this situation proved to be

moral beings; they did not feed on human flesh out of primitive honor. Viewing the issue from

European’s side, this would entail that the Europeans, who were supposed to be civilized,

appeared to have no restraint at all. As such, it becomes clear that the ethics are not the basic

human concern of the European civilization. The cannibals’ ability to control their hunger by

refusing their cannibalistic temptation to feed on the other men onboard, distinguishes them from

the merciless greedy colonizers. In his comment on the image of cannibalism, Clive Barnett says

that,

The theme of cannibalism enables Marlow to confirm the overriding significance of

restraint as the very basis of keeping body and soul together when norm all social

conventions are absent. The particular form of restraint which Marlow practices is work,

which for him is an individual act and a paradigm for self-fashioning, providing [an

opportunity to discover the human nature]. (1910: 7)

Experiences like these, along with the images of disorder and deterioration of Western

civilization in the African wilderness, served to destroy Marlow’s confidence in any orderly

foundation of the Western civilization. So, when he observed the heads of the natives hanging on

the posts outside Kurtz’s residence, he immediately concluded that these barbaric actions plainly

revealed the inability of Kurtz to control his lusts:

They only showed that Mr. Kurtz lacked restraint in the gratification of his various lusts,

that there was something wanting in him- some small matter which, when the pressing

need arose, could not be found under his magnificent eloquence. Whether he knew of this

deficiency himself I can’t say. I think the knowledge came to him at last- only at the very

last. But the wilderness had found him out early, and had taken on him a terrible

vengeance for the fantastic invasion. (Conrad, 1979: 83)

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Florence H. Ridley agrees with Barnett that savagery itself, as an image of African cannibals, is

not evil,

for the cannibal crewmen are depicted as dignified, admirable fellows, restrained

by some code of their own, and the superb native woman has both majesty and

pathos. Kurtz’s unrestrained succumbing to savagery, however, is evil.

Surrendering himself completely, Kurtz turns away from the Belgian girl… the

figure he painted was blindfolded, the report ends in a scrawl, “Exterminate all

the brutes!” (Conrad, 1979: 50)

Generally speaking, the image of cannibalism plays an important role in his judgment

that Kurt is a savage cannibalistic person who indulges in “certain midnight dances ending with

unspeakable rites” (Conrad, 1979: 71) as he goes on to chop the heads of African rebels and

hang them on posts around his hut. Conrad used this image of Kurtz’s barbaric action to connect

it to the issue of the Africans’ restraint as they held themselves up from eating the flesh of their

enemies. Wondering why he did not take part in the cannibalistic practices on shore, Marlow

asks, “You wonder I didn’t go ashore for a howl and a dance?” [He simply states that he wants to

keep his restraint because he] had no time… [and] had to mess about with white- lead and strips

of woolen blanket helping to put bandages on those leaky steam-pipes. There was surface- truth

enough in these things to save a wiser man” (Conrad, 1979: 52). In short, only Marlow’s

attachment to the steamboat helped him not to yielding to the same temptations that seduced

Kurtz. In shedding light on Kurtz’ lack of restraint and seduction of the wilderness, Marlow

wanted to separate his passengers aboard the Nellie from his bitter experience he went through:

You can’t understand? How could you- with solid pavement under your feet, surrounded

by kind neighbours ready to cheer you or to fall on you, stepping delicately between the

butcher and the policeman, in the holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums-

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how can you imagine what particular region of the first ages a man’s untrammeled feet

may take him into by the way of solitude- utter solitude without a policeman- by the way

of silence- utter silence, where no warming voice of a kind neighbour can be heard

whispering of public opinion. These little things make all the great difference.

(Conrad, 1979: 70)

Conrad probably saw nothing wrong in cannibalism as practiced by the Africans; he refused to

agree with the Russian that these ceremonies were cannibalistic ones as Marlow and the Russian

were approaching Kurtz’s residence. He explained that the real cannibalistic behavior lies in

Kurtz’s chopping off the heads of his enemies, later put them on stakes to fill the hearts of his

opponents with fear and horror. In this moment Marlow thought,

Curious, this feeling that came over me that such details would be more intolerable than

those heads drying on the stakes under Mr. Kurtz’s windows. After all, that was only a

savage sight, while I seemed at one bound to have been transported into some lightless

region of subtle horrors. (Conrad, 1979: 83- 4)

Nonetheless, Marlow found comfort in the natural savagery of the natives, who did not

try to conceal their practices no matter how horrifying they might appear to the Europeans.

Conrad depicted the colonizers as hypocritical; their actions are just as brutal and savage as the

Congolese locals whom they exploit. The savage behavior of the Europeans is tainted by cruelty,

immorality, and a malicious will, whereas the natives’ behavior, including the ‘unspeakable

rites’ in which Kurtz participates, is likely based on their cultural rituals and therefore, it is just a

normal practice.

Marlow’s description of the cannibals on board steamer reflects an admiration more than

a detest. In his perception, they proved to have a moral principle as they restrained themselves

from eating Marlow and his European friends on board. However, his admiration of the natives’

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due to their ability to restrain their cannibalistic instincts did not hold Marlow from projecting

the natives as speechless creatures. While he endowed the colonizers with the ability to speak,

Conrad dispossessed the colonized from the ability of normal speech; they are simply mute. This

image is visible in Kurtz’s mistress in the Congo as opposed to his European Intended. In his

description of the mistress, Conrad said that, “She was savage and superb, wild- eyed and

magnificent… she stood looking at us without a stir and like the wilderness itself, with an air of

brooding over an inscrutable purpose” (Conrad, 1979: 87). The striking image about the African

woman is that she never speaks. However, this image of silence is not absolute; the Africans do

speak in some occasions. But, Conrad made them speak only to offer them the chance to express

themselves in distorted English. This happened when one of the cannibalistic men on Marlow’s

boat suggested that the captain may have their prisoner as their meal, “‘Catch ’im,’ he snapped,

with a bloodshot widening of his eyes and a flash of sharp white teeth. ‘Catch ’im. Give ’im to

us.’ ‘To you, eh?’ I asked; ‘what would you do with them?’ ‘Eat ’im!’ he said curtly” (Conrad,

1979: 58). Here, the image of lacking the ability to speak suggests that the Africans are

incomprehensible creatures. It shows the absence of the African character to communicate with

the Europeans. By depriving the Africans of the ability to speak or communicate, therefore,

Conrad strips them of their human factor. In his comment on this issue, the Nigerian critic,

Chinua Achebe argues that denying the Africans speech means to treat “Africa as a metaphysical

battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity [The largest impact of the denial of speech to the

Africans carries the meaning of] the dehumanization of Africa and Africans [reducing Africa] to

the role of props for the breakup of one petty European mind” (1977: 6).

Conrad goes on to dispossess Africans of their human identity by introducing the females

as individuals who have with no names. Besides, they are rarely allowed to speak for themselves.

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Conrad leaves it to others to explain their thoughts and emotions. As for the Congolese woman,

Marlow draws an inferior image about her. He shows her as hopelessly weak, ignorant, and

submissive to men. In his conception, she is trivial and idle in her interaction with reality:

It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are. They live in a world of their own, and

there has never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and

if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset. Some confounded

fact we men have been living contentedly with ever since the day of creation would start

up and knock the whole thing over. (Conrad, 1979: 18)

This indicates that Marlow draws a gender prejudicial image of women who live in a world men

can serve better. In her comment on this point, Marianna Torgovnick argues that women in

Heart of Darkness are regularly portrayed as images of death as well: “Kurtz’s African mistress

is made to embody the ‘dead’ African landscape” (1990: 55). This image is clearly revealed in

Marlow’s portrayal of the African mistress’s appearance as it propagates the feeling of fear in the

colonizers’ hearts, “… the whole sorrowful land, the immense wilderness, the colossal body of

the fecund and mysterious life seemed to look at her, pensive, as though it had been looking at

the image of its own tenebrous and passionate soul” (Conrad, 1979: 87). In this sense, Marlow

explicitly wants to illustrate her as a type of woman who personifies death and deep darkness.

Later, Marlow comes to portray her as the, “a tragic and familiar Shade, resembling in this

gesture another one, tragic also, and bedecked with powerless charms, stretching bare brown

arms over the glitter of the infernal stream, the stream of darkness” (Conrad, 1979: 110). In the

following paragraph, Kurtz’s mistress is further portrayed as a picture of the whole continent.

Here, the images of savagery and barbarism coexist with the image of a natural life. These

images also coexist with the image of masculine strength which is unstained by the spoil of

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civilization. In this quote, Kurtz’s mistress is portrayed as an image of the Congolese jungle; she

depicted with all African darkness in terms of its mysteriousness and greatness:

She walked with measured steps, draped in striped and fringed cloths, treading the earth

proudly, with a slight jingle and flash of barbarous ornaments. She carried her head high;

her hair was done in the shape of a helmet; she had brass leggings to the knee, brass wire

gauntlets to the elbow, a crimson spot on her tawny cheek, innumerable necklaces of

glass beads on her neck; bizarre things, charms, gifts of witch-men, that hung about her,

glittered and trembled at every step. She must have had the value of several elephant

tusks upon her… there was something ominous and stately in her deliberate progress.

(Conrad, 1979: 87)

In his treatment of Africa, Marlow feminizes the continent in form of a female body that

white men steal and exploit. This way, race and gender work together to represent Kurtz’s

African woman as a part of nature by transforming her into productive, mysterious, and huge

wilderness. Kurtz’s African woman, then, is an image of a barbaric majesty because she repelled

in a savage way. In other words, she is the ivory which attracts fortune seekers only to morally

destroy the naïve ones. She uses her sexual impact to seduce and morally destroy the sinful

people in a seducing way. This influence is quite noticeable in the words ‘passion,’ ‘mysterious,’

and ‘fecundity’. Later in the narrative Kurtz is said to have been part of unspeakable sexual

deeds of a corrupted nature. The mistress’s body seems to be very tempting, but it is fatal to

Kurtz who lacks restraint. She is the darkness which awakens the primeval instincts in Kurtz and

as such, part of the African black danger threatens the existence of the colonizers in the Congo.

The portrayal of the African females as women with no chance to speak highlights the

fact that they are belittled in a society primarily dominated by males. According to Marlow,

women in Heart of Darkness are meant to stay inexperienced because they are not empowered to

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undergo the horror of the dark wilderness despite the fact that they influence and are influenced

by it. This in turn entails that Conrad wants to show that they are not treated as importantly as

men. Hence, they are not properly understood in the world they live in for it is independent and

inferior of the men’s world. Women are, therefore, dealt with as an unnatural entity of the men’s

world for they have neither voice nor voice to claim their rights. They coexist side by side with

men to only satisfy the physical needs of the males. In this respect, they are doomed to stick to

the beautiful world of women so that they may continue enjoying its pleasures. However, the

novella suggests that men’s world is threatened if women are allowed to enter their dominated

realm of work and business where horrifying secrets exist. This particular image is also shared

by C. L. Innes who argues that, “For women readers and writers in postcolonial countries, there

is what has been referred to as a ‘double colonization’, for they are marginalized and stereotyped

on grounds of both colour and gender… the black mistress is seen as merely a symbol of Africa-

savage, barbaric and rather awesome. [She is not] given a voice or any ‘agency’” (2007: 52).

To shed more light on this image, Conrad offers a whole portrayal of the knitting women

in the waiting room of the Company offices:

‘I began to feel slightly uneasy. You know I am not used to such ceremonies, and there

was something ominous in the atmosphere. It was just as though I had been let into some

conspiracy- I don’t know- something not quite right; and I was glad to get out. In the

outer room the two women knitted black wool feverishly. People were arriving, and the

younger one was walking back and forth introducing them. The old one sat on her chair.

Her flat cloth slippers were propped up on a foot- warmer, and a cat reposed on her lap.

She wore a starched white affair on her head, had a wart on her cheek, and silver-rimmed

spectacles hung on the tip of her nose. She glanced at me above the glasses. The swift

and indifferent placidity of that look troubled me. Two youths with foolish and cheery

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countenances were being piloted over, and she threw at them the same quick glance of

unconcerned wisdom. She seemed to know all about them and about me too. An eerie

feeling came over me. She seemed uncanny and fateful. Often far away there I thought of

these two, guarding the door of Darkness, knitting black wool as for a warm pall, one

introducing, introducing continuously to the unknown, the other scrutinising the cheery

and foolish faces with unconcerned old eyes. Ave! Old knitter of black wool. Morituri te

salutant. Not many of these she looked at ever saw her again- not half, by a long way.

(Conrad, 1979: 15- 6)

The first three lines deal with the sense of conspiracy that Marlow had after he signed the

contract of the trip to the Congo. After that, he felt as if he had become part of the colonial

conspiracy in maltreating Africans. Though feeling pathetic for the sufferings and pains of the

Africans, Marlow still has a difficulty to establish a relationship with them. He was spotted to be

distressed by the elder woman knitting wool who, with her coworker, represented destiny in his

perception. The natives have often left an eerie sense of distrust on him. And, this is why he just

could not get any closer than sympathizing with them.

3.2 Portrayal of the Colonizers

This section studies the images of the colonizers through their daily interactions and

reactions inside and outside the colonial community. While discussing the failure of Europeans

to carry out their slogans in civilizing and enlightening the uncivilized Congolese natives, the

novella sheds light on the images on the agents’ atrocities and racial superiority.

In this section, there are many images of how the colonizers are trying their best to

colonize the people economically, socially, politically and mentally in different areas. In Heart of

Darkness the very important action is the intention of collecting ivory which symbolizes the

white man’s greed and commercial mentality. Violence has been depicted as the prevailing

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image of the colonizers in treating the locals; it is an essential part of colonialism for the

Europeans’ system of ruling the natives, and it always occurs throughout the novel. For example,

Marlow stated that a native was hit severely because he was thought to have caused fire: “A

nigger was being beaten near by. They said he had caused the fire in some way; be that as it may,

he was screeching most horribly. I saw him, later on, for several days, sitting in a bit of shade

looking very sick and trying to recover himself: afterwards he arose and went out- and the

wilderness without a sound took him into its bosom again” (Conrad, 1979: 34). This incident is

just an instance of the European violence against the locals. Besides, it illustrates Conrad’s

loathing reaction against the unjustifiable cruelty of the Europeans against the ruled natives. The

European chose to demonstrated extreme violence by beating an African to prevent a probable

fire, as it is stated in the novella:

Black figures strolled about listlessly, pouring water on the glow, whence proceeded a

sound of hissing; steam ascended in the moonlight, the beaten nigger groaned

somewhere. ‘What a row the brute makes!’ said the indefatigable man with the

moustaches, appearing near us. ‘Serve him right. Transgression- punishment- bang!

Pitiless, pitiless. That’s the only way. This will prevent all conflagrations for the future.

(Conrad, 1979: 37)

Conrad goes on to argue that everything in the novella revolves round the colonial greed

of stripping the colony off its riches. Basically, the white man’s chief concern in the Congo is to

collect ivory and send it up to Europe. The greater the ivory collected, the greater is his

achievement. By doing this, they want to exploit the natives economically. The European trading

company is the institutional representation of the colonizer to colonize the native economically.

Elsewhere in the novella, there are images of how Kurtz, a commander of a trading post,

influenced the natives and took them under his direct control. Heart of Darkness reveals the

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violence and brutality through Kurtz who is the chief of Inner Station. Kurtz as a European

thinks that he has the right to control all the natives and Marlow is critical about his meaningless

authority over black people, since he does not approve of European violence brought about by

European colonialism. He, like the rest of the colonizers, says one thing but does the other. For

instance, he says that he claims that he is in Africa to educate, help and enlighten the African

people, but in reality he plans to control all the means of economic production, and social

conditions. In brief, he plans to monopolize his position as a demigod among native African to

serve his financial goals. In the name of maintaining peace and order, he developed a secret cult

ritual which helped he make the African obey him. Kurtz exploited the Congo through sending

loads of ivory to Europe within two years. This fact clears that the relation of the colonizer and

the colonized is the relation of exploitation, violence and terror. However, his methods are brutal.

For example, his hut is surrounded by the skulls of men who do not obey him. He deliberately

turns the faces of these skulls to the house since he wants his power to be recognized by the

natives. When Marlow sees them for the first time, he cannot understand what they are. He

explains this confusion as “Now I had suddenly a nearer view, and its first result was to make me

throw my head back as if before a blow. Then I went carefully from post to post with my glass,

and I saw my mistake. These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic” (Conrad, 1979:

82). Later on, he found out that they were human skulls. Kurtz used these skulls to threaten the

others and this showed his brutality against the natives.

Additionally, Kurtz sees himself responsible for education of the natives besides

exploiting them and says that “Each station should be like a beacon on the road towards better

things, a center for trade of course, but also for humanizing, improving, instructing” (Conrad,

1979: 47). However, Kurtz tortured them rather than educating and Conrad showed this problem

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in his novel. Kurtz imposed imperialism on natives to gain more; however, his greediness and

cruelty led to his death. About Kurtz’s terrible character, Marlow said, “I had to deal with a

being to which I could not appeal in the name of anything high or low. I had, even like the

niggers, to invoke himself - his own exalted and incredible degradation. There was nothing either

above or below him, and I knew it. He had kicked himself loose of the earth. Confound the

man!” (Conrad, 1979: 95).

Kurtz has done whatever he wanted because there was nothing to restrict him. He also

preferred to spend his time in the jungle and thus forgot his civilized life in order to earn more.

Kurtz was so corrupted for ivory trade that he even lost his connections with Europe. Conrad

criticizes the cruel treatment against the natives and imperialism through Kurtz. Kurtz has led a

horrible life due to his passion for ivory trade. He treated the natives so violently that he

regretted what he has done and cried twice as “The Horror! The Horror” (Conrad, 1979: 100)

before he died. Gene G. Moore expresses that “Conrad hated imperialism in central Africa

because of its savageness, selfishness and devastation. Kurtz’s final words, ‘the horror’, ‘the

horror’, are about how a civilized man can change to savagery when there is no restriction”

(1992: 127). In fact, the horror does not stem from the savagery of the natives. Therefore, Kurtz

can be considered as corruption brought to Africa from Europe (Booker, 1995: 223).

Right from the very beginning of the novella, Conrad shows a strong contempt for the

European colonizers as he calls them conquerors. In this connection, he continues his severe

criticism arguing that they just took what they wanted as aggressive robbers by committing

murders on a great scale, “The conquest of the earth, which mostly means the taking it away

from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves, is not a

pretty thing when you look into it too much” (Conrad, 1979: 10). Conrad explains that all the

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slogans that the imperial powers hide behind have been disclosed as untrue; all of them are

abandoned for material exploitation and business profit. The daily murders executed daily in

Africa by the Europeans can never be justified by the purposes of profit. Daniel J. McDonnell

agrees with this explanation arguing that, “Thus Conrad suggests that behind every conquest,

behind every civilization that ventures into a ‘heart of darkness’ must be an intellectual purpose-

a philosophy; otherwise all will be engulfed by the shall of everlasting night” (1962: 144- 5).

The title of the novella itself serves to be a good image that evil originates from Europe

rather than Africa. In other words, the source of real darkness cannot be Africa; it originally

comes from the Europeans colonizers and their mistreatment of the natives when they descend to

the lowest level of humanity by surrendering to the savage instincts. Marlow introduced this

view in a critical way as he said of Eldorado’s explorative journey,

This devoted band called itself the Eldorado Exploring Expedition and I believe they

were sworn to secrecy. Their talk however was the talk of sordid buccaneers. It was

reckless without hardihood, greedy without audacity, and cruel without courage… There

was not an atom of foresight or of serious intention in the whole batch of paid the

expenses of the noble enterprise I do not know; but the uncle of our manager was leader

of that lot.

(Conrad, 1979: 43- 4)

In this connection, Said argues in Culture and Imperialism that, “Colonialism is chiefly about

political and economic relationships, some of which may or may not continue after a state gains

independence” (1993: 28).

Conrad chooses Marlow to explain the realities of European colonialism, that is, the

situation of natives is narrated through Marlow who is also a European. In other words, he

prefers a fictional character to reveal the truth rather than himself. Keith Booker states that

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“Conrad’s Marlow is openly critical of much of the European activity that he observes in Africa,

especially of the brutal treatment of many of the Africans by their European masters” (1995:

219). Conrad wrote Heart of Darkness with his English readers in mind and has not let the

natives speak. However, their silence can be interpreted as silent defiance against the European

colonialism since Marlow did not regard the natives as savage unlike traditional colonizers and

on the contrary, he was angry with Kurtz due to his mistreatments against the natives.

Marlow, as a narrator of Heart of Darkness, is depicted as honest, smart and sympathetic.

He is also portrayed as a civilized man who always speaks in a gentle manner. As he went deeper

into the heart of the jungle to search for mysterious Kurtz, he started to know that savagery is a

primitive form of civilization, and that the European colonizers are inhumane in the way they

treat the natives. He is aware that the Europeans also give harm to nature in order to earn more.

In other words, Marlow realizes that Europeans destroy not only the natives but also the jungle.

For this reason, Marlow severely denounced the European presence in the African continent:

I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by

all the stars! These were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men- men,

I tell you. But as I stood on this hillside, I foresaw that in the blinding sunshine of that

land I would become acquainted with a flabby, pretending, weak-eyed devil of a

rapacious and pitiless folly. How insidious he could be, too, I was only to find out several

months later and a thousand miles farther. (Conrad, 1979: 25)

The repetition of the word “devil” underlines the brutality of colonialism and imperialism that

the Europeans imposed on the natives in Africa. They dominated nearly all parts of Africa to

benefit from the natives. It is important to note that Marlow’s awareness of civilization

concerning the way he perceived rationality and irrationality has changed throughout his journey.

So, when he learned of Kurtz’s barbaric activities in the jungle, he never hesitated to criticize

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Kurtz’s moral collapses alluding the latter’s cruelty to his separation from civilization.

Accordingly, Marlow did not treat Africans in a cruel way. On the contrary, he sympathized with

the laborers as they suffered the pains of hunger and maltreatment.

In his Culture and Imperialism, Edward Said puts forward that:

In Europe itself at the end of the nineteenth century scarcely a corner of life was

untouched by the facts of empire. The economies were hungry for overseas markets, raw

materials, cheap labor and profitable land. Defense and foreign policy establishments

were more and more committed to the maintenance of vast tracts of distant territory and

large numbers of subjugated peoples. (2003: 8)

In the extract above, Said criticized the dominance of powerful countries over African countries

in order to exploit them. Similarly, Marlow was against European colonialism. He, as a

European, felt ashamed of what Kurtz has done in the Congo when he learnt about his immoral

acts, and that was why he could not put them into words in his meeting with Kurtz’s Intended.

Marlow said that it was impossible to reveal the truth that he has experienced during his journey,

“No, it is impossible; it is impossible to convey the life sensation of any given epoch of one’s

existence, - that which makes its truth, its meaning- its subtle and penetrating essence. It is

impossible. We live, as we dream- alone” (Conrad, 1979: 39). Marlow means that the minority

of the Europeans is critical about the idea of colonialism in spite of the fact that they get benefit

from it. That is, they do not approve immoral acts of their citizens, since it is not appropriate to

give harm to the other people for the sake of financial issues.

From the first moment Marlow arrives in Africa, Western civilization appears to damage

the lives of the natives, social structure and natural resources of the country. It did not improve

Africa or the lives of Africans, and this image became even clearer as the story progresses. If the

Western claim of civilizing the uncivilized indigenes had been true, then it would have made the

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lives of the land as well as its inhabitants. The failure of applying the western civilizing

principles in Africa means; therefore, that its allegation of enlightening the savage people was

totally untrue. Marlow observed that the colonizers generally seemed to be devoid of any

humanitarian, cultural or even moral values. This is quite true in the case of the Station Manger’s

uncle as he stated that the European morals simply did not exist in the Congolese wilderness to a

certain degree that, ‘“Anything- anything can be done in this country. That’s what I say; nobody

here, you understand, here, can endanger your position. And why? You stand the climate- you

outlast them all. The danger is in Europe”’ (Conrad, 1979: 46). The awareness of this fact entails

that the absence of ethics and formal restraints made the Europeans do whatever they wanted.

Consequently, they rendered unable of resisting any barbaric selfish whims. They become even

more savage than their African counterparts.

Marlow has been entrusted with the mission of narrating the story of his journey to the

Congo. Conrad described Marlow as an experienced and thoughtful captain of the steamer,

Nellie. Marlow is further described as a civilized man who always speaks in a gentle manner.

Conrad goes on to portray Marlow as Buddha or an idol to his listeners, “just as though I had got

a heavenly mission to civilize you” (Conrad, 1979:11). According to this image, Marlow is

introduced as sitting cross- legged, “leaning against the mizzen-mast. He had sunken cheeks, a

yellow complexion, a straight back, an ascetic aspect, and, with his arms dropped, the palms of

hands outwards, resembled an idol” (Conrad, 1979: 6). A little bit later, he is still sitting but now,

“lifting one arm from the elbow, the palm of the hand outwards, so that, with his legs folded

before him, he had the pose of a Buddha preaching in European clothes and without a lotus-

flower” (Conrad, 1979: 9- 10) in a meditation posture. By comparing Marlow to a Buddha,

Conrad suggests that Marlow is an idealist. The message that Conrad wants to convey to the

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readers of the narrative is that both Buddha and Marlow are teachers who are able to report their

experience after they return from their journeys. In this sense, the image of Buddha introduces a

meditative frame, which helps to add a moral and philosophical implication to the narrative. To

conclude, the indication of this portrayal is that Marlow has undergone a conflict between his

heart and the appeal of abandoning principles and morality when he tried to leave European

culture. During his journey in the African jungle to search for mysterious Kurtz, he started to

know that savagery is a primitive form of civilization. He abhorred the barbaric deeds of the

Europeans as they changed from being civilized into absolute savages during their search for

ivory.

It is significant to note here that Marlow’s knowledge of the true denotation of western

civilization changes in the progression of events. With time, he came to know that what he

thought to be rational and superior appeared to be irrational. So, when he knew about Kurtz’s

atrocities in the jungle, he immediately criticized Kurt’s moral degradation due to his aloofness

of civilization. During his journey, Marlow tried to find his true self too. In other words, his

journey into the River Congo is seen as a journey into the human mind. Therefore, all his pains

which he has experienced during this trip came to pay for his inner self discovery. Hence, when

he returned to Europe, he found his people’s behavior unbearably offensive.

Marlow is further portrayed as a good- hearted European because he has treated the

natives as humans, particularly with his helmsman whom he regarded with affection and respect.

Marlow’s good side can also be appreciated when he lied to Kurtz’s fiancée. For one reason, he

could not break her heart. Besides, he wanted to preserve the good memory of Kurtz,

You know I hate, detest and can’t bear a lie, not because I am more straighter than the

rest of us, but because it appalls me. There is a taint of death, a flavor of mortality in lies,

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which is exactly what I hate and detest in the world- what I want to forget. It makes me

miserable and sick, like biting something rotten would do. (Conrad, 1979: 38- 9)

What Marlow tried to hide was the immortality and wickedness in the human heart. This entails

that unfolding Kurtz’s evil side would make the Intended see the world as a hell. He further

argues, “I asked myself what I was doing there, with a sensation of panic in my heart as though I

had blundered into a place of cruel and absurd mysteries not fit for a human being to behold”

(Conrad, 1979: 107).

As Marlow travelled deeper into the African wilderness with his twenty- cannibal crew,

he saw that the natives were treated barbarically. This experience made Marlow feel the horror in

his heart. He experienced horror again after the helmsman died. Marlow threw the helmsman’s

dead body overboard and stated, ‘“You should have seen the pilgrims stare! They had no heart to

grin, or even to revile me; but I believe they thought me gone mad- with fright”’ (Conrad, 1979:

62). In this connection, Gene M. Moore states:

Conrad hated imperialism in central Africa because of its savageness, selfishness and

devastation. Kurtz’s final words, ‘The horror!, ‘the horror’ are about how a civilized man

can change to savagery when there is no restriction. Everyone recognizes that King

Leopold’s philanthropic society was responsible for the ‘The Horror’ that Kurtz was able

to perpetrate in the Congo. (1992: 127)

Throughout the novella, Conrad wanted his readers to be aware of one last image of

Marlow that no matter how skillfully he did his job in narrating his story; nonetheless, he was

rendered as silenced person in his conversation with the Intended. In this respect, however, Bode

Rita states that, “The interaction [of Marlow and the Intended] suggests… the submission of his

will to hers. Marlow seems to lose the ability to initiate his own thoughts, to create his own

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words. He becomes a mere mimic, making her words his” (1994: 28). Such a statement is further

explained in the following lines:

‘His words, at least, have not died.’

‘His words will remain,’ I said.

‘And his example,’ she whispered to herself. ‘Men looked up to him, --

his goodness shone in every act. His example-’

‘True,’ I said; ‘his example too. Yes, his example. I forgot that.’

She said suddenly very low, ‘He died as he lived.’

‘His end,’ said I, with dull anger stirring in me, ‘was in every way worthy of his life.’

(Conrad, 1979: 109-10)

The ultimate conclusion, therefore, is that Marlow is aware that searching for one’s true

self was by having the ability to discover the reality of life. Marlow stated that Kurtz’s last words

are “a moral victory paid for by innumerable defeats, by abominable terrors, by abominable

satisfactions” (Conrad, 1979: 101). Despite Kurtz’s immoral ways, Marlow succeeded in the end

because he did not run away from facing truth though horrible.

As for Kurtz’s character, Conrad argues that the latter is supposed to represent all Europe,

“All Europe contributed to the making of Kurtz [because] the original Kurtz had been educated

partly in England, and- as he was good enough to say himself- his sympathies were in the right

place. His mother was half English, his father was half- French” (Conrad, 1979: 71). This

description supposedly means that Kurtz embodies the moral and ethical images of the

colonizers. In this sense, David Galef argues that, “Marlow recognizes that the man he has been

chasing is in a sense without a substance… he [also] realizes that this image of the man has been

formed without concrete particulars. For Marlow Kurtz represents a disembodies voice… since

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so far Kurtz has been made up of a medley of voice that have lent force and movement” (1990:

126).

In the beginning, this image of Kurtz as a product of all Europe is shared by his friends as

well as relatives. They all held a very high esteem of him for he had each and every quality of

success that a person might acquire to prosper. In the beginning, all Kurtz’s colleagues and

relatives ascribed different talents to him: a politician, a great musician, a painter as well as a

journalist. Kurtz was a universally fascinating man. From his own point of view, he is the sort of

an ideal successful man whom every European wants to follow; his goodness is seen in all of his

actions. In short, he is a very distinctive man, and Marlow proceeds to portray Kurtz,

Whatever he was, he was not common. He had the power to charm or frighten

rudimentary souls into an aggravated witch- dance in his honor; he could also fill the

small souls of the pilgrims with bitter misgivings: he had one devoted friend at least, and

he had conquered one soul in the world that was neither rudimentary nor tainted with

self- seeking. (Conrad, 1979: 72)

There is yet another important fact about Kurtz: he is on a mission to collect a report for

the International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs in the Congo. This indicates

that he is entrusted with a significant official assignment due to his elevated education and

unique eloquence, “I learned that, most appropriately, the International Society for the

Suppression of Savage Customs had intrusted him with the making of a report, for its future

guidance. And he had written it too. I’ve seen it. I’ve read it. It was eloquent, vibrating with

eloquence, but too high- strung, I think. Seventeen pages of close writing he had found time for!”

(Conrad, 1979: 71).

As a European, Kurtz is a man of refined culture; he enjoys a high- social rank, and has

the potentials to do his mission properly. Marlow stated that Kurtz wrote the report which the

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International Society for the Suppression of Savage Customs entrusted him to prepare for future

guidance in the Congo. Later, it turned out that Kurtz failed in his task awfully and ironically

when he abandoned his real mission and indulged in the greed of ivory collection. The eloquent

style of the report served to expose the moral flaw which hid under the elegant surface of the

statement. Initially, Marlow was greatly moved by the eloquent power of words; the opening

paragraph impressed Marlow with its beautiful writing style until he saw the ending note at the

bottom of the last page which recommended to eliminate all the ‘brutes’. This suggests that

Kurtz hid a dark heart behind his attractive and deceitful eloquence: “[Kurtz’s voice] survived

his strength to hide in the magnificent folds of eloquence the barren darkness of his heart”

(Conrad, 1979: 98). And, when he was back in Europe, Marlow recollected Kurtz as a dark

figure hidden behind the glamour of eloquence; “He lived then before me; he lived as much as he

had ever lived- a shadow insatiable of splendid appearances, of frightful realities, a shadow

darker than the shadow of the night, and draped nobly in the folds of gorgeous eloquence”

(Conrad, 1979: 105). What was horrible about Kurtz, however, was that he became frenzied by

his an unlimited greed for power and ivory. And, that was why he willingly surrendered to his

primitive instincts, and gradually got involved in the dreadful rites of the natives by chopping off

the heads of the native rebels and hanging on posts around his hut. This was exactly when his

dark heart became the source of his savage actions. This denotes that the wilderness plays such a

horrible effect on Kurtz’s character; it “whispered to him things about himself which he did not

know, things of which he had no conception till he took counsel with this great solitude- and the

whisper had proved irresistibly fascinating. It echoed loudly within him because he was hollow

at the core” (Conrad, 1979: 83). This is why Marlow initially portrayed Kurtz as an image of

corruption while zealously in constant quest for ivory:

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The wilderness had patted him on the head, and, behold, it was like a ball- an ivory ball;

it had caressed him, and- lo!- he had withered; it had taken him, loved him, embraced

him, got into his veins, consumed his flesh, and sealed his soul to its own by the

inconceivable ceremonies of some devilish initiation. He was its spoiled and pampered

favorite. Ivory? I should think so. Heaps of it, stacks of it. The old mud shanty was

bursting with it. You would think there was not a single tusk left either above or below

the ground in the whole country. ‘Mostly fossil,’ the manager had remarked

disparagingly. It was no more fossil than I am; but they call it fossil when it is dug up. It

appears these niggers do bury the tusks sometimes--but evidently they couldn’t bury this

parcel deep enough to save the gifted Mr. Kurtz from his fate. (Conrad, 1979: 69- 70)

As a talented leader and chief of the inner station, Kurtz had the ability to lead his people

and the natives. But, the reason why Kurtz did all these horrible barbaric deeds was because

there were no laws to restrain him. It is true that he at first fought the darkness inside his heart,

but lost in end simply because he surrendered completely to his animalistic desires. In his book,

The Cambridge Companion to Joseph Conrad, J. H Stape comments on this particular point,

Kurtz has many facets in Marlow’s shifting presentation of him, but a major one is that of

the specifically modern hero: diabolic in the concentration of his deviant will and his

intellectual gaze, pursuing forbidden experience with the inverted dedication of a

questing knight- at- arms, contemptuous of others and of himself, radical and unsatisfied

without outer convention of inner core, the lonely alien in our midst. He is the subverting

stranger, the man without qualities… who overthrown all the impostures and seeming

values of the world around him. (1996: 210)

Marlow’s image of Kurtz changed throughout the novella as he started getting more

information about the man. Marlow deduced that because of his being alone at the imperial post,

Kurtz gradually lost his contact with the civilized world. This point damaged the humanistic side

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of the man, and made him even more savage than Africans. What made Kurtz a bloodier tyrant

was that the local idolized him. In his search for Kurtz’s identity, Marlow, however, started

forming an image about this man. Though significant but that image was sort of a blurred one:

As to me, I seemed to see Kurtz for the first time. It was a distinct glimpse: the dug-out,

four paddling savages, and the lone white man turning his back suddenly on the

headquarters, on relief, on thoughts of home- perhaps; setting his face towards the depths

of the wilderness, towards his empty and desolate station. I did not know the motive.

Perhaps he was just simply a fine fellow who stuck to his work for its own sake. His

name, you understand, had not been pronounced once. He was ‘that man.’

(Conrad, 1979: 46)

This image introduces Kurtz as a brave and civilized man in an uncivilized landscape. At this

stage, the attempt of getting to know Kurtz better did not really succeed, and Kurtz remained as

an obscure person.

Before that, Marlow depicted Kurtz as “‘a prodigy [and] He is an emissary of pity, and

science, and progress, and devil knows what else”’ (Conrad, 1979: 36). The representation of

Kurtz as an emissary of the European civilizing mission and a brutal murder, who is supposed to

preach to eliminate the African savages, sheds light on Kurtz in particular, and on loathed savage

role of the European colonialism in the colonies. This also refers to the European hypocrisy in

alleging to civilize the ruled natives. The novella is, therefore, clearly states this issue. For this

reason, it is obvious to see that Kurtz aborted his assignment as an emissary of light and truth

and became obsessed with the quest of ivory shortly after his arrival to the Congo.

Again, Marlow pictures Kurtz as a representative type of a colonizer who not only

survives in the African wilderness but also succeeds in combining the principles of both: a

civilizing mission and commerce. Marlow adds another image, “‘Mr. Kurtz was a universal

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genius” (Conrad, 1979: 103) who is sent to the African wilderness “equipped with moral ideas

of some sort” (Conrad, 1979: 44) and with the mission of spreading the European civilization.

The universality of Kurtz is therefore not only political or colonial; it is also, to a certain degree,

personal, for it refers to the sense of prejudicial superiority of the white man. Elsewhere in the

novella, Kurtz proves to be a very beneficial agent to the station because the trade of ivory

prospers upon his arrival. From the station manager’s point of view, ivory trade became

prosperous because Kurtz made it respectful business, “Mr. Kurtz is the best agent he had, an

exceptional man, of the greatest importance to the Company” (Conrad, 1979: 32). But he is also

“‘very grave, very grave”’ (Conrad, 1979: 32) as he aroused the anxiety of the European

community in the station. The immediate cause for the manager’s anxiety was that Kurtz was ill

in mind and heart. The only thing Kurtz has done for himself was his success in ivory trade.

Other than that, Kurtz unfortunately was a total failure in accomplishing his civilizing mission

because he had no internal restraint that might prevent him from doing whatever he desired. The

result was that he ended up raiding the Congolese tribes in search for more ivory. This zealous

mad desire for ivory collection made him a savage himself when he started subjugating several

African tribes and becoming a local leader. The beheading of the rebellious Africans was another

horrible thing Kurtz has committed against humanity, and this made him even more savage than

the natives: “If it had come to crawling before Mr. Kurtz, he crawled as much as the of them all”

(Conrad, 1979: 84). Not only this, he also usurped a shipment of ivory from the Russian simply

because he was able to do whatever he wanted without using his reason. His savagery got worse

as he became more involved in the barbaric unspeakable rites of the tribal Congolese savages.

These activities gradually became part of his nature that he was no more unable to quit doing

them. These images undeniably reveal that Kurtz started as a moral person with benevolent aims

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but finally was unable to keep his principles as he gained a supreme power. In his report on the

Suppression of Savage Customs, Kurtz even went that far to depict his actions and the actions of

the entire white men in the wilderness as savage, “we whites, from the point of development we

had arrived at, ‘must necessarily appear to them [savages] in the nature of supernatural beings-

we approach them with the might as of a deity,’ and so on, and so on. ‘By the simple exercise of

our will we can exert a power for good practically unbounded,’ etc. etc.” (Conrad, 1979: 71- 2).

Marlow further portrays Kurtz as “an animated image of death carved out of old ivory…

shaking its hand with menaces at a motionless crowd of men made of dark and glittering bronze”

(Conrad, 1979: 85) in an indication that Kurtz is predestined to lead his fellow colonizers to

death. Kurtz is time and again pictured as a ghost as he haunted Marlow’s memory like a ghost:

“‘I laid the ghost of his gifts at last with a lie”’ (Conrad, 1979: 69). He is also referred to as “this

initiated wraith” (Conrad, 1979: 71) and as a terrible ‘apparition’ who is strangely hungry to

swallow, as though he had wanted to swallow the whole universe.

Marlow continues to enlist yet another horrible image of Kurtz by portraying him as

sitting up on his stretcher with his mouth wide open, “I saw him open his mouth wide- it gave

him a weirdly voracious aspect, as though he had wanted to swallow all the air, all the earth, all

the men before him” (Conrad, 1979: 85- 6). In this image, Kurtz appears like a cannibalistic

person, as if wanting to swallow his native followers. This portrayal returned to Marlow when he

arrived to the Intended’s door. There, he had “a vision of him on the stretcher, opening his mouth

voraciously, as if to devour all the earth with all its mankind” (Conrad, 1979: 105). Here, Kurtz

is imaged as a giant cannibal who consumed the European agents, jungle, ivory, and even

Africans. After all, it is important to understand that Kurtz is not mad in mind; it is his soul that

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is mad. The indication of this statement, therefore, is that Kurtz’s horrible atrocities are plainly

attributed to his solitude in the African savaged wilderness until he becomes a horrible person,

Soul! If anybody had ever struggled with a soul, I am the man. And I was not arguing

with a lunatic either. Believe me or not, his intelligence was perfectly clear… But his

soul was mad. Being alone in the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by heavens!

I tell you it had gone mad. I had- for my sins, I suppose- to go through the ordeal of

looking into it myself . (Conrad, 1979: 95)

In this sense, Marlow seems to indirectly justify Kurtz’s madness because Marlow himself, in his

journey upriver, realizes the consequences of the colonial atrocities upon his own soul. He argues

that Kurtz is undoubtedly an intelligent person but his soul becomes mad due to the isolation

from civilization. The deeper he plunges in the barbaric actions against his own people and

Africans the madder his heart becomes. Kurtz, in this way, totally yields his soul to the horrible

darkness of the African wilderness.

The station manager in the Congolese wilderness adds another image to Kurtz’s

character; he believes that Kurtz’s barbaric action in chopping the heads of the rebellious

indigenes defame the European reputation in the Congo, “Mr. Kurtz’s methods had ruined the

district. ‘I have no opinion on that point, but I want you clearly to understand that there was

nothing exactly profitable in these heads being there” (Conrad, 1979: 83). The manager seems to

be in disagreement with Kurtz’s methods on the stations for they only reveal the brutal nature of

Kurtz and his inability to restrain his lusts.

As the journey was progresses inland to the Central Station, the jungle got thicker and the

atmosphere became more depressing. Upon arriving there, Marlow had the chance to meet the

general manager for the first time. In this initial meeting with the manager, Marlow portrayed

him by saying that,

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He was commonplace in complexion, in features, in manners, and in voice. He was of

middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue, were perhaps remarkably

cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an ax.

But even at these times the rest of his person seemed to disclaim the intention. Otherwise

there was only an indefinable, faint expression of his lips, something stealthy- a smile-

not a smile- I remember it, but I can’t explain. It was unconscious, this smile

was, though just after he had said something it got intensified for an instant. He was a

common trader, from his youth up employed in these parts- nothing more. He

was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired

uneasiness. That was it! Uneasiness. Not a definite mistrust- just uneasiness-

nothing more. You have no idea how effective such a… a… faculty can be. He

had no genius for organizing, for initiative, or for order even. That was evident in

such things as the deplorable state of the station. He had no learning, and no

intelligence. His position had come to him- why? Perhaps because he was never

ill… (Conrad, 1979: 30- 1)

This portrayal introduces the station manager as an example of that type of person who can

survive in the wilderness. His main merit is that he does not get sick and can simply live longer

than the new European arrivals to the station. Besides, he has no aspiration to achieve anything

there; he is just desirous of keeping the daily routine continuing. Also, he is not frustrated when

nothing gets done, since it does not matter to him if anything gets done,

He originated nothing, he could keep the routine going- that’s all. But he was great.

He was great by this little thing that it was impossible to tell what could control such a

man. He never gave that secret away. Perhaps there was nothing within him. Such a

suspicion made one pause- for out there there were no external checks. Once when

various tropical diseases had laid low almost every ‘agent’ in the station, he was heard to

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say, ‘Men who come out here should have no entrails. He sealed the utterance with that

smile of his, as though it had been a door opening into a darkness he had in his keeping.

You fancied you had seen things- but the seal was on. When annoyed at meal- times by

the constant quarrels of the white men about precedence, he ordered an immense round

table to be made, for which a special house had to be built. This was the station’s mess-

room… He was neither civil nor uncivil. He was quiet. He allowed his ‘boy’- an overfed

young negro from the coast- to treat the white men, under his very eyes, with provoking

insolence. (Conrad, 1979: 31- 2)

The above paragraph indicates that the manager is unsuccessful either in work or management

affairs because he has no aspiration to achieve anything on the station. He is only concerned to

keep the usual daily activities on the station going on; therefore, he is not aggravated when

nothing is performed because it does not matter to him if anything gets done or not.

The other pilgrims are similar in their character, mindset and orientation to the station

manager: they have no high hopes and end up doing essentially the same things as the station

manager. Conrad’s description of the pilgrims on the station while running to and fro, seizing

water and using broken buckets when the fire bursts into flames at the Central Station is just an

example of these images. From Conrad’s point of view in his book Life and letters, the colonial

deeds are severely criticized. This abhorrence is quite clear in his letter to his aunt, Marguerite

Poradowska. There, stated his detestation against the Europeans’ cruelty during his travel to the

Congo: “Everything here is repellent to me. Men and things, but men above all … they all have

the gift of irritating my nerves- so that I am not as agreeable to them as perhaps I should be”

(1927: 263). Later, Conrad’s bitter emotions are reflected in Marlow, who leaves the Inner

Station gravely disappointed because of the brutality against the inhabitants. Even when he

returned to Brussels, the whole atmosphere in that European city turned out even darker than that

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in the jungle because he regarded it as an evil city. Marlow further describes Brussels in funeral

and sepulchral terms. Not only this, but he also started to formulate an indignant image of the

Europeans who were

hurrying through the streets to filch a little money from each other, to devour their

infamous cookery, to gulp their unwholesome beer, to dream their insignificant and silly

dreams. They trespassed upon my thoughts. They were intruders whose knowledge of life

was to me an irritating pretense, because I felt so sure they could not possibly know the

things I knew. Their bearing… was offensive to me like the outrageous flauntings of folly

in the face of a danger it is unable to comprehend. I had no particular desire to enlighten

them, but I had some difficulty in restraining myself from laughing in their faces, so full

of stupid importance. I dare say I was not very well at that time. (Conrad, 1979: 102)

In this paragraph, Marlow admits that he hates his people because they committed such evil

deeds against innocent Africans in the Congo. They even gave no attention to the miseries of the

natives as they were too egocentric and live in a city that was devoid of moral values. As such,

Marlow’s despair emerged as a result of his abhorrence towards the imperialists. This paragraph

directly referred to the deep impression that the journey to the wilderness left on him. He still

remembered the horrible scenes he saw in the wilderness, like the heads hung on stakes around

Kurtz’s hut as well as other forms of colonial brutality. In the end of the journey, Marlow is

certain that it is impossible to tell his experience to his own people or to the Intended. For him,

the colonial horror cannot be told, but only experienced and lived through.

Despite the fact that he rejects all Kurtz’s horrible atrocities in the wilderness, Marlow

still does not want to uncover the latter’s evil side. This ambivalent standpoint is quite clear in

his interview with the Intended wherein he did not tell her anything about Kurtz’s life and last

words, “‘The horror! The horror!”’ (Conrad, 1979: 106). ‘The horror’ as it is understood in the

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context of Heart of Darkness stands for the horror of losing man’s heart, as a civilized man, to

vice. In other words, the ‘horror’ refers to the horror of surrendering one’s animalistic instincts to

chaos, lawlessness and wilderness. In this light, Kurtz’s horror cannot be seen as a denial of

colonialism as a system, but rather as a warning of the colonial doctrine when applied

atrociously. Importantly, the horror in the novella seeks to restrain the colonial power, as it is

seen in Kurtz’s case when he lost his moralities in his treatment of the natives as inferiors to his

so- called European superior race.

Kurtz finally recognized his failure in fulfilling the obligations of a civilizing missioner

in the colonies. In this connection, S. Shankar comments,

Thinking back what he has become by crossing over the line separating black and white

Kurtz breathes a repenting confession before a representative of his own kind, Marlow.

Marlow understands Kurtz’s final words as a summation of his life or life in common.

Marlow has been attracted to him who thinks that Kurtz is a remarkable man. “He had

something to say”. Marlow, who is a sympathizer of Kurtz, snuffs out the candle on his

death and consigns him to the darkness hose depth has plumbed. Marlow proceeds to do

what Kurtz has not been able to, and then he returns home. (2001: 106)

For Marlow, it is very important that all the information about Kurtz’s downfall stays

only in his hands. Even in the end of the story, when Marlow lies to Kurtz’s Intended by saying

that Kurtz’s last words were her name, the other, dark side of Kurtz is not disclosed. Thus, the

pilgrims and the company officials carried the image of Kurtz as an outstanding genius; they

envied and feared him till his death. Therefore, the accountant’s opinion of Kurtz,

“‘Nevertheless, I think Mr. Kurtz is a remarkable man”’ Heart of Darkness, p. 89), comes out to

mean that Kurtz is an eloquent speaker as well as a successful ivory collector. Thus, for the

harlequin youth, Kurtz is beyond judgment; he is an extraordinary person: “You can’t judge Mr

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Kurtz as you would an ordinary man. No, no, no! Now- just to give you an idea- I don’t mind

telling you, he wanted to shoot me too one day- but I don’t judge him” (Conrad, 1979: 80).

Similarly, For Marlow, Kurtz is a remarkable man because of the same mentioned traits:

He had summed up- he had judged. ‘The horror!’ After all this was the expression of

some sort of belief; it had candour, it had conviction… True, he had made that last stride,

he has stepped over the edge, while I had been permitted to draw back my hesitating

foot... Better his cry- much better. It was an affirmation [that] it was a victory! That is

why I have remained loyal to Kurtz to the last, and even beyond. (Conrad, 1979: 101)

As such, the relationship between Marlow and the harlequin on one hand and Kurtz, on the other

hand, is ambivalent: they were conscious of the dark side in Kurtz’s soul; yet they did not want

to reveal it publically. For them, he symbolized the whole colonial system with all its

weaknesses and strengths. For this reason, they wanted to be loyal to his memory.

To conclude, the European mission of civilizing and enlightening the African savages

proves to be just an awful lie; it only served to encourage the exploitation of the Africans, and

Kurtz turned out as a horrible emissary. He had gone to Africa as a messenger of civilization and

a member of the “gang of virtue” (Conrad, 1979: 36), but his morality disappeared when his

trade deteriorated. For this reason, he began to use a local tribe to raid the country in search for

ivory. Nevertheless, Marlow has rather a different view of the natives; he does not regard them

as noble. Rather, he comes out with an interesting knowledge that their “pure, uncomplicated

savagery was a positive relief, being something that had a right to exist- obviously- in the

sunshine” (Conrad, 1979: 83- 4) in comparison with Kurtz who proves to be an extreme brutal

tyrant. Marlow regarded the twenty cannibals on his steamer as some type of people whom he

could work with “men one could work with, or as a group of men with a moral restraint when

they refrained from eating the white people on board.

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As for the pilgrims, they are portrayed as representatives of demonic darkness; they

brought miseries and sufferings to the African continent under the guise of “humanizing,

improving, instructing” (Conrad, 1979: 47) the uncivilized natives. However, the company

agents proved to be immoral. In one word, they are faithless agents or, they are “a lower sort of

apostle” (Conrad, 1979: 18), who devastated the entire wilderness. During their practice of

“merry dance of death and trade” (Conrad, 1979: 20), the white men caused a lot of damage and

moral degradation in the jungle that Marlow comes to portray them as devils with no mercy to

show.

The series of events in the story showed that the pilgrims’ presence in the stations is in

fact pointless for there is nothing good comes out of it. Marlow, in his comment on this issue,

submits an ample image of them:

They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind

of way. There was an air of plotting about that station, but nothing came of it, of course.

It was as unreal as everything else- as the philanthropic pretense of the whole concern, as

their talk, as their government, as their show of work. The only real feeling was a desire

to get appointed to a trading-post where ivory was to be had, so that they could earn

percentages. They intrigued and slandered and hated each other only on that account,- but

as to effectually lifting a little finger- oh, no. Heart of Darkness, p. 35)

In this sense, Marlow has a repugnant image of the pilgrimages who came to the Congo only to

usurp the natives’ riches.

Conrad adds another important image to the agents at the inner station in that they seem

to resemble ghosts, “A door opened, a white haired secretarial head, but wearing a

compassionate expression, appeared, and a skinny forefinger beckoned me into the sanctuary. Its

light was dim, and a heavy writing-desk squatted in the middle. From behind that structure came

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out an impression of pale plumpness in a frock- coat” Heart of Darkness, p. 15). ‘Paleness’ and

‘beckoning’ seem to suggest a place for ghosts rather than a place for human beings because

Marlow feels that there was something threatening in that place.

Conrad further portrays the agents as the sort of people whose behaviour changes as soon

as they travel to the colonies. In this sense, the readers may portray the company doctor as an

eccentric person because he can analyze the characters of the newly European arrivals. What

makes him distinguished among his fellows is the nature of commentary which he suggests; it is

a vague; yet real insight into the human nature. One of these unique insights that can be

mentioned here is his comment of those who returned from the Congo, he is accustomed to say,

‘“Oh, I never see them’, he remarked, ‘and moreover the changes take place inside, you know”’

Heart of Darkness, p. 17). In a sense, he seemed able to evaluate the situation in the Congo even

more than Marlow or Kurtz can, because he remained outside the course of events. He is in fact

an omniscient observer. However, his assessment of these psychological changed in the

Europeans’ behavior prove to be quite true as they started treating the natives with extreme

brutality shortly after they arrived in the Congo. In the light of this fact, the company chief

accountant, therefore, says: “When one has got to make correct entries, one comes to hate those

savage- hate them to death” (Conrad, 1979: 27).

However, the colonizers are not always portrayed as devils; Conrad, in certain instances,

uses the traditional Victorian image to portray the colonizers as pilgrims or saints:

I saw this station, these men strolling aimlessly about in the sunshine of the yard. I asked

myself sometimes what it all meant. They wandered here and there with their absurd long

staves in their hands, like a lot of faithless pilgrims bewitched inside a rotten fence… By

Jove! I’ve never seen anything so unreal in my life. And outside, the silent wilderness

surrounding this cleared speck on the earth struck me as something great and invincible,

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like evil or truth, waiting patiently for the passing away of this fantastic invasion.

(Conrad, 1979: 33)

The European pilgrims are further portrayed as people without faith, because they appear to be

praying to the word ‘ivory’ instead of God. This image is presented in a way to mock

Christianity. Supposedly, the European pilgrims were sent to the Congo to spread the teachings

of Christianity. Ironically, however, they twisted the target of that religious mission to serve their

own purposes in stealing the ivory from its real owners. This image of discrepancy between the

philanthropic pretences of colonialism and its dark reality is what characterizes the mission of

the White men in the Congo. Marlow came to a conclusion that the whole colonial slogans such

as educating, enlightening or even improving the living conditions of the Congolese natives were

just a lie. Marlow goes on to say that the real purpose of the colonizers in the Congo is not a

civilizing mission as they claimed, but, “To tear treasure out of the bowels of the land was their

desire, with no more moral purpose at the back of it than there is in burglars breaking into a safe”

(Conrad, 1979: 44). This presupposes that the European colonizers did not come to the Congo to

achieve moral aims but to fill the imperial safes with the fortunes from the colonies. Other than

this, the colonizers are no more than a group of irresponsible men with greedy intentions. They

were cruel with no courage, “there was not an atom of foresight or of serious intention in the

whole batch of them, and they did not seem aware these things are wanted for the work of the

world” (Conrad, 1979: 43- 44). This image is a thorough account of the Europeans’ journey in

African continent. The pilgrims apparently seem to be without seriousness or insight in any

activity. This image is reinforced by another image of the Russian whose goal is to steal the

ivory from the natives. In Marlow’s opinion, he is not more than, “a species of wandering trader-

a pestilential fellow, snapping ivory consistent from the natives” (Conrad, 1979: 46). Earlier,

Conrad had prepared the readers for the Russian’s image when he appeared shortly after the

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attack on the steamer. At first, the Russian was portrayed as a white man who was beckoning

from the river bank, and then turned into an apparition: “He looked like a harlequin. His clothes

had been made of some stuff that was brown holland probably, but it was covered with patches

all over . . . . A beardless, boyish face, very fair, no features to speak of, nose peeling, little blue

eyes, smiles and frowns chasing each other over that open countenance like sunshine and shadow

on a wind-swept plain” (Conrad, 1979: 75- 6).

The point is that the Russian does not have any specific feature to talk about. However,

Conrad simply wanted to say that he resembles a clown. The sketching of his character mainly

shows the silliness and strangeness of his personality in the weird circumstances of the African

wilderness. Like the other European characters, he remained vague, and Kurtz could tell other

white men: “I tell you this man… has enlarged my mind” (Conrad, 1979: 78). Besides, the

Russian’s devotion to Kurtz makes Marlow admire him, “I did not envy his devotion to Kurtz,

though” (Conrad, 1979: 79), and is imaged as Kurtz’s true follower, “Kurtz’s last disciple”

(Conrad, 1979: 84).

As women in Heart of Darkness, Marlow argues, “They- the women, I mean- are out of

it- should be out of [men’s world]. We must help them to stay in that beautiful world of their

own, lest ours gets worse. Oh, she had to be out of it” (Conrad, 1979: 69). The implication of this

male- oriented perspective aims at silencing all other perspectives in his novella. Here, he

proposes to keep women out of the men’s world. His suggestion, however, is to throttle each and

every female’s attempt to understanding things that are bigger than their world, especially the

colonial mission. To conclude, women, in Marlow’s perception, have a passive nature and,

therefore, are not recommended to live in the world of men which is full of atrocities and

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horrible things. Accordingly, Marlow’s argument calls for distancing them from the males’

world for they are too delicate and weak to undergo the horrible issues of men’s life.

Like Africa and Africans, female characters are depersonalized. They are not permitted to

play an effective role in the novella. Besides, Conrad had the desire to silence all women in

Heart of Darkness, except two only: Marlow’s aunt and Kurtz’s Intended. And, even when these

women do speak, “they are misunderstood, deliberately misled, or represented as profoundly

lacking a comprehensive understanding of the events in which they participate” (McIntire, 2002:

269).

In Marlow’s perception, the European women are portrayed as greedy and materialistic;

they are only desirous of the men’s money which they make out of their collection of ivory. As

such, he depicts the Intended as, “one of those creatures that are not the playthings of Time”

(Conrad, 1979: 107). Marlow further describes the kind of relationship between her and Kurtz

pathetically, “I saw her and him in the same instant of time- his death and her sorrow- I saw her

sorrow in the very moment of his death. Do you understand? I saw them together- I heard them

together” (Conrad, 1979: 107). She is portrayed as equivalent to death because it mysteriously

and unexpectedly exceeds all limits of time, and terminates the lives of human beings abruptly,

without a prior notice. However, the Intended is basically similar to the African woman in power

and sympathy of the wilderness,

the sound of her low voice seemed to have the accompaniment of all the other sounds,

full of mystery, desolation, and sorrow, I had ever heard- the ripple of the river, the

soughing of the trees swayed by the wind, the murmurs of wild crowds, the faint ring of

incomprehensible words cried from afar, the whisper of a voice speaking from beyond

the threshold of an eternal darkness. (Conrad, 1979: 108)

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During her interview with Marlow, the Intended turned to be a mature woman which “the

glitter of her eyes” (Conrad, 1979: 109) charms people. Like Kurtz, her eloquence completely

dominated the entire interview. She did not listen at all; she just kept talking so much that she

managed to keep his mouth shut. And, as she kept talking, she appeared to be “as thirsty men

drink” (Conrad, 1979: 108).

3.3 Illustration of the Relationship between the Colonized and the Colonizers

Colonialism is about the relationship between the colonized people and their colonizers.

According to Lois Tyson, “colonialist ideology… was based on the colonizers’ assumption

of their own superiority, which they contrasted with the alleged inferiority of native (indigenous)

peoples, the original inhabitants of the lands they invaded” (1993: 419). The colonizers consider

that the culture of their ancestors was extremely civilized and that is why they define native

people as savage or undeveloped. In other words, the colonizers see themselves as superior to the

colonized people. In addition to this, colonizers think that they set up examples for the colonial

people, so the colonized people “were considered ‘other’, different, and therefore inferior to the

point of being less than fully human” (Tyson, 1993: 420).

Marlow seems to be the only European character desirous to approach the Africans in one

way or another. He is heavily preoccupied with his relationship with the savage Africans whom

he saw on the banks of the river as well as those who used to work as part of his crew onboard

the steamer. However, the dark sinister atmosphere of the African wilderness hinders any desire

for communication. Therefore, he says that, “the idleness of a passenger, my isolation amongst

all these men with whom I had no point of contact, the oily and languid sea, the uniform

sombreness of the coast, seemed to keep me away from the truth of things, within the toil of a

mournful and senseless delusion” (Conrad, 1979: 19). For Marlow, the entire landscape of the

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Congolese wilderness was depicted as inexplicable that he was unable to understand it: ‘“I had

turned to the wilderness really, not to Mr. Kurtz, who, I was ready to admit, was as good as

buried. And for a moment it seemed to me as if I also were buried in a vast grave full of

unspeakable secrets”’ (Conrad, 1979: 89).

Conrad continues to describe Africans. This time, they are portrayed as savages with wild

eyes using an incomprehensible language consisting of grunts and short phrases sounding like a

violent babble, “Suddenly there was a growing murmur of voices and a great tramping of feet. A

caravan had come in. A violent babble of uncouth sounds burst out on the other side of the

planks. All the carriers were speaking together” (Conrad, 1979: 27). In this portrayal, Africans

are silenced by being robbed of their right to exist. Instead of using identifiable human speech,

they are portrayed as producing violent babbles of uncivilized sounds. Even among themselves,

they exchange short murmuring phrases. Of course, what differentiates humans from animals is

language; therefore, Conrad, when refusing to grant the Africans language, he makes them just

like animals. Apparently, Conrad denies Africans the faculty of speech; they can only

communicate among themselves by using ‘short grunting phrases’ to show their cannibalism or

announce Kurtz’s death.

Heart of Darkness mirrors the binary relationships between the colonizer and the

colonized throughout the story. The book reflects the writer’s own ideas and experiences through

Marlow who is one of the most important characters of the novel. Marlow would like to hide the

immoral activities of the Europeans from his audience since colonialism is a severe

condemnation of the European corruption and brutality in Africa. As the Conrad’s prime

narrator, Marlow sets out to portray the African native as black men who helped the white men.

For him, they are portrayed as a species better than the cannibals or poor devils. In his portrayal

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of the fireman, for instance, he depicts him in this statement: “to look at him was as edifying as

seeing a dog in a parody of breeches and a feather hat, walking on his hind- legs” (Conrad, 1979:

52). This description shows clearly that Marlow regards them as an inferior race. Additionally,

the implication of this statement is that the natives are projected as a kind of animals instead of

seeing them as part of human species. By regarding the blacks as primitive primates, Marlow is

in fact suggesting that there is a huge gap separating Europe from the dark, primitive Africa.

However, it is only when they came closer to him that Marlow realized that these undefined

shapes were in fact human. He mentioned how they had faces like grotesque masks, strong

muscles, and a wild energy. They sang and shout as they rowed their boat with extreme activity

and liveliness. And, Marlow felt relieved as he looked them. But when these men encountered

the European agents, they were physically abused and morally corrupted. And, when they

became useless, they were simply disposed of. Among the corrupted natives are the manager’s

insolent boy and the reclaimed guard; whereas the rest of the black natives are just left to die in

the dark wilderness.

In Heart of Darkness Marlow is sympathetic to the Africans. Although, using the

language of his time to call them ‘niggers’ and ‘savages’, he feels that they, unlike the

Europeans, have every right to live on their land. It is true that he did not regard them as noble,

but found that, in comparison with the fiendishness of Kurtz, their savagery is something that he

could justify as they had spent their entire in wilderness. In his first encounter with the African

natives, Marlow prefers to call them prehistoric creatures, but later, he comes to see them as

equal to him in humanity. Marlow is sensitive to their culture, and realizes that in Africa drums

might have “as profound a meaning as the sound of bells in a Christian country” (Conrad, 1979:

92).

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But, Marlow failed to comprehend the natives’ anger as he passed by them in his steamer.

His inability of comprehending the natives’ frenzy might be related to remoteness from home

and civilization. Not only Marlow, but the Europeans also found it hard to understand the fury of

these primitive inhabitants,

We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like

phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic

outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand, because we were too far and could not

remember, because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are

gone, leaving hardly a sign- and no memories. [Marlow slowly began to feel that these

savages] were not inhuman [and found himself] just the faintest trace of a response to the

terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it [that he can

comprehend. For him the identification of the emotions was impossible, but they were

similar to his own] What was there after all? Joy, fear, sorrow, devotion, valor, rage- who

can tell?- but truth- truth stripped of its cloak of time. (Conrad, 1979: 51- 2)

However, the farther Marlow goes into the wilderness, the closer he becomes to the

Africans that surround him. To shed more light on this information, the reader can see that this

trip makes him get along with the twenty cannibals on his steamer, and, therefore, he called them

“fine fellows [and] men one could work with” (Conrad, 1979: 49- 50). Marlow really respects

the way they restrained their innate cannibalistic tendencies, a quality he saw as the basis of

moral behavior, in not eating the whites on board.

But this is not always true; Marlow is often depicted as an ambivalent person in his

relationship with Africans. This is so because he switches between positive and negative feelings

towards the Congolese community. For instance, when the helmsman was dead, Marlow

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regarded him with affection, but he also renounced this affection immediately to picture the man

as a mere tool:

I missed my late helmsman awfully- I missed him even while his body was still lying in

the pilot- house. Perhaps you will think it passing strange this regret for a savage who

was no more account than a grain of sand in a black Sahara. Well, don’t you see, he had

done something, he had steered; for months I had him at my back- a help- an instrument.

It was a kind of partnership. He steered for me- I had to look after him, I worried about

his deficiencies, and thus a subtle bond had been created, of which I only became aware

when it was suddenly broken. And the intimate profundity of that look he gave me when

he received his hurt remains to this day in my memory- like a claim of distant kinship

affirmed in a supreme moment. (Conrad, 1979: 73)

From the chain of events, it becomes apparent that Conrad is the only European at the

inner station in sympathy with the sufferings of the Congolese on the ground that he depicts the

Congo as a world in which Belgians are the victimizers whereas the Africans are the victims.

The company accountant, for instance, is in opposition with this viewpoint; he pictures the

Africans as loathed creatures who deserve death. On his part, Marlow considered the Africans as

part of the European machinery. However, when he showed his sympathy to his dead helmsman,

Marlow stated that after all he was just one black person in the huge continent of Africa, but

because he had steered for him and been on onboard for some time, a certain kinship had been

established between them.

Throughout the novella, readers can see a number of images of how the European agents

abused the natives. The cannibals who worked onboard Nellie, for instance, are abused by

throwing to them “rotten hippo- meat” (Conrad, 1979: 58) to eat. Of course, this maltreatment

left a terrible effect on the cannibals’ health to a certain degree that their skins became dry and

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they were no longer strong to perform any physical work. This means that darkness in the

African wilderness includes much more than the darkness or savage customs of its inhabitants; it

involves the evil deeds of the European agents as well. There, the Europeans emerged as devils

in the way they devastated the wilderness. And, the ultimate outcome was that the helpless

inhabitants were their victims.

As for his mission of restoring Kurtz back to Europe, Marlow showed every interested to

meet Kurtz with whom a communication will only be possible in the end of the novella. This

meeting was very important to Marlow because he expected to get a reasonable explanation for

the European colonization in the Congo. However, all other European agents in the Congo had

no communication with the natives, and were, therefore; unaware of the cultural differences. As

a result, they did not feel they need to talk about them. For this reason, Marlow hoped that Kurtz

would provide an explanation. On the contrary, he found that Kurtz was too much engaged in his

oratory speeches and savage unspeakable rites that he had produced nothing more than mere

monologues.

In the beginning, this image of Kurtz never existed; the company manager portrayed him

as “a first- class agent… very remarkable person… [and, presently] in charge of trading post”

(Conrad, 1979: 92), and a great importance to the company, as Marlow argues:

This is the reason why I affirm that Kurtz was a remarkable man. He had something to

say. He said it. Since I had peeped over the edge myself, I understand better the meaning

of his stare that could not see the flame of the candle, but was wide enough to embrace

the whole universe piercing enough to penetrate all the hearts that beat in the darkness.

He had summed up- he had judged. The horror! He was a remarkable man. After all, this

was the expression of some sort of belief; it had candour, it had conviction, I had a

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vibrating note of revolt in its whisper, it had the appalling face of a glimpsed truth- the

strange commingling of desire and hate. (Conrad, 1979: 101)

Other than a successful ivory collector, Kurtz represents many things: an image of the

wilderness, a god, an imperialist, and a representative of power to the natives. Later in the

novella, the reader is shocked to read that his hut is surrounded by the skulls of men who

betrayed him or, at least, challenged his power. The hanging of the rebels’ skulls on posts

function as meant to be a warning to anyone in the jungle planning to go against his will. Amid

this bloody chaos, however, Kurtz believed that the world consisted of three basic cycles: birth,

life, and finally death, and in the middle of which, he says: ‘“I am lying here in the dark waiting

for death”’ (Conrad, 1979: 99).

By and large, Kurtz followed a severe violent style not only in collecting ivory from

Africans, but also in abusing his fiancé and colleagues at the inner station. Also, his hut was

decorated with skulls, a behavior that showed his extreme brutality against the natives. To

conclude, the barbarity and greed of his deeds made him mentally ill; they led to his failure and

finally to his death.

Back in Brussels, the company doctor examined Marlow prior his departure to the

Congo, and told him that those who journeyed to Africa underwent mental changes. This opinion

came out true when Marlow met Kurtz wherein he discovered that the latter’s soul became so

insane because of total isolation in the African wilderness:

I tried to break the spell- the heavy, mute spell of the wilderness- that seemed to draw

him to its pitiless breast by the awakening of forgotten and brutal instincts, by the

memory of gratified and monstrous passions… this alone had beguiled his unlawful soul

beyond the bounds of permitted aspirations… I had to deal with a being to whom I could

not appeal in the name of anything high or low… But his soul was mad. Being alone in

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the wilderness, it had looked within itself, and, by Heavens! I tell you, it had gone mad. I

had- for my sins, I suppose, to go through the ordeal of looking into it myself. I saw the

inconceivable mystery of a soul that knew no restraint, no faith and no fear, yet

struggling blindly with itself. (Conrad, 1979: 94- 6)

Commenting on this image, Patrick Brantlinger justifies Kurtz’s insanity by saying that “On one

hand, an all-inclusive definition of Africa as a place where humanity gets lost and goes mad

derives from a Victorian repertoire of imperialism and racism” (1999: 200). On the other hand,

the African wilderness put the mental status of the European agents in danger and caused them to

lose their moral values. Throughout the sequence of events, it appears that the Europeans became

so incredibly greedy while searching for ivory that they started torturing the Africans. This

implies that the European agents give themselves the right to do whatever they want in Africa

and treat the country in the way they like as if everything was their own property without having

to face any consequences for their horrible actions.

Shedding more light on the barbarity of the European agents in the Congolese wilderness,

Conrad specifically set Kurtz to be his example by mentioning that he started as an emissary with

a civilizing mission, and ended up as an extremely brutal racial person. This fact is quite

observable in his inhumane report to the International Society for the Suppression of Savage

Customs as he recommended eliminating all the natives. Admittedly, most of the events in Heart

of Darkness revolve round Kurtz’s drastic changed nature from civility to brutality, and how this

change affects his relationship and everyday dealings with the natives. His unlimited obsession

with ivory collection stripped him of his humanity to the extent that he even went so far to

behead the rebellious Africans. In this connection, Conrad argues that Kurtz’s bloody barbaric

action made him even more savage than the cannibals. Not only this, but his ambition to gain

power and ivory in the wilderness had also a damaging effect even on his relationships with the

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other European agents at the inner station. For instance, he usurped a shipment of ivory from the

Russian simply because he could do whatever he wanted without listening to reason. These

savaged activities ultimately became part of his nature that he was unable to stop.

Conrad time and again portrays Kurtz as a colonialist without morals because he took

part in the rituals of the savage society through conducting night barbaric dances. The author

tried to distinguish Kurtz’s savagery from that of the Africans, and concluded that theirs was “a

positive relief [because it is] something that has a right to exist- obviously- in the sunshine”

(Conrad, 1979: 38), whereas Kurtz’s was disgusting in the sense that the savages had the right to

be savages but they did not have the right to be civilized men. The implication of this

comparison is that a colonialist might lose his morality and humanity because of his long contact

with the savages. Kurtz was that kind of person when he began to behave like the Africans, and

the reason was that the powers of darkness controlled him, “The thing was to know what he

belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own” (Conrad, 1979: 27).

In his discussion of how the Intended portrays Kurtz, Marlow says that she admired the

latter very much. In her interview with Marlow after Kurtz’s death, she expressed her admiration

of her fiancé by saying that he was a great good man. Importantly enough, she believed that she

knew him best,

‘It was impossible to know him and not to admire him. Was it?’

‘He was a remarkable man,’ I said, unsteadily. Then before the appealing fixity of her

gaze, that seemed to watch for more words on my lips, I went on, ‘It was impossible not

to-’

‘Love him,’ she finished eagerly, silencing me into an appalled dumbness.

'How true! How true! But when you think that no one knew him so well as I! I had all his

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noble confidence. I knew him best.’

‘You knew him best,’ I repeated. (Conrad, 1979: 107)

3.4 Representation of the Clash of Cultures

Of course, Heart of Darkness consists of a set of discourses which are in conflict with

each other. Colonialism, for example, rejects the work of the Christian missionary in the

continent of Africa; it just encourages the search for ivory and the accumulation of capital

through stealing the natural resources of the country. This colonial policy normally stands

against the development of an undeveloped country. Upon the realization of this fact, Conrad

thought of writing a narrative that included all the political trends, cultural and moral values

prevailing at that time. The inclusion of these divergent discourses naturally originates a struggle

between the political and the moral standards. The reader can see this particular image in Marlow

who brought into the mind the Roman conquest of Britain, and interpreted it in a form of a

civilized man facing darkness and savagery. Similarly, the European colonization of Africa in

the nineteenth century is like a return to darkness in the heart of mankind. This second image is

in contradiction with the narrator’s pride in that “the men of whom the nation is proud, from Sir

Francis Drake to Sir John Franklin, knights all, titled and untitled- the great knights- errant of the

sea” (Conrad, 1979: 2). Another conflict can be found in the clash between the Europeans who

are haunted with searching for ivory and their unserious attempt to build social and colonial

relations with the natives. Being too much obsessed with collecting ivory, the Europeans are

doomed to fail in establishing social relations with the Africans. Besides, the Europeans’ view of

Africa as an inferior nation is one of the leading causes that hinder establishing social kinships.

And of course, the result is that Marlow experienced a dreary isolation while Kurtz became mad

with possessing more power. Kurtz, who started as a person calling for spreading civilization,

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ended up as a savage calling to eliminate the African indigenes. Despite his hard attempt to be

civil, Marlow was not excluded from this image of social isolation or complete madness.

The horror that Kurtz underwent in the dark African wilderness led to his insanity in the

sense that it drew a line between the colonizers and the savage culture and hindered any desire

for interaction. This image of horror, of course, caused Kurtz’s inability of attaining harmony

with the African nature and people, until he has totally gone mad. The horror of the wilderness,

the corrupt nature as well as his inability to control the violence inside himself ultimately led to

his madness. Marlow related Kurtz’s love for chaos and incomprehensibility of the jungle with

his insanity proclaiming that language and dreams were the main causes: “I’ve been telling you

what we said- repeating the phrases we pronounced- but what’s the good? [. . .] They had behind

them, to my mind, the terrific suggestiveness of words heard in dreams, of phrases spoken in

nightmares” (Conrad, 1979: 29).

Marlow realized that the real purpose behind the European mission in Africa could be

anything but certainly not to educate, enlighten or even improve the living conditions of the

inhabitants. The person who can best illustrate this image is the fireman:

He was an improved specimen; he could fire up a vertical boiler . . . A few months of

training had done for that really fine chap. He squinted at the steam-gauge and at the

water-gauge with an evident effort of intrepidity- and he had filed teeth, too, the poor

devil, and the wool of his pate shaved into queer patterns, and three ornamental scars on

each of his cheeks . . . He was useful because he had been instructed; and what he knew

was this- that should the water in that transparent thing disappear, the evil spirit inside the

boiler would get angry through the greatness of his thirst, and take a terrible vengeance.

So he sweated and fired up and watched the glass fearfully. (Conrad, 1979: 52- 3)

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The fireman’s education suits the Europeans’ colonial objectives so much that they did not

seriously attempt to improve him. On the contrary, they exploited his ignorance to serve their

own colonial greed in collecting more ivory.

In the end of the narrative, Africa remained incomprehensible to Marlow. His inability to

apprehend the complexities of the African culture took him to discover that the principles of his

Western culture are deteriorated. In this regard, Albert Memmi describes the situation of the

colonizer who fails to understand the culture of the colonized as “living the life under the sign of

a contradiction which looms at every step… everything confirms his solitude, bewilderment and

ineffectiveness” (1969: 20). In this sense, Marlow is trapped between the false morals of his

culture and the inability to comprehend Africa.

In his interview with the Intended near the end of the narrative, Marlow became highly

dissatisfied with the false ethics of the Western civilizations, and felt that he was alienated from

his society. In his comment on Marlow’s ultimate situation, Suresh Raval says, “When he tells

the lie to the Intended, Marlow has already come to the skeptical conclusion about civilization’s

false rhetoric of morality and values; and he has despaired of civilization’s ability to create a

form of life free from hypocrisy and distortions” (1986: 42).

After leaving the steamer, Kurtz returned to the jungle and became “utterly lost” (Conrad,

1979: 94) as the darkness of the wilderness consumed him into the horror of void which is

beyond any recognition. Tony C. Brown comments on Kurtz’s loss in the horrible darkness of

the jungle by saying, “This is the horror as foreclosure, the horror of a void resulting from the

voiding of civilization; and this is Africa as the first term in Marlow’s ironic perversion: the

primal site of the void” (2000: 13)

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Conrad argues that when the white man mingles with the savages, he loses his civilized

nature and becomes a savage like them. Kurtz’s fall is portrayed as a moral crime that is caused

by lack of restraint. He became exactly like an African the moment he started having a physical

relationship with the savage African woman. He disgracefully indulged in sexual orgies of an

inexpressible and abominable kind. When fell from moral virtue, Kurtz showed the extent to

which the qualities of European civilization, power, and restraint could easily be destroyed by

the primitive instincts which have always controlled man. These instincts can express themselves

through an uncontrolled lust for sex, an unrestrained greed for wealth, and a passion for a godlike

power over other fellow creatures.

In brief, when he was given a chance to choose between the Intended and the savage

African mistress, the reasoning part in Kurtz would choose the former. What happened was

exactly the opposite: the savage beast in him chose the seductive vengeful African mistress. In

doing so, he lost his soul to the African mistress. This is so because she embodied regressive

primeval instincts which overcame the idealism of the ambitious Kurtz. Evil, this time,

triumphed over good.

3.5 Depiction of Africa as Character

Conrad’s main purpose in Heart of Darkness is to covey an image of Africa rather than

giving a description of its geography. The book does not intend to search of what real Africa

looks like as much as to know how Conrad portrays the continent to his readers. Sandya Shetty

summarized this fact in his comments on Conrad’s image of the African landscapes,

[Conrad] see [s] the alien African landscape as implacable, ominously silent, and

indifferent to the sorrow or defiance of man since both descriptions are animated by the

observers’ apprehensions of potential evil behind the forest’s vast and sullen facade. Such

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a landscape dwarfs the human element and forces the Western observers into startled and

vulnerable postures. (1989: 467)

In brief, Conrad depicts Africa entirely negative. From his perception, it is a portrait of dark,

irrational and primordial continent populated by dehumanized race of savages who lack language

and are hungry for human flesh.

To start with, Conrad used Marlow as his narrator representing him in the portrayal of his

journey up the River Congo by comparing it to travelling back to the earliest beginning of the

world. In this journey to the wilderness, Marlow viewed himself travelling back to a prehistoric

land wherein everything is primordial. And, Africans are seen as primitive, savage and non-

human creatures. In this connection, he recalls,

We were wanderers on a prehistoric earth, on an earth that wore the aspect of an

unknown planet. We could have fancied ourselves the first of men taking possession of

an accursed inheritance, to be subdued at the cost of profound anguish and of excessive

toil…We were cut off from the comprehension of our surroundings; we glided past like

phantoms, wondering and secretly appalled, as sane men would be before an enthusiastic

outbreak in a madhouse. We could not understand because we were too far and could not

remember because we were traveling in the night of first ages, of those ages that are

gone, leaving hardly a sign- and no memories. (Conrad, 1979: 95)

It becomes apparent then that savagery and primitiveness are going to be recurrent images in

every part of the story. Marlow went on to compare his adventure in the Congo to a dream, “‘It

seems to me I am trying to tell you a dream- making a vain attempt, because no relation of a

dream can convey the dream-sensation, that commingling of absurdity, surprise, and

bewilderment in a tremor of struggling revolt, that notion of being captured by the incredible

which is of the very essence of dreams’” (Conrad, 1979: 39).

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Marlow’s next description of his journey is to portray his uncertainty whether to adhere

to his civilizing mission in the Congo or abandon all the moral values of the Western culture.

This conflict inside Kurtz’s heart implies that he was trying to find his true identity. In one word,

it is a struggle that made Marlow deal with the moral conflicts of the human mind, namely the

conscious and unconscious. Therefore, Marlow’s journey into the Congo characterizes man’s

hidden mind. There, Marlow was quiet and had special feelings towards the world, which he

explained as follows:

you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert, and butted all day long against

shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off for ever

from everything you had known once- somewhere- far away- in another existence

perhaps. There were moments when one’s past came back to one, as it will sometimes

when you have not a moment to spare to yourself; but it came in the shape of an unrestful

and noisy dream, remembered with wonder amongst the overwhelming realities of this

strange world of plants, and water, and silence. (Conrad, 1979: 48)

During this journey, Conrad further portrays Africa as a dark place full of death,

destruction, suffering, injustice, isolation, supernatural evil, isolation, and greed of human

beings. To make his description more vivid, Conrad used the images of animals in a suggestive

way. The use of snakes, vultures, flies, hyenas, alligators, magpies, horseflies, and mice

emphasize the sense of decay, loss, alienation, savagery and corruption of the primeval forest.

Everything Marlow encounters in his journey into the wilderness seems to have an evil image.

For instance, the River Congo appeared to him like a giant snake in its twisted movement which

is similar to the inner self of human beings in its complication,

But there was in it one river especially, a mighty big river, that you could see on the map,

resembling an immense snake uncoiled, with its head in the sea, its body at rest curving

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afar over a vast country, and its tail lost in the depths of the land. And as I looked at the

map… it fascinated me as a snake would a bird- a silly little bird… And the river was

there- fascinating- deadly- like a snake. (Conrad, 1979: 12)

The image of the river, as an immense snake, fascinated Marlow so much so that he could not

resisted the idea of continuing his journey to the jungle simply because, he said, “The snake has

charmed me” (Conrad, 1979: 7). Chinua Achebe, also argues that,

Heart of Darkness projects the image of Africa as “the other world,” the antithesis of

Europe and therefore of civilization, a place where man’s vaunted intelligence and

refinement are finally mocked by triumphant bestiality. The book opens on the River

Thames, tranquil, resting peacefully “at the decline of day after ages of good service done

to the race that peopled its banks.” But the actual story will take place on the River

Congo, the very antithesis of the Thames. The River Congo is quite decidedly not a

River, Emeritus. It has rendered no service and enjoys no old-age pension. We are told

that “going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginning of the world”.

(1977: 1785)

In this sense, the depiction of Africa as an alienated world is contradicted with the European

civilization. Conrad goes on to explain the implication of this image as far as the two rivers are

concerned, namely Thames and them River Congo. He describes how travelling on the River

Congo is like going back in time to the dawn of the world, and how Thames has also once been a

dark place but is now a place of civilization, light and peace.

Like the act of travelling back into the prehistoric time, the sailing along the River Congo

added another image to Marlow’s trip in which the familiar seemed strange and reality needed to

be verified. Here, Marlow described the mysterious long line of river bank as he travels further

into the Congo: “Watching a coast as it slips by the ship is like watching an enigma… The edge

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of a colossal jungle, so dark-green as to be almost black, fringed with white surf, ran straight,

like a ruled line, for, far away along a blue sea whose glitter was blurred by a creeping mist. The

sun was fierce, the land seemed to glisten and drip with steam” (Conrad, 1979: 19). The

explanation of the journey reveals the image of misty arrival to the Congo, and calls to mind the

weird uncertainty experienced by Marlow. While in the wilderness, Marlow experienced yet

another prehistoric image of location as he set out to reveal the unfamiliar forest enclosing the

Central Station,

The great wall of vegetation, an exuberant and entangled mass of trunks, branches,

leaves, boughs, festoons, motionless in the moonlight, was like a rioting invasion of

soundless life, a rolling wave of plants, piled up, crested, ready to topple over the creek,

to sweep every little man of us out of his little existence. And it moved not. A deadened

burst of mighty splashes and snorts reached us from afar, as though an ichthyosaurus had

been taking a bath of glitter in the great river. (Conrad, 1979: 43)

Conrad used the image of ‘huge marine reptile’ that became extinct millions of years ago to

convey the impression of travelling back to prehistoric age.

Achebe, in his critique of ‘An Image of Africa: Racism Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, says

that Conrad portrayed Africa as a primitive continent as it is perceived in the European mind. He

further argues that Conrad treated Africa,

as setting and backdrop which eliminates the African as human factor. Africa as

metaphysical battlefield devoid of all recognizable humanity, into which the wandering

European enters at his peril. [For him, this image indicates] preposterous and perverse

arrogance [because it reduces] Africa to the role of props for the break-up of one petty

European mind. (1977: 256)

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Conrad further portrays Africa as a place of darkness. The jungle, for instance, is very

often portrayed as a huge dark place covered with thick greeneries. In general, Marlow

extensively depicted Africa as a dark place when he described his voyage onboard Nellie:

Going up that river was like traveling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when

vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great

silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no

joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into

the gloom of overshadowed distances. On silvery sandbanks hippos and alligators sunned

themselves side by side. The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded

islands;… this stillness of life did not in the least resembled a peace. It was the stillness

of an impalpable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a

vengeful aspect. I got used to it afterwards; I did not see it anymore; I had no time. I had

to keep guessing at the channel; I had to discern, mostly by inspiration, the signs of

hidden banks, I watched for sunken stones; I was learning to clap my teeth smartly before

my heart flew out, when I shaved by fluke some infernal sly old snag that would have

ripped the life out of the tin-pot steamboat and drowned all the pilgrims; I had to keep a

look-out for the signs of dead wood we could cut up in the night for the next day’s

steaming. When you have to attend to things of that sort, to the mere incidents of the

surface, the reality- the reality, I tell you- fades. The inner truth is hidden- luckily,

luckily. But I felt it all the same; I felt often its mysterious stillness watching me at my

monkey tricks, just as it watches you fellows performing on your respective tight-ropes

for- what is it? half- a- crown a tumble-

‘Try to be civil, Marlow,’ growled a voice, and I knew there was at least one listener

awake besides myself. (Conrad, 1979: 48- 9)

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In this paragraph, the journey up the River Congo is portrayed as travelling back in time. For

Marlow, going up the African prehistoric river implies that there is a primordial violent side in

human nature. Also, he showed that his journey is mingled with the silence of nature and a host

of wild animals. This indicates that a travelling person has the sense of suspense and distrust

because he expects to encounter with the unknown and danger. Putting this feeling in mind, the

narrator highlighted the image of muteness of wilderness so as to add another picture to the

atmosphere of the Congolese wilderness. The way that the narrator used to convey the

mysterious stillness of the wilderness helped him to express his sense of alienation as he was cut

from the world of civilization and forced to experience the world of savagery. The Congolese

land is imaged as a monster ready for avenging itself on its intruders: “The earth seemed

unearthly … There you could look at a thing monstrous and free” (Conrad, 1979: 51). Not only

the land, but the coast is also pictured as a strange animal that cannot be fully understood due to

its changeable mood: “There it is before you- smiling, frowning, inviting, grand, mean, insipid,

or savage, and always mute with an air of whispering, come and find out. This one was almost

featureless, as if still in the making, with an aspect of monotonous grimness” (Conrad, 1979:

19).

Furthermore, the imagery of smell running throughout the entire text is used to reveal the

rottenness, dissolution and corruption of the wilderness. The reason why Marlow used the image

of smell a lot is because he is influenced by the smells of the Congo: “The smell of mud, of

primeval mud by Jove! was in my nostrils” (Conrad, 1979: 38). The word ‘ivory’ is stinking like

a dead corpse: “The word ‘ivory’ rang in the air, was whispered, was sighed. You would think

they were praying to it. A taint of imbecile rapacity blew through it all, like a whiff from some

corpse” (Conrad, 1979: 33). Not only this, but the central station is also surrounded on one side

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by “a pretty border of smelly mud” (Conrad, 1979: 29). Marlow kept smelling damp earth: “I

felt an intolerable weight oppressing my breast, the smell of damp earth” (Conrad, 1979: 89).

Moreover, the whole activity of the imperial enterprise in the Congo smells very bad in his

opinion: “It seemed to me I had never breathed an atmosphere so vile” (Conrad, 1979: 89).

After he aroused the sense of annoyance by describing life on the steamer and

introducing the images of the cannibals, Marlow further embarked upon a long description by

giving extra images to the life of wilderness in the Congo:

Trees, trees, millions of trees, massive, immense, running up high; and at their foot,

hugging the bank against the stream, crept the little begrimed steamboat, like a sluggish

beetle crawling on the floor of a lofty portico… The reaches opened before us and closed

behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our

return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness…The steamer toiled

along slowly on the edge of a black and incomprehensible frenzy. The prehistoric man

was cursing us, praying to us, welcoming us- who could tell? (Conrad, 1979: 50- 1)

In this paragraph, Marlow introduced a host of images of the primordial wilderness. He used the

image of the immensity of the surrounding nature to belittle the technological aspects of the

Europeans civilization. Marlow made those images familiar by introducing the human aspect

into representation. Here, he succeeded in emphasizing that there was a kinship between the

prehistoric man and the white European. The jungle, for Marlow, also reflected the image of evil.

As the steamer moved stealthily towards Kurtz, the darkness in the jungle became an

increasing threat to Marlow’s truth, a truth which he searched for to escape from the evil of his

heart. Conrad further added the technique of sound imagery to suggest the frightening

atmosphere of the Congolese wilderness. This imagery was used to underline the sense of

devastation and havoc prevailing in the Congo. This way the miserable sounds produced by the

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Africans reflected the image of the horrible danger coming from the forest. Marlow heard the

weeping of the bush, and imagined it bursting into a loud laughter: “It made me hold my breath

in expectation of hearing the wilderness burst into a prodigious peal of laughter that would shake

the fixed stars in their places” (Conrad, 1979: 70). The forest also echoed other sounds: “A

frightful clatter came out of that hulk, and the virgin forest on the other bank of the creek sent it

back in a thundering roll upon the sleeping station” (Conrad, 1979: 42). The implication of all

this, then, is that the people who live in the forest produce sounds indicative of barbarism which

frightened Marlow.

Conrad used the image of sounds to convey the sense that the African wilderness is full

of horror. One of the strangest moments of Heart of Darkness occurred shortly before Marlow

reached Kurtz’s station. As surrounded by a thick fog, the boat came under an attack from the

natives. Marlow recalled that,

a cry, a very loud cry, as of infinite desolation, soared slowly in the opaque air. It ceased.

A complaining clamor, modulated in savage discords, filled our ears. The sheer

unexpectedness of it made my hair stir under my cap. I don’t know how it struck the

others: to me it seemed as though the mist itself had screamed, so suddenly, and

apparently from all sides at once, did this tumultuous and mournful uproar arise. It

culminated in a hurried outbreak of almost intolerably excessive shrieking, which stopped

short, leaving us stiffened in a variety of silly attitudes, and obstinately listening to the

nearly as appalling and excessive silence. ‘Good God! What is the meaning- ‘stammered

at my elbow one of the pilgrims. (Conrad, 1979: 56- 7)

By emphasizing the image of the African wilderness, Marlow wanted to argue that the

wilderness has a deep impact on the minds of the colonizers’ minds; it stimulates their

imagination to produce imagined and unreal ideas. The deduction of this statement is that there is

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a very thin line between having the responsibility of civilizing the savaged people and having the

power to carry out that mission in the colonies. Thus, Marlow, after having returned home

exhausted from the wilderness, said, “It was not my strength that wanted nursing, it was my

imagination that wanted soothing” (Conrad, 1979: 102). Marlow, here, tried to say that social

order is absent.

To conclude, Conrad intentionally keeps nature in the Congolese forest mute. Though

surrounded by the wilderness, Conrad said of Marlow, “All this [wilderness] was… mute the

man jabbered about himself. I wondered whether the stillness on the face of the immensity

looking at us two were meant as an appeal or as a menace” (Conrad, 1979: 83). His mind

returned many times trying to justify the nature’s inability to talk: “Could we [I and Kurtz]

handle that dumb thing..? I felt how big, how confoundedly big, was that thing that couldn’t talk,

and perhaps was deaf as well” (Conrad, 1979: 38). Marlow affirmed that the Congolese nature

neither talks nor hears. This statement suggests, then, that if this speechless universe surrounding

them could talk it might offer some names. In the end, Marlow expressed his confidence to hear

and talk, and that his voice could not be silenced, “I hear… I have a voice too, and for good or

evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced” (Conrad, 1979: 52). Such speech can alone give

true names to things. Marlow confirmed that he, unlike other European agents, cannot be

silenced. He resisted the primordial power of darkness and won over it when he stayed loyal to

moral values.

3.6 Conclusion

Obviously, Conrad writes this novel so that the Europeans can see the reality since

colonialism is just like a robbery or a murder for him. That is, he condemns the evil of colonial

exploitation. Thus, it can be said that Heart of Darkness is different from traditional Victorian

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novel since the novel leads the readers to think realistically and reflects the truth of colonialism

imposed by England in Africa. In consequence, a post- colonial analysis of Heart of Darkness

shows the readers Africa’s suffering and pain caused by European colonization. The novel

generally focuses on the moral conflicts of European exploration of Africa.

Conrad also shows how a civilized man turns into a savage when the profits are taken

into consideration. His novel reflects the realities of the world in the 19th century, that is, the

Europeans regard Africans as primitive and immature to colonize them. Briefly, it can be easily

claimed that Heart of Darkness is one of the best examples of the subversion of European

colonialism since it clearly shows the brutal relationship between the Europeans and the natives.

As a colonial text, Heart of Darkness exposes the European discourse by portraying

Africa as well as Africans in a very negative way. The European agents view Africans as

prehistoric, savage, uncivilized species, and the Dark Continent as a dangerous mysterious place

that attracts and destroys the white man by its mysterious darkness. Africa is further depicted as

a place wherein many people suffer and die out of hunger. The novella shows that the European

extreme cruelty leaves the African people in the wilderness in a complete devastated condition

healthfully and socially. This cruelty is a typical behaviour of European discourse in Africa as it

tends to depict the Dark Continent as ‘other world’ on the basis of gender bias. This prejudicial

outlook pushes the colonizers to see Africa as a center of evil, or as a part of the world possessed

by a demonic darkness or barbarism. Bearing this idea in mind, they claim that it is their duty to

civilize and enlighten the African cannibals. Though ironic and hypocritical, the European agents

believe that this justification gives them the right to exploit, maltreat and enslave the natives.

This superiority gender bias is the main leading cause for demolishing each and every effort, if

there is any, to establish a good relationship between the colonizers and the colonized.

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In the end, the novella states that every human soul has a dark side folded with

civilization; it is only civility that forms the basic structure for goodness. Therefore, the absence

of civility results in the absence of morality. Conrad shows that evil exists in the communities of

Africa and Europe equally because some white men behave savagely like the African cannibals

by practicing unspeakable rites and chopping the heads of their enemies. Finally, Heart of

Darkness comes to a conclusion that evil inside human hearts is awakened when man is isolated

from civilization; it is like a disease which infects the worlds of the colonizers and colonized

alike.

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CHAPTER FOUR

The Image of the Colonized and the Colonizers in

A PASSAGE TO INDIA

4.0 Introduction

This chapter seeks to bring out the imagery of the colonized and the colonizers. To

achieve this task, Forster uses three main ways. Firstly, he shows the idea of imagery through

projecting the characters of the colonized and the colonizers.

Secondly, the author uses cross relationships to demonstrate his conception. Using this

second way, he projects a number of distinguished images that exist in the psyche and mindset of

the colonized and the colonizers, the way they interact with each other, and what sort of impact

their personal attitudes leave on the image towards one another. The writer guides the readers via

the projection of cross relationships to conclude that the prejudicial image of the occident leads

to the separation and failure of both the characters to establish friendship.

Thirdly, Forster shows that the imagery perceived in the second way ultimately leads to

the clash of different cultures in the Anglo Indian society. In this section, he shows that the

superiority complex instilled in the Anglo- Indian mentality results in the treatment of the entire

Indians as slaves. This estrangement leads the Occident to regard India as a muddled and

mysterious country which is hard to understand.

Through the discussion of the above mentioned ways of images, it becomes very clear

that establishing friendship between the colonized and the colonizers is highly impossible under

the condition of the British occupation.

4.1 Characterization

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Among the various ways that Forster uses to accomplish his mission is through projecting

the images of the colonizers and the colonized alike. Furthermore, he shows how the colonized

view the colonizers and vice versa. This last method the author uses helps the readers get a clear

picture of how each race views and socially interacts at a later stage.

4.1.1 Image of the Colonized

Dr. Aziz, a Moslem widower, is the central Indian character in the novel. He is presented

as a sympathetic and sensitive character, and becomes a living person, warm and full of

liveliness, “His life, though vivid, was largely a dream” (Forster, 1980: 84). This account of Aziz

gives the reader an image that he is a complex but humane character as his name runs from ‘A’

to ‘Z’. The name of Aziz, in this sense, seems to suggest that it contains the entire sense of

humanity with all its virtues and vices. The author further describes him as “an athletic little

man, daintily put together but really very strong.

The very first scene in which Aziz appears in the novel serves to establish him as the

outstanding active character of the book. From the moment he anxiously took part in the

discussion of “whether or no it is possible to be friends with an Englishman” (Forster, 1980: 33),

Aziz is shown to be full of life, warm, impulsive, moody, careless and sensitive at the same time.

Before he entered the mosque wherein he was going to establish a strong connection with Mrs.

Moore, he had been through a painful experience of being treated like a servant by his superiors

and the humiliation of being ignored by two British women who took his carriage. This incident

reminded him of what his friend Mahmoud Ali had said that the British ladies show no courtesies

towards the Indians, “So, it had come, the usual thing- just as Mahmoud Ali said. The inevitable

snub- his bow [to the British ladies] ignored, his carriage taken. It might have been worse, for it

comforted him somehow that Mesdames Callendar and Lesley should both be fat and weigh the

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tonga down behind. Beautiful women would have pained him (Forster, 1980: 39- 40). Though

disrespected and ignored, Aziz still keeps his liveliness and cordiality as he entered the mosque.

Here, Forster reveals another image of his personality to the readers when Aziz’s imagination is

attracted by the beauty of the shadowy and bright mosque. This spiritual atmosphere caused him

to believe that “Islam [is] an attitude towards life both exquisite and durable, where his body and

his thoughts found their home” (Forster, 1980: 41). As he was contemplating over the beauty of

the mosque and the religion it symbolized, “the whole semi- mystic, semi- sensuous overturn, so

characteristic of his spiritual life” (Forster, 1980: 314) made him forget the worries and

humiliation of being treated as a ruled individual. Suddenly, this sense of peace was disturbed by

the entry of Mrs. Moore whom he at first regarded with dislike. But his inborn friendliness was

stronger and he approached her with true affection to enjoy the beauty of the mosque, “‘Oh, can I

do you some service now or at any time?’” (Forster, 1980: 42). By nature, he had a desire for

kindness and he liked her when she respected him as a human being and sympathized with his

wrongs, “Mrs. Moore, I am afraid I startled you. I shall tell our community- my friends- about

you” (Forster, 1980: 43). When she said that she did not understand people, but only whether she

liked or disliked them, he, then, became aware that she was no difference from his countrymen.

Therefore, he treated her as a friend, took her around the mosque, and shared his life’s details

with her.

Forster goes on to present further images of Aziz; one of them is that his emotions are not

stable. This implies that he is a temperamental person. In one of the occasions, for instance, Aziz

is depicted mourning his dead wife,

And unlocking a drawer, he took out his wife’s photograph. He gazed at it, and tears

spouted from his eyes. He thought, ‘How unhappy I am!’ But because he really was

unhappy, another emotion soon mingled with his self-pity: he desired to remember his

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wife and could not. Why could he remember people whom he did not love? They were

always so vivid to him, whereas the more he looked at this photograph, the less he saw.

She had eluded him thus, ever since they had carried her to her tomb. He had known that

she would pass from his hands and eyes, but had thought she could live in his mind, not

realizing that the very fact that we have loved the dead increases their unreality, and that

the more passionately we invoke them the further they recede. A piece of brown

cardboard and three children- that was all that was left of his wife. It was unbearable, and

he thought again, ‘How unhappy I am!’ and became happier. He had breathed for an

instant the mortal air that surrounds Orientals and all men, and he drew back from it with

a gasp, for he was young. ‘Never, never shall I get over this,’ he told himself. ‘Most

certainly my career is a failure, and my sons will be badly brought up.’ Since it was

certain, he strove to avert it, and looked at some notes he had made on a case at the

hospital. Perhaps some day a rich person might require this particular operation, and he

gain a large sum. The notes interesting him on their own account, he locked the

photograph up again. Its moment was over, and he did not think about his wife any more.

(Forster, 1980:74-5)

Aziz initially felt very unhappy and then gradually became very happy. Forster, in this scene,

shows that Aziz’s feelings and moods are irrational as well as changeable. The picture of his late

wife filled him with sadness. He expressed his sadness for being lonely, and suddenly stopped

thinking about her anymore. This unpredictable change in mood is worth noting.

In his encounter with Fielding, Aziz’s passion for friendship released Fielding’s

goodwill. Again, Forster shows Aziz as an impulsive man in the sense that he became excited by

the kindness of Fielding’s guests and invited them to his poor house, though he regretted what he

had done later on, “His invitation gratifies him, and [Mrs. Moore] asked him for his address.

Aziz thought of his bungalow with horror. It was a detestable shanty near a low bazaar. There

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was practically only one room, in it, and that infested with black flies” (Forster, 1980: 86-7).

Aziz felt embarrassed when Fielding visited him in his simple accommodation during his illness.

But Fielding’s friendliness made him feel comfortable, and in a nice gesture of friendship, Aziz

showed Fielding his dead wife’s photograph, ‘“She was my wife. You are the first Englishman

she has ever come before”’ (Forster, 1980: 129), Fielding liked the gesture and thanked Aziz.

But he also realized with regret that he could not be carried away by emotions as Aziz could. As

he came to know Aziz better he was also embarrassed by Aziz’s impulsive temperament which

alternates between kindness and unkindness. He even blamed Aziz because of his unstable

emotions. However, Aziz never felt sorry, but asked, “‘Is emotions a sack of potatoes, so much

the pound, to be measured out? Am I a machine? I shall be told I can use up my emotions by

using them, next”’ (Forster, 1980: 253). In this sense, Aziz’s emotions determines his beliefs and

actions; for instance, after his release from the prison, Aziz wanted to depart British India even if

this decision would lead to ruin his future. Hamidullah, his friend, also criticized Aziz’s action

and advised him by saying, “‘Accept the consequences of your own actions like a man”’

(Forster, 1980: 267), but Aziz’s response to this statement was that “‘There are many ways of

being a man; mine is to express what is deepest in my heart”’ (Forster, 1980: 267).

Additionally, Forster shows him as very sensitive to the minor and insignificant

statements which other characters say, and this prevents him from responding fully to Fielding’s

goodwill. In the first conversation between Aziz and Fielding, Aziz mentioned the term ‘Post-

Impressionism, which Fielding dismissed with humor but Aziz considered it as a sign of

disrespect by an Englishman of the ruling class. Forster commented on this incident by arguing

that Aziz “was sensitive rather than responsive. In every remark, he found a meaning, but not

always the true meaning” (Forster, 1980: 84). The image of Aziz as a sensitive person indicates

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that while he likes the British and desires to establish connections with them, he is sensitive and

suspicious of their real attitude. Although Aziz has the image of understanding the heart, he is a

suspicious person. He argues: “There are many ways of being a man; mine was to express what

is deepest in my heart” (Forster, 1980: 267). However, his suspicious nature destroys the

relationship between Fielding and himself. The tragic end of their friendship suggests that Aziz

does not have self knowledge. Forster explains,

Aziz did not believe in his own suspicions- better if he had, for then he would have

denounced and clear the situation up. Suspicion and belief could in his mind exist side by

side. They sprang from different sources, and need never intermingle. Suspicion in the

Oriental is a sort of malignant tumour, a mental malady, that makes him self- conscious

and unfriendly; suddenly he trusts and mistrusts at the same time in a way the Westerner

cannot comprehend. It is his demon, as the Westerner’s is hypocrisy.

(Forster, 1980: 275-6)

The writer further portrays another image of Aziz as a contradicted person in his relation

with his British superiors as he wants to be liked by them, “‘Mr. Fielding, no one can ever realize

how much kindness we Indians need, we do not even realize it ourselves. But we know when it

has been give. We do not forget, though we may seem to. Kindness more kindness, and even

after that more kindness. I assure it is the only hope’” (Forster, 1980: 128), and, yet he turns out

to be uninterested in the colonizers’ kindness after his release from prison. This attitude is quite

clear in his talk with Fielding as he says, “The approval [admission to the British club] of your

compatriots no longer interests me”’ (Forster, 1980: 250). Because of this alternation between a

childish instability and a responsive temperament, Aziz emerges in the novel as a realistic human

being as he is equipped with merits and demerits.

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Hospitality is yet another image of Aziz. In A Passage to India, Forster shows that this

image is part of a wider aspect of the virtues of giving and taking. Aziz has developed his ideas

on the virtues of giving. He says of himself, “God would give me more when he saw I gave.

Always be giving, like the Nawab Bahadur. My father was the same, that is why he died poor…

so we would sit giving forever’” (Forster, 1980: 87).

Another image of Aziz is that he is an anti- Hinduism person. During Fielding’s tea party,

when Adela and Mrs. Moore asked why the Bhattacharyas failed to send their carriage for them,

Aziz rushed to attack them as being, “‘Slack Hindus--they have no idea of society; I know them

very well because of a doctor at the hospital. Such a slack, unpunctual fellow! It is as well you

did not go to their house, for it would give you a wrong idea of India. Nothing sanitary. I think

for my own part they grew ashamed of their house and that is why they did not send’” (Forster,

1980: 86-7). However, within seconds, Aziz’s impulsiveness is revealed when he invited the

Englishmen to his house, but when Adela asked him for his address, “Aziz thought of his

bungalow with horror. It was a detestable shanty near a low bazaar. There was practically only

one room in it, and that infested with small black flies. ‘Oh, but we will talk of something else

now,’ he exclaimed” (Forster, 1980: 86-7). The comic image that Forster creates here stems from

the difference between Aziz’s intentions and his willingness to execute them. What is humorous

here is that he condemned Hindus for their slackness while he was guilty of committing the same

mistake.

Nevertheless, Forster portrays Aziz as a patriotic person since he felt that he had so much

pride of the history of India, especially the era of the Mogul dynasty. In his discussion with Mrs.

Moore, for instance, Aziz said that he was honored with her friendship and felt like he was the

Mogul Moslem Emperor,

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‘You cannot imagine how you have honoured me. I feel like the Emperor Babur. [And,

when she asks why he feels so, he replies]… because my ancestors came down with him from

Afghanistan. They joined him at Herat. He also had often no more elephants than one, none

sometimes, but he never ceased showing hospitality. When he fought or hunted or ran away, he

would always stop for a time among hills, just like us; he would never let go of hospitality and

pleasure, and if there was only a little food, he would have it arranged nicely, and if only one

musical instrument, he would compel it to play a beautiful tune. I take him as my ideal. He is the

poor gentleman, and he became a great king… [He even goes that far to describe himself as

faithful as the Emperor Babur]… Babur--never in his whole life did he betray a friend, so I can

only think of him this morning… I always enjoy conversing about the Moguls. It is the chief

pleasure I know. You see, those first six emperors were all most wonderful men, and as soon as

one of them is mentioned, no matter which, I forget everything else in the world except the other

five. You could not find six such kings in all the countries of the earth, not, I mean, coming one

after the other- father, son’. (Forster, 1980: 155)

But this discussion leads to another image of Aziz in which he strongly abides by his religion.

This image is evident when Mrs. Moore asked him to tell her something about Akbar. He, then,

went on to say that:

‘Akbar is very wonderful, but half a Hindu; he was not a true Moslem… No more was

Babur, he drank wine. But Babur always repented afterwards, which makes the entire difference,

and Akbar never repented of the new religion he invented instead of the Holy Koran [But, when

Mrs. Moore wonders if Akbar’s religion very fine, simply because it works hard to unite India,

Aziz replies that nothing in the world can unite India in his perception] Miss Quested, fine but

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foolish. You keep your religion, I mine. That is the best. Nothing embraces the whole of India,

nothing, nothing, and that was Akbar’s mistake’. (Forster, 1980: 156)

Another focal colonized character that Forster introduces is Professor Godbole. Forster

depicts him as a mysterious, vague and hard- to- understand person. Also, he is described as

queer and irritating, and unbearable. Nonetheless, Godbole is found to be both a humorous and

mysterious individual who needs to be comprehended in a clear way. On the comic level,

Godbole is easily understood. From the religious corner, he is a traditional Hindu believer who

has a strong faith in “Hinduism, [because, for him, it] is solid from a distance [and it] is riven

into sects and clans, which radiate and join, and change their names according to the aspects

from which they are approached” (Forster, 1980: 289). Another image of Godbole is related to

his dress which suggests harmony, “as if he had reconciled the products of East and West, mental

as well as physical, and could never be decomposed” (Forster, 1980: 89). Yet, the influence of

the West on him is only slight. The Westerners are unable to influence his religious or spiritual

beliefs; their sole influence is through the English language and clothes, “socks with clocks”

(Forster, 1980: 89).Because he is a Hindu Brahmin, Godbole fell under the impact of his Hindu

philosophy that he became completely unfit for practical action or decision. Forster argues that

Godbole seems to be completely obsessed in tranquility that only a small part of him is interested

in the worldly concerns. He is helpless to do anything decisive; neither can he even bother

himself to make a positive remark. He responded to Aziz’s question about Fielding by saying

that, “‘He arrived at the European Guest House perhaps- at least possibly”’ (Forster, 1980: 288).

Forster argues that Godbole never tells anyone anything. At Fielding’s tea party, for instance

when Aziz was asked to tell what the Marabar Caves are famous for, the Brahmin Godbole never

showed any sign to help describe them. The more Aziz asked him to describe them, the more

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obscure he became in his reply. In this concern, Forster comments that “the comparatively

simple mind of the Mohammedan was encountering Ancient Night” (Forster, 1980: 92), which

means that Godbole is a sort of vague and unsociable person.

At the tea party, Godbole acted with politeness and respect towards the guests, though

appearing as a mysterious person. He observed what was happening around him in a depressed

way, and behaved as if nothing were noticeable. Indeed, his coldness and tranquility reflects the

image of India which only physically yields to the invaders, though conquered repeatedly.

Forster shows Godbole as a man who leads a philosophical life; and therefore, has no time for

carrying out practical tasks. He can neither catch a train nor establish the King Emperor George

V High School at Mau. He is depicted as so calm and detached that he even has no sense of time

or place. Godbole remained silent and unapproachable throughout the novel, except that when all

the guests were leaving he holds them to stay by singing a religious song in which he put himself

in the position of a milk- maid singing to Shri Krishna. In the following quotation, Forster refers

to Godbole’s ways of uniting the opposites as he said, “Good and evil are different, as their

names imply. But, in my own humble opinion, they are both of them aspects of my Lord

[Krishna]. He is present in the one, absent in the other, and the difference between the presence

and absence is not non- existence, and we are the” (Forster, 1980: 186).

Again, when Fielding expresses his concern about Aziz’s arrest, Godbole seemed to be

indifferent, and requested that Fielding suggest a name for a new high school at Mau. Fielding

becomes certain now that Godbole is useless, therefore he considered him irrational. This

discovery helped Fielding to conclude that “‘really, Indians were sometimes unbearable… I can

think of nothing but poor Aziz. Have you grasped at the present moment he is in prison?”’

(Forster, 1980: 184).

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However, in the middle of this comical and childish image, Godbole possesses a

philosophical doctrine which makes him a true spokesman of Hinduism as a spiritual religion. In

fact these two aspects, namely comical and spiritual, are present side by side in Godbole’s

personality. This suggests that his impracticality not only makes him unfit for any useful action

but it also enables him to develop a spiritual wisdom, so that he becomes an image of truth and

reality. In this sense, Forster argues that while Godbole is portrayed as a committed follower of

Hinduism, yet he is isolated from the physical reality of time and place. This isolation makes him

perceive that the existence of evil and chaos proves that God is missing in the world but the

absence of God is also a sign that he is ultimately present behind creation. Therefore, at

Fielding’s tea party, Godbole invoked Shri Krishna and asked him to come so that evil would

disappear, but the fact was that “He neglects to come” (Forster, 1980: 96) did not bother

Godbole; rather it increased Godbole’s need as a worshipper who keeps begging Him “Come,

come, come, come” (Forster, 1980: 96). This means that Godbole can accept the existence of a

universe in which God is entirely absent. It is this acceptance of negation and chaos which makes

him superior to the other characters in the novel like Mrs. Moore who is religious like him but

cannot completely accept the mystery of God’s ways, Godbole is able to recognize evil in the

universe. He does not break down like Mrs. Moore and Adela under the impact of the echo at the

caves; rather he can accept the existence of evil and good. After Aziz’s arrest, he told Fielding

that good and evil are aspects of God. According to him, everyone takes part in both good and

evil in that when a person performs a good action everyone honors him, but when he performs an

evil action he becomes responsible for its consequences. Thus, good and evil have a place in

reality. And since reality is part of God, God is, therefore, present in the good and absent in the

evil. In this concern, Godbole argues that ‘“Yet absence implies presence, absence is not non-

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existence and we are therefore entitled to repeat ‘Come, come, come, come’” (Forster, 1980:

186). In Godbole’s perception, then the solution to the problem of the Marabar Caves is that the

presence of chaos and negation simply means that God disappears as long as human beings are in

there. But since evil is strongly connected with good, then evil is soon terminated by God Who

ultimately comes and restores good in the universe. Godbole is not so much worried about the

sufferings of Aziz or Adela; his only concern is that good should return. In the light of such

insight, evil is forced to retreat and peace is established at Mau. When Forster introduced

Godbole again in the last section of the novel, he appeared to be in charge of the festival

Janmashtami in which, “Infinite Love took upon itself the form of Shri Krishna, and saved the

world. All sorrow was annihilated, not only for Indians, but for foreigners, birds, caves, railway,

and the stars; all become joy, all laughter; there had never been disaster nor doubt,

misunderstanding, cruelty, fear” (Forster, 1980: 285). In this spiritual moment, Godbole

appeared to practice Universal Love which includes the inferior creatures with the superiors.

Godbole strongly believes that love unifies the whole universe; there are no inferiors or

superiors. The idea of love for him means that a person should not be so much worried about

fulfilling his own desires; rather he should worry about serving his people selflessly. In this

sense, Godbole, more than any other character in the novel, represents the voice of Forster whose

message in the novel calls for establishing friendship in the British India.

4.1.2 Portrayal of the Colonizers

Among the various characters in the novel, Mrs. Moore emerges as the most notable

influential one. Right from the beginning, Forster introduces her as a caring and considerate

person whose image of love is expressed clearly in the following discussion with her son, Ronny:

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“‘Because India is part of the earth. And God has put us on the earth in order to be

pleasant to each other. God … is… love… 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’” (Forster, 1980:

70).

Forster further shows Mrs. Moore as a sociable person who has no firm views. Her first

appearance in the novel proves this idea. In her first encounter with Aziz at the mosque, Forster

portrayed her as a dim figure in the shadows. She turned to be like a ghost. She was depicted as a

mysterious old lady full of warmth and kindness. The friendly conversation she had with Aziz

left communicated an impression that she is a wise woman and can understand people well. This

conversation helps Aziz say of her, ‘“You understand me, you know what I feel. Oh, if others

resembled! [This means] Then you are an Oriental’” (Forster, 1980: 45), simply because she

does not have the rigid mentality of the Anglo Indians. In one word, she is unlike her

countrymen because she does not depend on logic to understand life. She has a spiritual power of

understanding the divine reality beyond ordinary life. As she came out of the mosque, she felt

that she was spiritually connected with the universe, “A sudden sense of unity, of kinship with

the heavenly bodies passed into the old woman and out, like water through a tank leaving a

strange freshness behind” (Forster, 1980: 51 ). In India she experienced the importance of love as

it unified all creatures of heaven and earth. For instance, when she went to hang up her dress one

night before she went to bed, she noticed a wasp sleeping on peg. Her heart sympathized with the

weak wasp which was sleeping peacefully unaware of any danger. Her sympathy with a wasp

made her an emotional Oriental in another sense. This sympathy connects her in a mystic way

with Godbole and his Hindu philosophy which sees the superior and the inferior creatures united

in divine love. She believes that God is the genuine source of all love on Earth. She further

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explained this belief to Ronny by saying that God has created us to love one another. Being

Christian, she put her trust in God of love Who created all mankind on earth to love each other.

Ever since her arrival in India, God “had been constantly in her thoughts; though oddly enough

he satisfies her less. She must needs pronounce his name frequently, as the greatest she knew, yet

she had never found it less efficacious” (Forster, 1980: 71). She even came to feel whether

personal relationships, especially marriage, really made any difference at all, “She felt

increasingly (vision or nightmare?) whether it can be a vision or nightmare] that though people

are important, the relations between them are not, and that in particular too much fuss has been

made over marriage; centuries of carnal embracement yet man is no nearer to understanding

man” (Forster, 1980: 147).

After the incident at the Marabar Caves, she gradually withdrew from the world. Mrs.

Moore who has led a purposeful life as a mother and a Christian, now began to be affected by the

absence and vagueness of the land she visited. She slowly passes from being an old woman in

poor health to a type of a living ghost indifferent to everything and everyone around her. She

finally surrendered to the negation and absence of India as she underwent an experience which

turned the easiness she felt in India into a nightmare. The echo she heard in the caves was so

terrifying that,

She did not wish to repeat the experience. The more she thought over it, the more

disagreeable and frightening it became. She minded it much more now than at the time.

The crush and the smells she could forget, but the echo began in some indescribable way

to undermine her hold in life. Coming at a moment when she chanced to be fatigued [the

echo has one message] ‘Pathos, piety, courage- they exist, but are identical, and so is

filth. Everything exists, nothing has a value’. (Forster, 1980:160)

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This sort of echo destroyed her Christian values and made all her relations with her

children and family meaningless. At first, her initial reaction to the echo was that she was certain

by now that it contained nothing but panic and emptiness. The experience of the echo terrified

her so much so that she passed into a 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” (Forster, 1980: 212).

From this moment on, Mrs. Moore deteriorated rapidly. She lost all interest in the life

around her and became selfish and pessimistic. However, she did nothing to relieve the

sufferings of the innocent Aziz or the hysterical Adela. She dismissed Adela’s story of rape at

the caves with contempt by saying that, ‘“Why all this marriage, marriage? …The human race

would have become a single person centuries ago if marriage was of any use. And all this

rubbish about love, love in a church, love in a cave, as if there is the difference, and I held up

from my business over such trifles!”’ (Forster, 1980: 207). Finally, her decision was that she

should retire to live a lonely life of which she herself bitterly said ‘“I’ll retire into a cave of my

own… somewhere where no young people will come asking questions and expecting answers”’

(Forster, 1980: 205) until her return to England is arranged. This indicates that she could no

longer endure the mysterious India, nor could she be of any use in solving the characters’

problems in the novel.

Though she lost her physical presence, Mrs. Moore is still able to take up a symbolic role

in the novel. Admittedly, she physically perished, yet she continues to survive spiritually in

bringing peace and happiness to those who still believe in her presence. At the trial, for instance,

Mrs. Moore’s image appears as a savior when the Hindus summoned her name by chanting

“Esmiss Esmoor” (Forster, 1980: 228) regarding her as a Hindu goddess who could have saved

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Aziz. With this chanting, then, they turned her from being a normal human being into a Hindu

goddess who saved Aziz from the charge by using her supernatural influence. In addition, the

Hindus’ invocation of Mrs. Moore as a goddess in the courtroom freed Adela from her hesitation

and helped her realize that her accusation against Aziz was false. Mrs. Moore’s influential image

as a source of inspiration reappeared even in the third section of the novel when Godbole had a

vision of Mrs. Moore. In this concern, Forster comments on Godbole’s vision that, “He had with

increasing vividness again seen Mrs. Moore, and around her faintly clinging forms of trouble. He

was a Brahmin, she Christian, but it made no difference whether she was a trick of his memory

or a telepathic appeal. It was his duty… to place himself in the position of the God and love

her… and say… ‘Come, come, come, come’” (Forster, 1980:278).

To conclude, the vision indicates that both Mrs. Moore and Godbole appear to share the

same humane images about the unity of the world wherein all creatures share happiness. In other

words, they both believe in selfless love which has sympathy for all forms of life. Her influence

continues to appear even in her son, Ralph Moore who is similar to his mother in her wisdom.

Ralph Moore’s gentle nature helped free Aziz of his hatred releasing the latter’s towards his

former English friends. Thus her good influence helped to bring about reconciliation and

happiness.

As for Cyril Fielding, Forster introduces him as a colonial character bearing the images

of the liberal humane virtues, such as tolerance, goodness, belief in the supreme values of ideas,

and sacredness of personal relations. All these virtues make Fielding the ideal man from whose

point of view, “the world… is a globe of men who are trying to reach one another and can best

do so by the help of goodwill plus culture and intelligence” (Forster, 1980: 80). In this sense,

Fielding’s strong belief in goodwill, culture and intelligence emerges as an ideal solution to

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prevent hostility and deterioration of society, especially in the situation of India where a sad

image of division and hostility can very possibly lead to pain, cruelty, fear and universal muddle.

Here exactly comes Fielding’s canon of what human and social images people should carry to

reach one another. The significance of this canon, then, is that it presents a number of examples

wherein Fielding establishes friendship and reconciliation with his Indian friends.

When Forster introduces Fielding first in the novel, he depicts him as a type of a person

who reached maturity out of his broad social experiences in the course of his life. He, then,

became a modest man who is content to be friendly with other men. The first impression of him

is that he is very positive and completely free of racial feeling, “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” (Forster, 1980: 80). His behavior towards

Aziz is in contrast with the arrogant treatment shown by the British towards Indians whom they

regard as belonging to an inferior race. Fielding has none of this race feeling as he has undergone

a non- racial social experience that resulted from seeing many places and people, a feeling that

the Anglo Indians lack. Aziz’s shyness and embarrassment at the meeting of Fielding faded away

in the face of Fielding’s friendliness. Aziz’s first impression was that this educated Englishman

only acts but Fielding continued to behave with geniality and friendliness as before, “he saw that

something had gone wrong, and equally that it had come right, but he did not fidget, being an

optimist where personal relations were concerned, and their talk rattled on as before” (Forster,

1980: 84).

However, there are more images attributed to Fielding than mere urbanity. As the

intimate friendship between him and Aziz shows, Fielding is a man who has a strong faith in the

value of personal relationships. For him, personal relationships bear a fundamental good value,

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and from this value his other images, such as broadmindedness, good temper and sympathy

follow. Aziz, who suffers humiliations from the British, now at last feels that Fielding a true

friend of Indians, “No Englishman understands us except Mr. Fielding” (Forster, 1980: 114).

Besides, he has a strong social position in the English community which helps him

maintain his friendship with a member of another race even when the class to which he belongs

opposes establishing such a thing with Indians. He is a systematic individualist who does not

believe in the old conventions and rigid formalities of the British Club. In other words, he simply

resists the pressures imposed on him to be a strict Englishman only to show loyalty to the

English rule. Another image of Fielding is that he is courageous and humane to a great extent

that he defies his own people in refuting the emotions of contempt and hatred shown by the

Anglo Indians against the natives. He risks ostracism and enmity of his own people in defending

Aziz’s innocence against Adela’s accusation of rape. Fielding’s siding with the native, especially

with Aziz, made the Collector dismiss him from the Club, “The Collector, who never spoke

otherwise, was so infuriated that he lost his head. He cried, ‘Leave this room at once, and I

deeply regret that I demeaned myself to meet you at the station. You have sunk to the level of

your associates; you are weak, weak, that is what is wrong with you-”’ (Forster, 1980: 196).

Accordingly, he left the club and joined the Indians against the British for the sake of Aziz’s

case. Fielding began to form an instinctive belief in Aziz’s innocence and, therefore, went on to

obtain evidence in Aziz’s favor. He started reconsidering the case patiently, collecting clues and

forming conclusions. Later, when Adela found herself isolated from Indians and the British alike,

it was Fielding who had the courage to help her by affording her his accommodation and

protection,

He called after her, ‘Where are you going, Miss Quested?’

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‘You can’t wander about like that. Where’s the car you came in?’ [And, when she says

that she will walk, he dislikes the idea and says] ‘What madness… there’s supposed to be

a riot on… the police have struck, no one knows what’ll happen next. Come this way

with me- quick- I’ll put you in my carriage… this way, and don’t argue’…The man could

not leave her, for the confusion increased, and spots of it sounded fanatical. (Forster,

1980: 233- 4)

Fielding’s desire to achieve brotherhood with people comes to him so naturally because

he can “‘travel light… any man can travel light until he has a wife or children… I’m a holy man

minus the holiness”’ (Forster, 1980: 132); he has no ties of loyalty or obedience to any particular

class or race. Forster argues that Fielding is a good- tempered, sensible and intelligent man who

feels happy in exchanging a civilized reciprocal conversation, “‘I believe in teaching people to

be individuals, and to understand other individuals. It’s the only thing I believe in. At

Government College, I mix it with trigonometry, and so on”’ (Forster, 1980: 132). Not only this,

but he also feels satisfied in leading a lonely life without the burden of a wife and children. He

feels more important to believe in an idea than having a child to bear his name. “‘I don’t care for

children… I don t feel their absence, I don’t want them weeping around my deathbed and being

polite about me afterwards, which I believe is the general notion. I’d far rather leave a thought

behind me than a child. Other people can have children”’ (Forster, 1980: 130).

In his essay ‘What I believe’ from the book Two Cheers for Democracy, Forster

favorably adopts the same views which Fielding has about friendship, condemnation of racial

bias and search for sound understanding among people. In this concern, Forster says,

I believe in aristocracy, though- if that is the right word, and if a democrat may use it.

Not an aristocracy of power, based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the

sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and

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classes, and all through the ages, and there a secret understanding between them when

they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our

queer race over cruelty and chaos. Thousands of them perish in obscurity, a few are great

names. They are sensitive for others as well as themselves, they are considerate without

being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness, but power to endure, and they can take a joke.

(1935: 16- 7)

This suggests that Forster admires Fielding’s communicative canons in the novel. The formula of

good nature which is jointly connected with culture and intelligence is estimable as they lead to

establish friendships, clear misunderstandings and abolish prejudices. Yet, as the novel

progresses even Fielding comes to have doubts whether he is truly a successful human being,

After forty years’ experience, he had learnt to manage his life and make the best of it on

advanced European life lines, had developed his personality, explored his limitations controlled

his passions- and he had done it all without becoming either pedantic or worldly. A creditable

achievement, but as the moment passed, he felt he ought to have been working at something else

the whole time- he didn’t at what, never would know, never could know, and that was why he

felt sad. (Forster, 1980: 197)

Forster shows that Fielding, though optimistic about the success of personal relations,

finally failed to achieve brotherhood with Aziz. This failure is attributed to the reason that

Fielding is a member of a ruling class and Aziz is a person of the ruled ones. Nonetheless, there

are further deeper psychological reasons for the lack of intimacy between them. One reason,

among many, is that Aziz is emotional and impulsive who only demands ‘“kindness, kindness

and more kindness, and even after that more kindness”’ (Forster, 1980: 128), but Fielding

cannot respond back to Aziz’s strong emotions. He discovered that he could not be carried away

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by the impulsiveness of emotion just as Aziz would. In his friendship, he can give all his

emotions, but he cannot share everything about his personal life with Aziz, or with anyone else,

‘I shall not be really intimate with this fellow’, Fielding thought and then ‘nor with

anyone’. That was the corollary. And he had to confess that he really didn’t mind that he

was content to help people, and like them as long as they didn’t object and if they

objected pass on serenely. Experience can do much, and all that he had learnt in England

and Europe was an assistance to him, and helped towards clarity, but clarity prevented

him from experiencing something else. (Forster, 1980: 129- 30)

In other words, there are some images of experience beyond the knowledge of his

rational way of thinking. Though proud of his ability to travel light, Fielding does not even wish

to involve himself with what Forster refers to as the mystery of the universe. This mystery to

Fielding is just a muddle and he likes to avoid it if he can, ‘“A mystery is only a high- sounding

term for a muddle. No advantage in stirring it up, in either case” (Forster, 1980: 86). Later, the

muddle of the visit to the caves developed into a horrifying experience of chaos when it revealed

an image of “Something very old and very small… Something snub- nosed, incapable of

generosity- the undying worm itself” (Forster, 1980: 212). It simply signified evil, nothingness,

and annihilation as a permanent fact. This realization finally took Fielding to willingly admit that

“perhaps life is a mystery, not a muddle” (Forster, 1980: 261). Due to the fact that Fielding

began to believe that muddle can be one of worst sins of mankind, he could not accept the

presence of mystery in the universe. Although he came to perceive the echo of evil which

haunted Adela and defeated Mrs. Moore, he could not come to terms with it simply because “it

belonged to the universe that he had missed or rejected. And the mosque missed it too” (Forster,

1980: 272). In the end, he ceased to be unable to understand the tragedy that overwhelmed Adela

in the caves because his emotional attitude did not conform to his rationalism. He found that

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though he and Adela are reasonable, sincere, and even clever, yet, they do not know how to

explain this muddle. In the presence of a hostile sun and an over- arching sky that settles

everything, they both are projected as “dwarfs talking, shaking hands and assuring each other

that they stood on the same footing of insight” (Forster, 1980: 262).

When Fielding chose to refute the inhumane treatment against the colonized, his ruling

class viewed him as “disruptive force, and rightly for ideas fatal to caste [because] he was

happiest in the give- and- take of a private conversation” (Forster, 1980: 80).

Adela is yet another colonial character Forster introduces in the novel. She is portrayed

being cold and dull. In simple words, she did her best to please and serve others. But when she

left India, she felt she has done nothing but harm during her visit. Therefore, she says of herself

“‘Nothing matters if I can undo the harm I have caused. I can do this right, and that right; but

when the two are put together they come wrong. That’s the defect of my character. I have never

realized it until now. I thought that I was just and asked questions I would come through every

difficulty’” (Forster, 1980: 285).

Adela joined Mrs. Moore in her travel to India in order to meet the latter’s son, Ronny,

and to decide whether she would like to marry him. Since she expected to begin her future

marital life in India, she expressed her desire to “see the real India” (Forster, 1980: 46).

However, Adela scarcely realized the implications of her wish; it appeared that she wanted to see

India generally rather than to know Indians. Her search was somewhat vague and it ended in

total failure when she realized that she could not face the real complexity of life and that the

actual India was more different and mysterious than she had imagined.

Adela is further portrayed as an intelligent and intellectual person eager to understand

new things and experiences. The image that Fielding formulated about her was that, ‘“She goes

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on’,… ‘as if she’s at a lecture- trying hard to understand India and life occasionally taking a

note’” (Forster, 1980: 131). Adela opposed the prejudice that the British colonizers showed

towards Indians. Throughout the novel, she is portrayed as a liberal person; she tried to

understand the motives of the ruling class who criticized her of being untrue and unserious

British lady. From the colonial perspective, Adela is unaware of how to behave with Indians.

Concerning her fiancé Ronny, she totally was annoyed to find that he became a rude, arrogant,

and colonial subject. She tried to point out these mistakes to him but he refused her argument for

he believed that, “The point she made was never the relevant point, her arguments conclusive but

barren, she was reminded that he had expert knowledge and she none, and that experience would

not help her because she could not interpret it” (Forster, 1980: 96). This discussion made Ronny

suppose that her experience in this country is just immature and she is, therefore, incapable of

understanding India. Adela responded by rejecting his attempts to force his opinions upon her.

The novel shows the two lovers quarrel over some issues simply because each one of them views

things from a different perspective. Yet, they soon came to reconcile after each fight. Forster

comments on this occurrence by saying that, “Each was too proud to increase the pressure, but

neither withdrew it, and a spurious unity descended on them... It would vanish in a moment,

perhaps to reappear, but the darkness is alone durable. And the night that encircled them,

absolute as it seemed, was itself only a spurious unity” (Forster, 1980: 103). Yet, their

reconciliation was damaged soon after they came close to each other for it was untrue. Anyhow,

Ronny and Adela agreed to marry in spite of all the dissimilarities in their attitudes towards India

and the ruled. Ronny’s satisfaction with the marriage reflected his need for a social institution

that would add to his status as the city magistrate in the Anglo Indian community. But Adela felt

that she was humiliated as this engagement would sort her out as a fiancée of a British colonizer

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whose policy and prejudicial colonial views are rejected by her. This also indicates that this

marriage unfortunately does not contain real intense emotions.

It is these feelings of guilt and disappointments which break out when Adela visited the

Marabar Cave whose experience altered her image of India and Indians, and destroyed her

illusions on which she had based her life. As she was about to enter a cave, she realized suddenly

that she and Ronny do not love each other,

The discovery had come so suddenly that she felt like a mountaineer whose rope had

broken. Not to love the man one’s going to marry! Not even to have asked the question

until now! [She is certain by now that] the emotion that links them was absent. [And,

since she is a rational person], Adela wasn’t convinced that love is necessary to a

successful union. If love is everything, few marriages would survive the honeymoon.

(Forster, 1980: 163)

This feeling caused some annoyance in her heart. In an attempt to discard this bothering

feeling from her mind, her question to Aziz “‘Have you one wife or more than one”’ (Forster,

1980: 164) comes as a way to check the sincerity of love as an emotional human phenomenon.

Aziz left the cave as he was surprised by the shocking way of Adela’s question. Here, the

imposition of the question suggests another image of Adela’s ignorance in the Indian social life

as she does not realize the impact of her inquiry. What actually happens in the caves needs to be

interrupted in terms of Adela’s state of mind at this crucial moment; because, prior to her entry to

the cave, she confused her mind so much with the conceptions of marriage and love. In the cave,

she heard an echo which took her back to her loving affair with Ronny. It was through the

darkness of the cave that she saw the horror of her intended marriage with Ronny. With Ronny,

she was about to have an intimate relationship devoid of love and understanding, and accomplish

only because of an animal pleasure. There, she felt that a marriage that is established on fear and

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force without love is like rape. Thus, in her state of terror, she imagined she was raped by Aziz

and, therefore, came out of the caves mad with horror.

Adela recovered from the state of hallucination to discover that what she heard in the

caves was just an echo and that Aziz was innocent. This discovery delivered her from her

hesitation. The withdrawal of her charge in the court freed her of fear, muddle and confusion.

Now, she has a strong confidence in herself and justice; she renounced her charge against Aziz

though she knew that the British community is going to dispel her as a traitor. This clarity of

attitude and courage compensated for the rigid behavior of her whole life and made her a heroic

person in this sense. Fielding recognized this change in her attitudes and commented that,

“Although her hard schoolmistressy manner remained, she was no longer examining life, but

being examined by it; she had a real person” (Forster, 1980: 245).

Yet, all this kindness and goodwill did not bring her closer to the Indians towards whom

she has made courageous approaches. The Indians refused to consider her sacrifice as a noble

deed because they felt that though she acted with courage towards Aziz, still there was no

emotion in it. She herself recognized that she failed with Indians because she had no real

affection for Aziz or Indians alike. She lacks intense feelings and sympathetic imagination which

one needs to connect.

Again, after the trial, when Adela tried to understand the state of the muddle she

experiences at the caves, she found that such understanding was beyond her ability; therefore she

gave up the attempt. In the course of their discussion about the mystery of the caves, both Adela

and Fielding reached a greater degree of self- knowledge in that they realized the limitations of

their attitude to life. Their honesty, integrity and rational commonsense were all contrasted with

the intense emotions and spiritualism of Indians. Yet, their acquisition of self- awareness led

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them to gain spiritual growth in understanding India and the natives. In his comment on this

issue, Forster says,

She was at the end of her spiritual ether, and so was he. Were there worlds beyond which

they could never touch, or did all that is possible enter their consciousness? They could

not tell. They only realized that their outlook was more or less similar, and found in this

satisfaction. Perhaps life is a mystery, not a muddle, they could not tell. Perhaps the

hundred Indians which fuss and squabble so tiresomely are one, and the universe they

mirror is one. They had not the apparatus for judging. (Forster, 1980: 261)

In the end of the novel, Forster comes to a conclusion that Adela, like all other Anglo

European colonizers, departs India as a person who really gains self- confidence but unable to

comprehend Indians or the Indian culture. Therefore, she fails to establish friendship with the

local indigenes.

More than any other character in the novel, Ronny Heaslop, the British city magistrate,

is the easiest character to analyze and understand because he possesses a number of images

which make him static and unchanging unlike the rest of the other colonizers. Forster further

portrays Ronny as a cold- hearted person because of his vulgarity towards the Indians. The first

images of Ronny are not encouraging. Though he is a newcomer to India, he is already spoiled

by the superiority policy of the Anglo Indian class in the sense that he is anxious only to please

his colonial superiors. He adopts the colonial ways and attitudes blindly and accepts the Indians

as an inferior race to the British rulers.

Forster further shows that Ronny is content to be a useful member of the colonial society

in serving his class obediently and conforming to its mores and attitudes. He lives by the beliefs

of the British public school which shapes his personality and makes him callous, arrogant and

insensitive to the people of other nations. Forster also traces the root of the problem to a certain

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image of the English character as he perceives it. Ronny in this context, presents a typical image

of the public school system whose members, according to Forster’s observation in his essay

‘Notes on the English Character’ from book Abinger Harvest,

go forth into a world that is not entirely composed of public- school men or even of

Anglo- Saxons, but of men who are as various as the stands of the sea; into a world of

whose richness and subtlety they have no conception. They go forth into it with a well-

developed bodies, fairly developed minds, and developed hearts. And it is this

undeveloped heart that is largely responsible for the difficulties of Englishmen abroad.

(1924: 4- 5)

If this canon is applied to Ronny, it is supposed to suggest that his rigid attitudes and

mores develop towards the native Indians. But, this, too, indicates that Ronny lacks the courage

to understand the Indians or the Indian culture; therefore, he limits his contact with the Indians to

what is strictly official. Since his attitude, like most of the Britons in India, is that he has

undertaken the holy mission assigned to him by God, and exactly as put by Rudyard Kipling in

his poem entitled ‘The White man’s Burden” (1899). Ronny does not regard it necessary at all to

behave pleasantly to Indians, or treat them as human beings worth of genuine affection and

consideration. He states this attitude with self- satisfaction by saying that, ‘“We’re here to do

justice and keep the peace. Them’s my sentiments. India isn’t a drawing- room”’ (Forster, 1980:

69). Ronny continues to treat the Indians insensitively conscious of being a member of the great

British Raj. He even developed a sense of justice and decency towards the Indians, whom he

came across in his job, “Every day he worked hard in the court trying to decide which of the two

untrue accounts was the less untrue; trying to dispense justice fearlessly, to protect the weak

against the less weak, the incoherent against the plausible, surrounded by lies and flattery”

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(Forster, 1980: 69). But behind this fair image of doing justice in India, there is no

humanitarianism, only arrogance and contempt towards the locals.

Forster uses Ronny more than any other character in the novel to show the image of

officialism inside the ruling class. At Fielding’s tea part, for instance, Ronny ignored Aziz and

Godbole because, “the only link he could be conscious of with an Indian was the official, and

neither happened to be his subordinate. As private individuals he forgot them” (Forster, 1980:

93).

Besides his arrogance, however, he is also depicted as a shallow superficial person since

he despises the natives only out of prejudicial illogical reasons. In this sense, Ronny just imitates

the attitude and customs of his superiors in India by repeating their phrases, such as, ‘“There’s

nothing in India, but the weather”’ (Forster, 1980: 68), “he’s one of us” (Forster, 1980: 47),

“every fellow has to work out his own religion” (Forster, 1980: 71), and so on. Even his own

mother is not impressed by his talk and sadly noticed that his stay in India had made him rough

and conservative. Hence, she developed the most distasteful image of his character. Ronny

appears to have no distinct individuality of his own; all he does is to follow official conduct, and

be loyal to the British flag and social hierarchy of ranks. His enthusiastic attempts to be a faithful

member of his class made him lose all interest in arts, because “the arts were bad form and

Ronny had repressed his mother when she inquired after his viola; a viola was almost a demerit

and certainly not the sort of instrument one mentioned in public” (Forster, 1980: 60).

McBryde, the District Superintendant of Police, is another British official Forster uses to

show that the British colonizers are generally unsympathetic in judging the India since they label

the natives as an inferior race. McBryde, though shocked to see Aziz weeping while being

arrested, immediately passed his racial segregating judgment by saying that, “All unfortunate

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natives are criminal 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 should be like to them if we settled here”

(Forster, 1980: 176). These expressions that McBryde uses to judge the locals indicate quite

clearly that the British share the same prejudicial and harsh attitude towards the colonized.

Turton, after Aziz’s arrest, told Fielding that in all the twenty five years he had spent in

India, “[he has] never known anything but disaster result when English people and Indians

attempt to be intimate socially” (Forster, 1980: 173-4). In his perception, all efforts end with a

terrible failure no matter how hard the individuals of both sides try to comprehend each other’s

culture. He believes that no one should anticipate anything when the British and the Indians

attempt to approach each other culturally but disasters.

As a conclusion, it appears that all efforts exerted by the natives to satisfy the colonizers

always end up as fruitless simply because the colonizers are not interested with the attempts of

the colonized to approach them. All they want is to run the world according to their western

strategy. In his comment on this particular case, Elleke Boehmer says that, “European colonizers

held the conviction not merely that the rest of the world could be understood in its terms, but that

the rest of the world also could- and indeed should- be encouraged to interpret reality in a

European way” (2005: 79).

4.2 Image through Cross Relationships

Forster uses yet another technique to show the imagery of his characters, this time is

going to be through cross relationships. Here, he depicts how the characters view one another. In

this sense, he uses his expertise as a novelist of personal relationships to display how his

characters formulate positive or negative images towards each other.

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4.2.1 Aziz’s Conception of the Colonized and the Colonizers

Near the beginning of Passage to India, Forster introduces Aziz while meeting and

having a discussion with a group of his Indian friends about the possibility of establishing

friendship with the British. In this dialogue, the writer shows the speakers have different

opinions about this issue. In this discussion, Hamidullah, Mahmoud Ali, and Aziz argue:

‘You fellows will not believe me, but I have driven with Turton in his carriage-

Turton! Oh yes, we were once quite intimate. He has shown me his stamp collection.’

‘He would expect you to steal it now. Turton! But red-nosed boy will be far worse than

Turton!’

‘I do not think so. They all become exactly the same, not worse, not better. I give any

Englishman two years, be he Turton or Burton. It is only the difference of a letter. And I

give any Englishwoman six months. All are exactly alike. Do you not agree with me?’

‘I do not,’ replied Mahmoud Ali, entering into the bitter fun, and feeling both pain and

amusement at each word that was uttered. ‘For my own part I find such profound

differences among our rulers. Red-nose mumbles, Turton talks distinctly, Mrs. Turton

takes bribes, Mrs. Red-nose does not and cannot, because so far there is no Mrs. Red-

nose.’

‘Bribes?’

‘Did you not know that when they were lent to Central India over a Canal Scheme, some

Rajah or other gave her a sewing machine in solid gold so that the water should run

through his state?’ (Forster, 1980: 34)

This dialogue portrays the comic pain which the Indian natives feel while trying to communicate

with the British colonizer in English. The desire of the colonized to establish international

intimacy with the colonizers is damaged by the stamp collection. The interlocutors cast a dubious

painful image about the success of any friendship between the natives and ruling class.

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That is why the colonized germinate a sense of resentment against the British. In this

sense, Aziz’s final reaction comes as a consequence of this colonial conduct towards the Indian.

In view of this inference, M. Keith Booker argues that, “Forster’s epistemological uncertainty

and political crisis” (1995: 42) formulates his perception of India. British colonizers use the

knowledge they gathered about India as a tool to subjugate not only India, but also the rest of the

lands under their occupation. However, their domination would fail to continue for long. Being a

colonialist writer who had spent quite many years in India, Forster is aware that the British rulers

always perceive India as a mysterious land and the information they get about this country is not

sufficient enough to rule it for a long time.

The relationship between Aziz and Fielding is the most significant personal relationship

in the novel. In spite of the many barriers of race and character, the two men succeed in creating

a unique bond beyond prejudicial bias. When they first met as strangers, it is only their sincere

desire build friendship that brought them close to each other. Admittedly, their friendship

suffered from a number of problems, on top of them Aziz’s weak English. This particular

language barrier confused both men’s completely understanding each other. For instance,

Fielding’s informal statement, “Please, make yourself at home” [is misunderstood by Aziz as a

signal for unconventional behavior]… The remark was unpremeditated like most of his actions;

it was what he felt inclined to say” (Forster, 1980: 81). The difficulties in language use definitely

result in misunderstanding and suspicion. Though portrayed as welcoming, Fielding appeared as

a reserved man. However, he is full of goodwill and consideration for other people but does not

have an intimate relationship with them. These images are revealed when Fielding criticized

Aziz for lack of emotional balance, “Your emotions never seem in proportion to their objects

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[Aziz replies with anger]… Is emotion a sack of potatoes, so much the pound, to be measured

out? I shall be told I can use up my emotions by using them, next” (Forster, 1980: 253).

In spite of these fundamental differences in culture and temperament, the two men

showed a genuine desire for friendship that transcends linguistic and cultural barriers between

them. Though he knows very little about him, Aziz likes Fielding and is ready to show all his

affections to the Englishman because he knows that Fielding wants to be his friend. He instantly

responded to Fielding’s goodwill. But Fielding’s rejection of Aziz’s statement about the ‘post

impressionism’ confused mutual understanding between the two men in the sense that Aziz

misinterprets it as degrading the Indian mind. Therefore, Aziz was offended. “The remark

suggested that he, an obscure Indian, had no right to have heard of Post Impressionism- a

privilege reserved for the Ruling Race… but before he could finish the sentence the stiffness

vanished from it, because he felt Fielding’s fundamental good will” (Forster, 1980: 84).

However, Aziz was confident that Fielding is good at heart, and soon forgot what happened

especially when Mrs. Moore and Adela arrived to Chandrapore. Later, he started showing the

same kindness and informality to him. Out of happiness, Aziz began to behave like one of the

Mogul emperors with joy and generosity. The beauty of Fielding’s house as well as the garden

released his imagination so much that he began to speak about the past of the Mogul past with

great terms. He explained to the visiting ladies the skillful architecture of Fielding’s house. He

appeared to be so excited that he even forgot logic and commonsense and connected the water in

Fielding’s garden with the water in the mosque where he met Mrs. Moore previously, ‘“You

remember the water by our mosque? It comes down and fills this tank- a skillful arrangement of

the Emperors. They stopped here going down into Bengal. They loved water. Wherever they

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went they created fountains, gardens, hammams. I was telling Mr. Fielding I would give

anything to serve them” (Forster, 1980: 88).

Later, the two men came even closer in their meeting at Aziz’s house when the latter

became ill and Fielding paid him a visit. Aziz expressed his due appreciation to Fielding’s visit

by showing him his dead wife’s photograph, something which he, as a Muslim, does only for his

closest friend,

‘…You would have seen her, so why you should not have seen her photograph?’

‘You would have allowed me to see her?’

‘Why not? I believe in the purdah, but I should have told her you were my brother, and

she would have seen you. Hamidullah saw her, and several others.”

‘Of course not, but the word exists and is convenient. All men are my brothers, and as

soon as one behaves as such he may see my wife.’

‘And when the whole world behaves as such he may see my wife.’

‘It is because you can say and feel such a remark as that, that I show you the photograph,’

said Aziz gravely. ‘It is beyond the power of most men. It is because you behave well

while I behave that I show it to you.’

(Forster, 1980: 128)

But after Fielding provided shelter and protection to Adela, the continuation of Aziz-

Fielding’s friendship was at risk. Aziz felt offended and lost trust in Fielding as the latter sided

with the woman who endangered his career and reputation. It is clear that bitter experience of

charge changed Aziz from being a good- tempered affectionate person to someone who is

determined to take revenge upon Adela for destroying his career and reputation. He became now

an anti- British person,

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Victory gave no pleasure, he had suffered too much. From the moment of his arrest he was done

for, he had dropped like a wounded animal; he had despaired, not through cowardice, but because

he knew that an Englishwoman’s word would always outweigh his own. ‘It is fate,’ he said; and,

‘It is fate,’ when he was imprisoned anew after Mohurram. All that existed, in that terrible time,

was affection, and affection was all that he felt in the first painful moments of his freedom.

(Forster, 1980: 236)

The charge of rape had such a bitter affect upon Aziz that he began to consider every

Englishman and woman as his enemy upon whom he sought to take revenge, “It disgraces me to

have been mentioned in connection with such a hag.’ It enraged him that he had been accused by

a woman who had no personal beauty; sexually, he was a snob” (Forster, 1980: 242).

When Aziz met Fielding again after two years at Mau, he appeared to be a completely

changed man. He is now a cold- hearted enemy of the British and becomes so obsessed with the

Indian nationalism case that he does not think anymore of establishing reunion with his former

friend. Thus, when he came across Fielding in the rain at Mau, Aziz went on in his enmity even

after he learnt he was mistaken about Fielding earlier. The hostility of the caves which was the

cause of their separation is now replaced by the pleasure of Lord Krishna festival. This religious

festival seems to be a good opportunity for reconciliation and happiness. Aziz took Ralph out on

the waters of the river Mau. There, the collision of Aziz’s boat with Fielding’s released the good

side of the former’s spirit and was friends with Fielding again. All misunderstanding was

removed and suspicion disappeared, “Friends again, yet aware that they would meet no more,

Aziz and Fielding went for their last ride in the Mau jungles” (Forster, 1980: 310).

Forster, however, is not the type of a novelist who would suggest a happy ending like this

to their complex relationship of Aziz and Fielding. In their last ride together, Aziz and Fielding

refreshed their former feelings and friendship to each other. Yet, they realized that their

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characters and outlook changed radically. Now, Fielding took sides with his people whereas Aziz

adhered more to the Indian nationalism. Aziz stated that the impossibility of their friendship

while India was still under colonization and shouted, ‘“Clear out, all you Turtons and Burtons…

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!’” (Forster, 1980:314-5). It becomes now

evident that their former understanding is terribly destroyed to be maintained under all

circumstances. Thus, in the relationship between Aziz and Fielding is awfully impossible. By

illustrating the tragic end of Fielding- Aziz friendship, Forster wanted to show the complicated

tensions between East and West. In one word, the difficulties of human communication

ultimately intervene to throttle the continuity of relationship between both nations.

Forster wants to state that cultural barrier between the ruled and the ruled is a real

obstacle hindering the establishment of good relationships with the British colonizers and

Indians. In the light of this fact, Aziz, therefore, declared that, “We may hate one another, but we

hate you most” (Forster, 1980: 316). And, when Fielding wanted to know why they could not be

friends, it was Forster who justified this by arguing that, “the horses didn’t want it- they swerved

apart; the earth didn’t want it” (Forster, 1980: 316).

Anyhow, Mrs. Moore- Aziz friendship is yet another example Forster sets for a possible

social interaction between West and East. Here, Forster desires to highlight the images that a

colonized and a colonizer may bear towards each other. At the most, one could notice through

the sequence of encounters between both characters that their connection was the most

successful colonized- colonizer relationship in the entire novel. When Aziz and Mrs. Moore met

for the first time in the mosque, they both were seeking shelter from the oppressive atmosphere

that had surrounded them. Aziz had the sense of being ignored in the most humiliated manner by

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the British at the house of his British superiors and came to the mosque to “shake the dust of

Anglo- India off his feet! To escape from the net and be back among manners and gestures that

he knew! [Accordingly, Aziz] turned into a mosque to rest” (Forster, 1980: 40). The calm beauty

of the mosque relieved his worries and released his imagination. Mrs. Moore came to the mosque

to escape the oppressiveness of the English club. The peaceful atmosphere of the mosque had a

pacifying effect inside which, “A sudden sense of unity, of kinship with the heavenly bodies,

passed into the old woman, and out, like water through a tank, leaving a strange freshness

behind. When the mosque, long and domeless, gleamed at the turn of the road, she exclaimed,

‘Oh, yes- that’s where I got to- that’s where I’ve been” (Forster, 1980: 51).

At first, Aziz became angry due to her sudden entry to the mosque that violated his

tranquil privacy there. Her sudden and unexpected entry to the place caused him to shout at her.

But the respect she showed in removing her shoes, and the simplicity of manner she replied that,

“God is here” (Forster, 1980: 42) released his tender feelings towards her. Aziz spoke to Mrs.

Moore about everything that interested him such as his children, the British existence in India,

and his religion. He was grateful to find Mrs. Moore a sympathetic person; she listened to his

worries as well as complaints, and treated him with respect and consideration. In this respect he

addressed Mrs. Moore with gratitude by saying that “You understand me, you know what others

feel. Oh, if others resembled you!” (Forster, 1980: 45). From his viewpoint, she was an

‘oriental’, because of her simplicity and loving personality. In her encounter with the doctor,

Mrs. Moore behaved as an understanding person to Aziz whose respect for her was devoid of

any material benefit. She, on her part, was very much pleased by Aziz’s spontaneity and

sensitive imagination. She even expressed her rejection to the formalities of the Anglo Indians

and thought that she found in this young Indian the goodness and meaning she came to India to

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find. That was why she argued, “I only know whether I like or dislike people” (Forster, 1980:

45). This attitude is very much appreciated by Aziz who says of her that, “Then, you are an

Oriental” (Forster, 1980: 45).

The meeting in the mosque was the only significant encounter that had ever taken place

between Aziz and Mrs. Moore, though they met each other twice thereafter at Fielding’s tea

party and later at the picnic when they went to the caves. But these two meetings did not add any

further progress to their friendship. Nevertheless, their encounter in the mosque was regarded as

the prime fruitful event in their friendship because it helped them know their mindsets and

personalities. This meeting helped them to see how they view and judge each other.

4.2.2 Mrs. Moore’s Impression of the Colonized and the Colonizers

From the very moment she stepped in India, Mrs. Moore showed a strong desire to see

India and meet the Indians. She appeared to be extremely excited to approach the Indians

socially that even before she went to bed she expressed this wish to her son, Ronny, by saying

that, “I only want to meet those Indians whom you come across socially” (Forster, 1980: 49).

But, his reply that, “[they] don’t come across them socially” (Forster, 1980: 49) indicated the

truth that he and the entire members of the British Club do not observe any attempt to establish

social connections with the natives as a reasonable act. At the bridge party, Mrs. Moore

expressed her anger and shame that her people behaved with rudeness and arrogance towards the

Indian guests. Her morals resisted such a vulgar action to a great extent that she, in her talk with

Fielding, criticized such behavior with bitterness, “I think my countrymen out here must be mad.

Fancy inviting guests and not treating them properly! You and Mr. Turton and perhaps Mr.

McBryde are the only people who showed any common politeness. The rest make me perfectly

ashamed, and it’s got worse and worse” (Forster, 1980: 65-6).

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Bu now, it seemed that she lost every interest to do so after her ordeal in the Marabar

caves. This bitter experience left her suspicious and indifferent to everything and everyone

around her. Forster described her condition by saying that, “She lost all interest, even in Aziz,

and the affectionate and sincere words that she had spoken to him seemed no longer hers but the

air’s” (Forster, 1980: 161). Her bitterness and suspicion extended even to personal relations and

destroyed her faith in human communication. She seemed to have become completely selfish and

indifferent to Aziz’s fate during his charge of molesting Adela,

‘I have spent my life in saying and listening to saying; I have listened too much. It is time

I was left in peace. Not to die… Why should I be in the witness- box? I have nothing to

do with your ludicrous law courts’, she said angry, ‘I will not be dragged in at all’ [She

Mrs. Moore thinks that her body is too weak to proceed with the life problems] My body,

my miserable body… why isn’t it strong? Oh, why can’t I walk away and be gone? Why

can’t I finish my duties and be gone? Why do I get headaches and puff when I walk? And

all the time this to do and that to do and this to do in your way and that to do in her way,

and everything sympathy and confusion and bearing one another’s burdens. Why can’t

this be done and that be done in my way and they be done and I at peace? Why has

anything to be done, I cannot see. Why all this marriage, marriage? . . . The human race

would have become a single person centuries ago if marriage was any use. And all this

rubbish about love, love in a church, love in a cave, as if there is the least difference, and

I held up from my business over such trifles!

(Forster, 1980: 205- 7)

Yet, her influence in convincing Adela to quit proceeding with her charge against Aziz was

visible when the latter discovered that she committed something wrong against Aziz, and that

Aziz was innocent.

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Mrs. Moore neither attended the trial nor even gave any piece of evidence in favor of her

friend’s case, because she still suffered from her bitter experience at the caves. However, her

positive effect still could be seen even when she was physically absent in the trial that the Indian

people began to chant her name in form of prayer for spiritual support believing her to be an

Indian goddess, “The tumult increased, the invocation of Mrs. Moore continued, and people who

did not know what the syllables meant repeated them like a charm. They became Indianized into

Esmiss Esmoor, they were taken up in the street outside” (Forster, 1980: 228). The name of Mrs.

Moore left a helpful effect on Adela to an extent that she began to see what happened to her in

the caves more clearly. By the time she started to give evidence, the Indians’ repetition of the

phrase ‘Esmiss Esmoor’ did its work, and she realized that what happened at the caves was just

an echo and that Aziz was completely innocent. She declared this fact and Aziz was released,

“Dr. Aziz never followed me into the cave” (Forster, 1980: 231).

Mrs. Moore, like Godbole, seemed to bear a metaphysical view where worldly concerns

such as personal relationships, order or muddle in the social world simply did not matter. She

was unpractical and unworldly in her attitude to life; she was religious and had a mystical desire

for a divine order. But this similarity in the outlook and character was not enough. For one

reason, Mrs. Moore and Godbole met only once at Fielding’s tea party where they exchanged

ideas and went away forever. Yet, a spiritual similarity was established between the two and

emerged finally when Godbole invoked her with the wasp,

[Both Godbole and Mrs. Moore] loved all men, the whole universe, and scraps of their

past, tiny splinters of detail, emerged for a moment to melt into the universal warmth.

Thus Godbole… remembered [Mrs. Moore] he had met in Chandrapore days. Chance

brought her into his mind while it was in this heated state, he did not select her, she

happened to occur among the throng of soliciting images, a tiny splinter, and he impelled

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her by his spiritual force to that place where completeness can be found. Completeness,

not reconstruction… he remembered a wasp seen he forgot where, perhaps on a stone. He

loved the wasp equally, he impelled it likewise, he was imitating God.

(Forster, 1980: 283)

In their first meeting at Fielding’s tea party, they also came across another spiritual

subject. Before they departed, Godbole sang a very religious song in which he played the role of

a devotee who pleaded to God Krishna to visit him. He went on to say that, “[Krishna] refuses to

come” (Forster, 1980: 96), and Mrs. Moore commented in a gentle way that, “He comes in some

other song, I hope” (Forster, 1980: 96). But Godbole repeated, “Oh, no, He refuses to come”

(Forster, 1980: 96). He further said that, “I say to him ‘Come, come’. He neglected to come”

(Forster, 1980: 96). Though a brief conversation, but it contained significant ideas, the most

important one of them was that Mrs. Moore felt the presence of a God Who came to the universe

bringing love and goodness to people. But Mrs. Moore’s statement, that God may come in some

other song showed her knowledge that the divine presence of God governed the order of the

world. Godbole was different from Mrs. Moore in that he did not believe in the existence of God

for he was a believer in some of the Indian mysticism and mystery. This crucial exchange of

ideas revealed that the old British woman and the Hindu Brahmin were both deeply concerned

with the problem of the existence of God in the universe.

Speaking of mysticism, Forster shows that, prior to Godbole’s arrival to the tea party,

Mrs. Moore had another discussion with Adela about these issues, and it appeared that each one

of the women had a different explanation. Adela started the discussion by saying,

‘I do so hate mysteries [She corrects her statement] I dislike them not because I’m

English, but from my own personal point of view… [But Mrs. Moore has rather a

different point of view] I like mysteries but I rather dislike muddles [However, Fielding

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ends the discussion rationally saying that] A mystery [for him] is only a high- sounding

term for a muddle. No, advantage is stirring it up, in either case’. (Forster, 1980: 86)

Unlike Mrs. Moore, Adela and Fielding have a more rational way of thinking; they explain

everything in the world with reason. Mrs. Moore, on the other hand, recognizes the presence of

mystery in the universe and can accept it as such. Thus, Mrs. Moore does not have a very rigid

way of thinking in the sense that she is able to understand the mystery of the strange land- India-

she came to visit. For this reason, Aziz described her as oriental for she resembles the Orientals

in most of her attitude and assumptions. She is similar to Godbole in his vision of the universe

because she believes that it is comprehensive enough to comprehend the chaos and negation of

the world. When Mrs. Moore asked him to interpret the mystery of the Marabar caves, Godbole

refused to reveal the secret. He started to describe them in a vague way by saying that they are

neither holy nor even ornamented; they are simply featureless. All he could say was that, “There

is an entrance in the rock which you enter, and through the entrance is the cave” (Forster, 1980:

92). The mysterious nature of the caves is of course known to Godbole but he did not interpret

their mystery. The emptiness and horror which the Westerner found when he looked into the

caves did not trouble Godbole at all because he learnt to live with them by including them in his

world view.

The spiritual insight that Mrs. Moore and Godbole share plays an important role in

realizing the order that governs the world of muddle and negation in the novel. In this sense,

Mrs. Moore and Godbole can be said to act as spiritual guardians to the people who experience

muddle and suffering. In the third part of the novel, the spiritual influence of Mrs. Moore and the

wisdom of Godbole combine to find a sort of reconciliation and unity among characters who

encounter various troubles “because [they] had challenged the spirit of the Indian earth, which

tries to keep men in compartments” (Forster, 1980: 321). Forster traces Mrs. Moore’s remedial

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influence on the deteriorated relationships between Aziz and Fielding: Fielding became even

more formal, and Aziz lost the desire to be friends with any Englishman. Here, Mrs. Moore’s

loving spirit healed the damage and reconciled between the former friends. It is correct that Mrs.

Moore died but her spirit kept curing the damages in relationships through her son Ralph whose

presence reminded Aziz of her as a dear friend. Thus, her spiritual presence helped to change

Aziz’s attitude from hostility to friendship. On the same level, Godbole, on his part, invoked God

Krishna at whose birth, “All sorrow was annihilated, not only for Indians, but for foreigners,

birds, caves, railways, and the stars; all became joy, all laughter; there had never been disease

nor doubt, misunderstanding, cruelty, fear” (Forster, 1980: 285). While the hundred voices of

India say, “No, not yet [and the sky says] No, not there [to the reconciliation between Fielding

and Aziz]” (Forster, 1980: 316), Mrs. Moore and Godbole, thanks to their spiritual roles in the

novel, healed the most painful human differences when Aziz made peace with Adela; and Aziz

and Fielding became friends once again. The relationship of Mrs. Moore and Godbole provided

an answer of love and understanding to the tragic incident at the Marabar Caves, thereby peace

and unity were established.

4.2.3 Adela’s Thought of the Colonized and the Colonizers

Right from the outset of Passage to India, Forster introduced Adela as a western woman

with a strong desire to see India and meet the Indians. She stated that her desire could not be

fulfilled by just seeing picturesque Indians, ‘“I’m tired of seeing picturesque figures pass before

me as a frieze… I want to meet those Indians whom you come across socially- as your friends”’

(Forster, 1980: 49). Among the Indian natives, Adela liked Aziz most. She, “believed that when

she knew him better he would unlock his country for her [That is why] His invitation gratified

her, and she asked him for his address” (Forster, 1980: 86). This is all because Aziz appeared to

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be the only available native whom she could approach to satisfy her pressing needs with

information. Therefore, “she accepted everything [he] said as true verbally. In her ignorance, she

regarded him as ‘India’, and never surmised that his outlook was limited and his method

inaccurate, and that no one is India” (Forster, 1980: 88). However, in her discussion with

Fielding, she seemed to share his views as to whether India is a mystery or a muddle. The point

of similarity between them is that they use their intellects to judge the issues of life. When they

came to India, they were at first confused and became impatient of the muddled state of things.

In this sense, they had a consensus to consider India as mysterious land. In this connection,

Adela simply could not understand why the Bengali couples who invited her and Mrs. Moore to

their house failed to send their carriage for their British guests. She did not realize that the

invitation was just a matter of an Indian style, and the Bengalis did not expect her to take them

seriously, “‘An Indian lady and gentleman were to send their carriage for us this morning at nine.

It has never come. We waited and waited and waited; we can’t think what happened’” (Forster,

1980: 86). Aziz tried to soothe her by suggesting that the Indians who invited them were

uneducated Hindus who had no sense of hospitality at all. Adela felt offended by the affair and

argues that she had no preference to mysteries, but Fielding who lived in India longer than Adela

knew better the strange cultural conventions of Indians. He realized that both he and Adela were

typical Britishers who hated to see anything left unexplained even after minds tried to solve it.

But Adela disagreed with Fielding by saying that, “I dislike [mysteries] not because I’m English,

but from my own personal point of view” (Forster, 1980: 86). What Adela means is that her

mind which was in search for logic and clarity found a mystery disgusting. However, Fielding

and Adela believed that there was no distinction between mystery and muddle; they referred to

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one single concept. They thought that, “A mystery is only a high sounding term for muddle”

(Forster, 1980: 86) since their minds could not grasp it.

After the conclusion of the trial, Fielding and Adela appeared that they no longer disliked

mystery. In the meanwhile, the terrible experience of the echo that she underwent at the cave

rendered her to see how the Indian muddle negated all distinctions. Not only this, but it also

created evil and havoc. Additionally, the Indian muddle confused even her relation with Ronny

and caused her to wrongly accuse Aziz with the charge of rape which he never committed as she

stated this fact in the court, “Dr. Aziz never [followed me]” (Forster, 1980: 232). All these

experiences showed how limited her intellects seemed to be when they were confronted with the

horrifying reality of the caves. In their first encounter after the incident of the cave, Adela and

Fielding tried to rearrange the fragmented pieces of evidence so as to make sense of what really

happened there. Adela provided the details and they both suggested various rational

interpretations. Fielding proposed that it was a hallucination of Adela.

Adela tried to psychologically relate the incident of the cave to Fielding’s tea party where

she embarrassed herself by saying that she did not want to stay in India, and connected it to the

hallucination she experienced at the caves,

‘That was my first thought, the day of the arrest: hallucination. Do you think that would

be so?’ she asked with great humility. "What should have given me an hallucination? One

of three things certainly happened in the Marabar,’ he said, getting drawn into a

discussion against his will. ‘One of four things. Either Aziz is guilty, which is what your

friends think; or you invented the charge out of malice, which is what my friends think;

or you have had an hallucination. I’m very much inclined’- getting up and striding about-

now that you tell me that you felt unwell before the expedition- it’s an important piece of

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evidence-I believe that you yourself broke the strap of the field-glasses; you were alone

in that cave the whole time.’ (Forster, 1980: 239- 40)

This shows that though they are curious to interpret everything rationally, Adela and Fielding are

still willing to accept the limitations of their minds with regard to the riddle of the caves.

Ultimately, they admitted their inability to explain the mystery of the caves.

However, it is in their second and last meeting that Adela became more honest towards

herself and others as Fielding said of her, “she was no longer examining life, but being examined

by it- she had become a real person” (Forster, 1980: 245). Fielding too developed a new good

opinion of Adela; he thought that they built a relationship as, “both man and woman were at the

height of their powers- sensible, honest, even subtle” (Forster, 1980: 262). Their deep feeling

combined their imaginative and emotional life, therefore they could not judge whether there

were, “worlds beyond which they could never touch, or did all that is possible enter their

consciousness?” (Forster, 1980: 261). In this sense, Forster commented on the limits of Fielding-

Adela’s new comprehension by saying that:

They spoke the same language, and held the same opinions, and the variety of age and

sex did not divide them. Yet they are dissatisfied. When they agreed, ‘I want to go on

living a bit’, or, ‘I don’t believe in God’, the words were followed by a curious backwash,

as though the universe had displaced itself to fill up a tiny void, or as though they had

seen their own gestures from an immense height- dwarfs talking, shaking hands and

assuring each other that they stood on the same footing of insight.

(Forster, 1980: 262)

While in England, Adela used to know Ronny as a sensitive man with liberal views about

life. But she was bitterly surprised to find that Ronny’s mind and personality changed in way that

she did not like:

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India had developed sides of his character that she had never admired. His self-

complacency, his censoriousness, his lack of subtlety, all grew vivid beneath a tropic sky;

he seemed more indifferent than of old to what was passing in the minds of his fellows,

more certain that he was right about them or that if he was wrong it didn’t matter. When

proved wrong, he was particularly exasperating; he always managed to suggest that she

needn’t have bothered to prove it. The point she made was never the relevant point, her

arguments conclusive but barren, she was reminded that he had expert knowledge and she

none, and that experience would not help her because she could not interpret it.

(Forster, 1980: 96)

Adela herself was not a traditional heroine searching for love; she remained unaware of her

fiancé’s personality. She could not be blind to the corruption that took place in Ronny’s character

since his arrival in India, and decided not to marry him, “‘I’ve finally decided we are not going

to be married, my dear boy” (Forster, 1980: 99). She became positive now that it was unwise to

marry him after she discovered that he had completely turned into an anti- Indian colonialist.

Though disappointed with Adela’s resolution, Ronny suggested that they should settle their

quarrel in a polite way since they were British. He even assured her that they remained good

friends, “‘As we are British…I think we shall keep friends”’ (Forster, 1980: 100).

After they reconciled, Ronny and Adela went for a ride with an Indian Maharaja in his

car. There, they experienced a tender feeling towards each other again due to the sense of

loneliness they went through. They felt very relieved to come close to each other once again.

This adventure in the car created a sense of romance and brought them even more closely

together. The reader, however, is conscious that the lovers’ reconciliation is false and the

engagement cannot be permanent. The car accident was only a temporary and weak cause to

unite two individuals in a successful relationship. Forster comments, “And, the night encircled

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them… was itself only a spurious unity descended on them, as local and temporary as the gleam

that inhabits a fire fly” (Forster, 1980: 103). She still had doubts about her love towards Ronny

for whom marriage was just a convenient, social arrangement. As for Ronny, “He was pleased

instead of distressed, he was surprised, but he had really nothing to say. What indeed is there to

say? To be or not to be married, that was the question… [Adela, also shares Ronny’s view about

their marriage; therefore, they both] had decided it in the affirmative” (Forster, 1980: 109). It is

these feelings of disappointment and guilt about their relationship that Adela remembered when

she visited the caves. As she entered one of the caves with Aziz, she saw a pattern in the rock

which reminded her of the pattern made on the dust by the car when she and Ronny went for the

car ride. The question now stroke her greatly, “what about love?” (Forster, 1980: 162). She

realized suddenly that she did not love Ronny at all: “The discovery had come so suddenly that

she felt like a mountaineer whose rope had broken. Not to love the man one’s going to marry!

Not to find out till this moment! Not even to have asked the question until no! ... There was

esteem and animal contact at dusk, but the emotion that links them was absent” (Forster,

1980:163). Being a rational girl, Adela “was not convinced that love is necessary to a successful

union. If love is everything, few marriages would survive the honeymoon” (Forster, 1980:163).

She got better and entered the cave assuming that Aziz followed her into it. In the darkness of the

caves, she heard an echo and, in her terror, she imagined that Aziz was trying to rape her. Her

illusion motivated her mind to visualize a series of events leading to Aziz’s arrest.

However, the echo never stopped; it kept reminding her that she accused Aziz with an

action that he had not committed. She could not get rid of her echo until the moment she decided

to give her testimony in the court. There, she heard the Indians chant the name of Mrs. Moore.

The chant released her of her doubt and helped her to realize that what happened at the caves was

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just an echo, “I call the buzzing sound in my ears an echo” (Forster, 1980: 239). Adela acted

with courage and withdrew her charge against Aziz. Adela left England because her relationship

with Ronny was a total failure. Naturally, their bitter experience left them spiritually devoid of

any feelings to each other. Adela returned to England whereas Ronny got back to his colonial

duties. The main defect in the relationship between Ronny and Adela was the complete absence

of love. As a matter of fact, they are sensible and rational, but the difficulty that lies with the

Anglo- Indians is that they are good at formalities and officialism, but suffer from the rarity of

warm emotions.

4.2.4 Fielding’s Idea of the Colonized and the Colonizers

Forster argues that Fielding is a westerner, yet he is unlike his countrymen. He bears no

racial prejudice against the Indian native simply because he was brought up in a different

atmosphere, “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”

(Forster, 1980: 80).This image gave him the privilege to come closer to the locals and knew

about their culture. His profession as the official of the British college brought him in contact

with his people and the natives. But, he also found out that it is impossible to keep both

relationships strong; he had to drop the Indians one day since they could not be combined;

otherwise he had to pay for the consequences of renouncing his own people, “He had discovered

that it is possible to keep in with Indians and Englishmen, but that he who would also keep in

with Englishwomen must drop the Indians. The two wouldn’t combine… He had found it

convenient and pleasant to associate with Indians and he must pay the price” (Forster, 1980: 80-

1). His friendship with Aziz is the most distinguished one; both men seem to be equally

interested in promoting their relationship. Fielding was very friendly when Aziz visited him in

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his home; he wanted him to feel that he was a welcomed friend, “Lifting up his voice, he shouted

from the bedroom, ‘Please make yourself at home’” (Forster, 1980: 81). At the tea party,

however, when Ronny chided Fielding for letting Aziz intermix with Adela, he said that he did

see any harm when an English lady mingled with a native, “I really can’t see the harm” (Forster,

1980: 94). But, when his Indian friends asked him to explain why the British are at India, he

seemed unable to provide a reasonable justification; all he knew is that he needed a job,

“‘I’m out here personally because I needed a job. I cannot tell you why England is here or

whether she ought to be here. It’s beyond me.’ ‘Well-qualified Indians also need jobs in

the educational.’ I guess they do; I got in first, said Fielding, smiling. [His friend further

asks him] ‘Then excuse me again- is it fair an Englishman should occupy one when

Indians are available? Of course I mean nothing personally. Personally we are delighted

you should be here, and we benefit greatly by this frank talk.’ There is only one answer to

a conversation of this type: ‘England holds India for her good.’ [Fielding is so

embarrassed that he is unable to satisfy the question] ‘I’m delighted to be here too- that’s

my answer, there’s my only excuse. I can’t tell you anything about fairness. It mayn’t

have been fair I should have been born. I take up some other fellow’s air, don’t I,

whenever I breathe? Still, I’m glad it’s happened, and I’m glad I’m out here. However

big a badmash one is-- if one’s happy in consequence, that is some justification.’

(Forster, 1980: 124)

However, it turns that Fielding does not much about the smallest details of how really the

majority of the Indians suffer from the limited number of job vacancies. All he cares about is that

he has his own job; the living conditions of the natives are none of his business.

Throughout the novel, Forster continues to argue that, though friends, Fielding’s mindset

was different from that of Aziz’s. Aziz, who has always attempted win Fielding’s kindness

whenever he encountered him, was never treated with the same motifs. It is that Fielding was

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impressed with Aziz, yet it was impossible for him to disclose his personal secrets to Aziz; he

was still hesitant to call him a friend either, “Though, Fielding was moved by Aziz’s friendly

approach, he was still unable to show the same amount of emotion to their friendship as Aziz

did” (Forster, 1980: 129).

As for Aziz’s charge, Fielding never doubted his friend’s innocence. He, therefore, went

to McBryde to find out what went wrong. In his dialogue with Mr. Haq, the police inspector,

Fielding argued, “‘Hullo, some mistake,’ said Fielding, at once taking charge of the situation.

‘On what charge do you arrest him? Come along, Aziz, old man; nothing to fuss about, some

blunder”’ (Forster, 1980: 171). Before McBryde, Fielding insisted on Aziz’s total innocence, ‘I

say he’s innocent’ (Forster, 1980: 179). He has a firm trust that all the subsequent actions must

be based on this fact, and “and the people who said he was guilty were wrong… [Being

disappointed with the Indians for showing Aziz no support in his case, Fielding] realized the

profundity of the gulf that divided him from them. [He wonders] Are Indians cowards? No, but

they are bad starters and occasionally jib” (Forster, 1980: 181-2). Even in front of his people,

Fielding was still affirmative that Aziz had done nothing he was blamed for in the club, “He

stood up and said, ‘I believe Dr. Aziz to be innocent. [He concludes] ‘I am waiting for the

verdict of the courts. If he is guilty I resign from my service, and leave India. I resign from the

club now’” (Forster, 1980: 196).

Fielding renounced his people on the expense of his friend’s support. Forster commented

on this incidence, “Fielding was glad that he has broken with the Club, for he would have picked

up scraps of gossips here and reported them down in the city, and he was glad to be denied this

opportunity” (Forster, 1980: 198). He went on to justify his idea by saying that the British always

cluster together whether they are right or wrong simply because they have a high sense for their

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own security and mutual interests. Clustering together also would provide them security and a

sense of safety in this alien land, “The English always stick together [Unlike them] so light did

he travel” (Forster, 1980: 235). For one reason, he wanted to be committed with no social bond.

When asked by Adela to explain what happened in the caves, Fielding immediately laid

down three possible options, “‘One of three things certainly happened in the Marabar… One of

four things. Either Aziz is guilty, which is what your friends think; or you invented the charge

out of malice, which is what my friends think; or you have had an hallucination… I believe that

you yourself broke the strap of the field-glasses; you were alone in that cave the whole time”’

(Forster, 1980: 240).

After the court, Fielding’s entire image of Adela is changed; he has a high opinion of her

now. In his long talk with Aziz, he attempted to clear out his bad impression of Adela after he

was proved innocent. He also claimed that Adela proved to be a brave woman for she used her

reason to state Aziz’s innocence though her people kept pushing her forward to perjury against

Aziz. In his opinion, Adela is now worth of respect and admiration,

‘In the course of a long talk with Miss Quested I have begun to understand her character.

It’s not an easy one, she being a prig. But she is perfectly genuine and very brave. When

she saw she was wrong, she pulled herself up with a jerk and said so. I want you to

realize what that means. All her friends around her, the entire British Raj pushing her

forward. She stops, sends the whole thing to smithereens. In her place I should have

funked it. But she stopped, and almost did she become a national heroine, but my

students ran us down a side street before the crowd caught flame [He begs Aziz] “Do

treat her considerately. She really mustn’t get the worst of both worlds… Be merciful.

Act like one of your six Mogul Emperors’. (Forster, 1980: 251-2)

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By and large, Fielding is an Indian- oriented person who is constantly concerned to stay

well- connected with the Indian natives. Not only this, but he is also desirous to know them

better than any other colonizer. Therefore, he gives himself the prestige to state the following

fact,

‘Indians know whether they are liked or not- they cannot be fooled here. Justice never

satisfies them, and that is why the British Empire rests on sand.’ [This discovery indicates

that] Victory, which would have made the English sanctimonious, made them aggressive.

They wanted to develop an offensive, and tried to do so by discovering new grievances

and wrongs, many of which had no existence. They suffered from the usual disillusion

that attends warfare. (Forster, 1980: 258)

As a result, Fielding became aware of the cultural as well as societal differences between

him and his Indian friends. On the basis of this statement, he experienced a social barrier for he

believed that, “the Orientals will never understand” (Forster, 1980: 130) his apathy. Furthermore,

the constant discussion of Aziz’s charge rendered Fielding to realize that the Indians, who were

supposed to defend an innocent man, were so weak and coward; they simply did not have the

willpower to defy the colonial injustice in pleading for Aziz’s innocence. On the contrary,

Fielding appeared to be fearless in undertaking the responsibility of proving Aziz’s innocence.

At that moment, he became conscious of “the profundity of the gulf that divided him from [the

Indians]” (Forster, 1980: 181) who were fearful to proceed with Aziz’s case in the court.

4.2.5 Ronny’s Opinion of the Colonized and the Colonizers

Ronny rejected his mother’s strong desire to communicate with the Indian because of the

unfriendly impression he had towards India and the Indians. He viewed the entire surrounding as

hostile and risky, he therefore, went on to warn his mother not to walk around alone, ‘“But

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mother, you can’t do that sort of thing. There’s danger from snakes for one thing. They are apt to

lie out in the evening’” (Forster, 1980: 51). This image did not only warn his mother against the

dangers of the land; it also provided a firm caution against any sort of interaction with the

natives. However, Ronny was shocked to know that she had a talk with a native in the mosque

who, later, appeared to be Aziz, “‘Oh, good gracious! Not a Mohammedan? Why ever you didn’t

tell me you’d been talking to a native?’ [His astonishment grows bigger to know that Aziz has

called her in the mosque] ‘He called to you in the mosque, did he? How? Impudently? What was

he doing there himself at that time of night?”’ (Forster, 1980: 52).

All this indicates that Fielding had in fact, a very distasteful idea about India. This would

entail that he persisted to discourage his mother not to stick to the idea of seeing India; therefore,

he went on to argue, ‘“There’s nothing in India but the weather, my dear mother; it’s the Alpha

and Omega of the whole affair… [For him, the desire to see India is such a worthless idea that

one should not worry about] ‘Oh, how like a woman to worry over a side-issue!’” (Forster, 1980:

68). He further argued that the real reason for the presence of the British Empire in India was,

‘“to do justice and keep the peace’” (Forster, 1980: 69).

However, Forster continues to show more of Ronny’s racial images of superiority

towards the ruled class. Ronny believes,

‘India likes gods. And Englishmen like posing as gods… [Now, the dialogue becomes

even hotter as he brings to the light that it is the superiority complex along with the

personal desire to please his people which dominate his mind and feelings] What do you

and Adela want me to do? Go against my class, against all the people I respect and

admire out here? Lose such power as I have for doing good in this country because my

behaviour isn’t pleasant? You neither of you understand what work is, or you’d never

talk such eyewash.’ (Forster, 1980: 69)

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In his explanation for his mother’s insistence to see India, Ronny believed that she was

getting old and irrational, ‘“Certainly ageing, and I ought not to be vexed with anything she

says”’ (Forster, 1980: 70). For him, the desire to see India is just an insignificant idea that does

not even worth thinking about. The indigenes, too, were not worthy to be mixed with because

they are viewed as inferior in race. And, Aziz was just an example for this superiority in racial

outlook; he treated him with utmost arrogance at the tea party. Ronny’s racial arrogance,

however, stemmed from his belief that Indians are lower than the British as far as the racial and

cultural elements are concerned. Again, in his opposition to Adela’s insistence to see the

Marabar Caves, Ronny almost lost his nerves while attempting to hamper her. Though

reluctantly agreeing, he imposed that she must have an English escort in case she still wanted to

go there, “‘I won’t have messed about with Indians any more! If you want to go to Marabar

Caves you’ll go under British auspices’” (Forster, 1980: 98). Mistrust and suspicion are yet

another of Ronny’s images of the local Indians.

Another image of Ronny is that has no trust in the Indians; he believes that they are lusty

and could molest the British women if they are left unaccompanied. At the tea party, for

instance, Ronny came again to criticize Fielding for letting Adela alone with Aziz, “‘I don’t like

to see an English girl left smoking with two Indians”’ (Forster, 1980: 94). He believed that the

English ladies are not supposed to be left unaccompanied with natives. Ronny further continued

to show his racial bias against the Indian, this time, in his discussion with Mrs. Turton at the tea

party, Ronny argued that the invited Indians were socially worthless to his ruling class,

‘The great point to remember is that no one who’s here matters; those who matter don’t

come. Isn’t so, Mrs. Turton?’...Assured of her approbation, Ronny continued: ‘The

educated Indians will be no good to us if there’s a row, it’s simply not worth while

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conciliating them, that’s why they don’t matter. Most of the people you see are seditious

at heart, and the rest’d run squealing… don’t imagine they’re India.’ (Forster, 1980: 59)

In his entire encounters with the natives, or even when he comes to speak about the

Indian land, Ronny never misses the chance to disparage the indigenes’ manners appearances.

For him, Aziz, like any other native, was no more than a slack who could not even wear his back

collar- stud in as a professional way as the British, “Aziz was exquisitely dressed, from tie-pin to

spats, but he had forgotten his back collar-stud, and there you have the Indian all over:

inattention to detail; the fundamental slackness that reveals the race” (Forster, 1980: 97).

And, in order for him to purify his conscience of the sense of guilt after his mother’s

death at sea, Ronny kept reminding himself that she left India willingly, and that he treated her

well. Consequently, he believed that he did not have to repent anything because he has done her

no harm. And, therefore, he chose to continue his heartlessness to her. He wanders,

‘How tiresome she had been with her patronage of Aziz! What a bad influence upon

Adela! And now she still gave trouble with ridiculous ‘tombs,’ mixing herself up with

natives. She could not help it, of course, but she had attempted similar exasperating

expeditions in her lifetime, and he reckoned it against her [Rather, he has so many issues

to worry about, like] the heat, the local tension, the approaching visit of the Lieutenant-

Governor, the problems of Adela [As for Adela’s marriage] she would have to depart too;

he hoped she would have made the suggestion herself ere now. He really could not marry

her- it would mean the end of his career. Poor lamentable Adela.

(Forster, 1980: 257)

4.3 Image through Clash of Different Cultures

Forster also shows another list of imagery, and this time it is through the clash of

different cultures. The incident of the Marabar Caves is one of the images he used to shed light

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on the difference between spiritual India and practical materialistic British Empire. Forster very

often introduces India in A Passage to India, as a holy land with ancient history, keeping his

readers aware that there are cultural distinctions between the East and the West. This problem is

intensified when the British colonizers failed to understand India as a country with notable style

of life, religious as well as social traditions. A Passage to India, therefore, functions as a colonial

novel to recite what may happen when two different cultures are destined to mingle, and what

consequences originate when one culture misunderstands the other. Forster chose the theme of

clash between different cultures to cast light on the impossibility of meeting between East and

West.

Rudyard Kipling, a colonialist poet and a novelist who spent a considerable part of his

life in India, shared this principle as he, in his poem “The Ballad of East and West”, believed

that,

… East is East and West is West,

and never the twain shall meet. (Stedman, 2007: 1)

He further argued that it is highly unattainable to connect the two races, the British and the

Indians. Forster employed theme of cultural differences to stress the problem that arises from the

failure of integrating the colonialists and the locals. Ashcroft and Pal Ahluwalia also came to the

same conclusion that, “Clashes occur when the racist English colonialists and the local Indians

do not see eye to eye” (2001:19). This definitely suggests that clashes, on the basis of cultural

divergence, may occur between the colonized and the colonizers because they do not have a

serious desire to attain communication. Among the various images of the clashes between

different cultures, the ones that cause confusions and failure to connect reasonably, Forster

mentions the incident of the Marabar Caves which will lead confusion and, later on, the charge

of rape against Aziz.

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4.3.1 The Marabar Caves

The Marabar caves in part two of the novel constitutes the central element of A Passage

to India where the most events revolve around it. Introducing these hills in part two- section one

and two’ as well as the most part of section three signifies the axis of their power in the structure

of the narrative.

Forester utilizes the tragic event in the caves to cast light on the impossibility of

establishing friendship between East and West as long as India suffers from the British

colonization. And, the tragic end of the expedition to the caves that Aziz planned for Mrs. Moore

and Adela to see the real India explained this fact.

In part two, Forster describes portrays these caves as nothing but ancient hills, devoid of

life, beauty and romance. From a distance, they are like a dome; they are also dark from inside

where there is nothing special to see. The author argues that a visitor is filled with a terrifying

sense inside them due to the phenomenon that any sound produced whether human, or just a

fingernail scratching the wall, is reduced to a horrible echo. While filling each and every corner

in the enclosed caves, the echo inspires its visitor with the sense that all human actions are

meaningless,

They are dark caves. Even when they open towards the sun, very little light penetrates

down the entrance tunnel into the circular chamber. There is little to see, and no eye to

see it, until the visitor arrives for his five minutes, and strikes a match… Immediately

another flame rises in the depths of the rock and moves towards the surface like an

imprisoned spirit: the walls of the circular chamber have been most marvelously

polished. The two flames approach and strive to unite, but cannot, because one of them

breathes air, the other stone. [They simply are] Fists and fingers thrust above the

advancing soil- here at last is their skin, finer than any covering acquired by the animals,

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smoother than windless water, more voluptuous than love. The radiance increases, the

flames touch one another, kiss, expire. 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, 1980: 138- 9)

The caves, then, produces a riddled chaos to its foreign visitors. In other words, they function as

an unwelcoming, unfriendly and malicious locale to foreigners. Even the natives of Chandrapore

city, where the caves are located, cannot guide or explain the mystery of the caves to the

foreigners.

Aziz wanted to express his hospitality to Mrs. Moore and Adela; therefore, he planned an

expedition to the hills. He chose locale in particular to show his pride in his national heritage as

an Indian and to display the mystery in them as well. Regrettably, the trip was disastrous. During

their expedition of the caves, Adela and Mrs. Moore both experienced a frightening feeling that

they have not undergone before. Mrs. Moore saw the smallness and hollowness of her Christian

faith, and, therefore, suffered from a sort of instability after being shocked that the caves inspired

inside someone’s soul nothing but the sense of emptiness. Adela, meanwhile, came to realize that

she had no affections for Ronny and then imagined with horror that Aziz attempted to molest her

there. Forester purposefully provided his readers with no explanation reference to the supposed

rape attempt, so it almost became an embodiment of the darkness of the caves.

It is very important to understand that what happened in the caves is the cornerstone of

the novel’s structure, and that everything else revolves around it. In this critical time of the

novel, Forester intends to portray India as a country of riddles that “can only present confusion

of morals and misunderstandings between the colonialists and the locals” (Childs, 2007: 349).

The number of the caves which a visitor s does not count much because they are all alike on the

ground that they do not present anything extraordinary. As such, a visitor cannot decide after he

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returns to Chandrapore “whether he has an interesting experience or a dull one or any experience

at all” (Forster, 1980: 138). Forester made the image of the caves even more exciting by saying

that a visitor is even incapable of finding the exact expressions to describe them. This is

precisely what Adela experienced after her visit to the caves for she could not recollect what

exactly happened. Her hesitation as whether or not to proceed with her testimony made her drop

her accusation in the court against Aziz for she thinks that she probably hallucinates, “She

touched her head at the side, then shook it. ‘That was my first thought, the day of the arrest:

hallucination’” (Forster, 1980: 239). She became uninterested in the whole issue of charge and

was, therefore, unwilling to discuss it any further. Fielding explained the incident in favor of the

Indian doctor. He further suggested that Adela committed a mistake arguing that, “I believe that

you yourself broke the strap of the field-glasses; you were alone in that cave the whole time”

(Forster, 1980: 240). Fielding’s justification seemed to be so logical that it persuaded Adela to

drop her charge in the court. For the first time, in all the confrontations between the two

divergent nations, the Indians achieved a national victory and could avenge their pride against all

sorts of subjugations and humiliations they suffered on the hands of their British colonizers. But,

Fielding and Adela had to pay for allying with the Indian side, and the price was that they were

dismissed from the English club.

The Marabar caves represent the most essential subject in the novel; their presence stands

for the splendid mystery that India cherishes with among many other cultural things and mystic

religions, like Hinduism, Buddhism and the like. The contrastive images of similarity and

difference, presence and absence that a person perceives at the end of his visit to the caves,

follow one after another in sequence without negating each other. Godbole confirmed this fact to

Fielding by saying that, “Yet absence implies presence, absence is not non-existence” (Forster,

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1980: 186). In his comment on the failure of the West to comprehend the mysticism of the caves,

Boehmer argued that they “denote nothing but their own vacancy of meaning” (Boehmer, 2005:

77). In the end, Forester succeeded in making the land itself an entity in the novel that refuses to

be fully understood or mastered by British colonists. To Conclude, the incident of the Marabar

Caves emphasize a very crucial issue that no matter how hard individuals of both races strive to

span bridges of mutual understanding, they fail in the end due to difference in cultures. It also

highlights another image in which the colonizers rendered unable to comprehend oriental culture,

and hence, fail to connect with the colonized socially.

Forster’s description of the caves as a dark locale that is devoid of life implies that the

oriental culture is full of mystery, “They are dark caves” (Forster, 1980: 138). This darkness is

merged with the reader’s uncertainty to tell that a foreign visitor, “Having seen one such cave,

having seen two, having seen three, four, fourteen, twenty-four,… whether he has had an

interesting experience or dull or any experience at all” (Forster, 1980: 138) after he returns to the

city Chandrapore. The only impression this visitor has at the end of his experience is that it is a

fancy in which the darkness of the caves mingles with the human imagination to produce new

images just like the ones humans form in childhood where kids allow their imagination to take

them far while telling them tales. The darkness of the caves, then, stands for the body when it is

emptied of its soul.

In his lecture on the nature of evil in relation to the echo, Godbole argues that, “Good and

evil are different, as their names imply. But ... they are both of them aspects of my Lord. He is

present in the one, absent in the other ...” (Forster, 1980: 186). The implication of this talk is that

the original sound is good whereas the echo is always harmful for it does not imply any hope.

And since the caves are defined as a physical matter emptied of its spirit, the westerners are,

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accordingly, nothing but bodies without souls. In other words, western visitors experience

nothing when they visit the Marabar caves. On the basis of this interpretation, the atmosphere

inside the cave causes dreadful panic for it makes the colonial visitors lose their sensation and

identity. Mrs. Moore, for instance, was so terrified and nearly fainted when she came out of the

caves to the extent she refused to reveal what happened there, “The more she thought over it, the

more disagreeable and frightening it became ... the echo begun in some indescribable way to

undermine her hold on life” (Forster, 1980: 160). In other words, the echo turned every form of

existence into a meaningless outcome, “everything exists, nothing [because everything said or

uttered in this place] would be the same - ou-boum” (Forster, 1980: 160).

The visit to the Marabar caves failed to connect the West with the East on the social and

cultural levels. As such, all the endeavors to bridge the two opposed nations came to a frustrating

ending as the experience there terribly affected the colonizers and the colonized alike. Adela, for

instance, accused Aziz of attempting to rape her in one of the dark caves, but came later on to

drop her charge and Aziz is set free. This bitter experience widened the gap between the natives

and the Anglo Indians. Mrs. Moore became suspicious in her personal relationships with the

Indian indigenes; she did not believe Aziz to be guilty of assaulting Adela, but she was unable to

attend the trial so that she could defend Aziz, her only Indian friend. Nafi emphasized this point

by arguing that the feelings of the Indians grew antagonistic against the British Empire, “The

aspiration of man to understand himself and universe has resulted in various systems of belief

and codes of behavior, … also alienation from his fellowmen within other cultures, and…, in a

more complex bewilderment about his social and spiritual identity” (Nafi, 2016: 19).

The failure of the two ladies, Mrs. Moore and Adela, to realize the real India resulted in a

series of tragic events; it, in a broader sense, inflamed the racial anger between the rulers and the

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ruled in India. Forster referred to these racial problems by arguing that: “The English always

stick together! That was the criticism. Nor was it unjust. Fielding shared it himself, and knew

that if some misunderstanding occurred, and an attack was made on the girl by his allies, he

would be obliged to die in her defence. He didn’t want to die in her defence. He didn’t want to

die for her; he wanted to be rejoicing with Aziz” (Forster, 1980: 235)

In general, Forester used the concept of locale as a personified message to refer to the

colonizers’ failure in comprehending India. The Marabar caves, in fact, play the role of

protagonist against the colonizers in the sense that they frightened them away from the Indian

land. Aziz arranged the excursion to these dark caves zealously thinking of winning the

Britishers’ kindness. However, this visit, which was supposed to end happily, turned out to be

totally catastrophic as the cave incident damaged each and every endeavor to reconcile the West

with the East. The incident indicates that the caves do not seem be welcoming; they emerge from

the ground as thorns which can harm the aliens in case they approach them. Leela Gandhi states

that the relationship between the Indians and the British does not seem to be a good one despite

the various attempts of reconciling both races. She goes on to argue that, “the tensions between

the British and Indians… explode in the Marabar Caves incident” (1998: 97- 8). Forester

figuratively proposes that even nature appears as a threat to the British because they bear this sort

of fear inside themselves towards the Indian locations. From this moment on, the British

colonizers realize that they are not welcomed on this land. The description of the Marabar Caves

shows that India resists in every possible way a friendship between a native and a colonizer

while under occupation. And the natural outcome is that the colonizers react with fear and

suspicion to the Indians and everything that is connected with nature, like weather, animals and

landscape. Thus, the British were so much overwhelmed with terror that even Mrs. Moore, the

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broad- minded British lady as well as Adela rendered to be entirely unable to control their

terrible fear in the caves. Forester describes this horrifying moment, “For an instant she went

mad, hitting and gasping like a fanatic. For not only did the crush and stench alarm her; there

was also a terrifying echo” (Forster, 1980: 158).

This terrible experience at the Marabar Caves made Forester wonder as to, “Were there

worlds beyond which they could never touch, or did all that is possible enter their consciousness?

They could not tell . . . Perhaps life is a mystery, not a muddle” (Forster, 1980: 331). This

dialogue demonstrates that foreigners cannot understand India because it is a strange mysterious

country.

4.3.2 Charge of Rape

Throughout the entire events in the novel, Adela and Mrs. Moore turned out to be

completely different in their orientation from the entire British community; they have a very

peculiar interest to discover the real India and connect with the natives. This inclination was not

very much preferable inside the British community which persisted to oppose all the attempts to

bridge the social gap between the Indian and the British. However, the consequent events

showed that the two British ladies failed to achieve this objective after their painful experience at

the Marabar Caves. There, they rendered incapable of realizing that India is a mystic country

which the western world is not interested to make social ties with. Psychologically speaking, the

Easterners differ from the Westerners in their interest of studying the roots and trends of

philosophy. Indians turn to be more emotional mystical; they are more interested in philosophy

and meditation. Quite opposite to them, the British are more practical and realistic; they believe

in science and facts to a certain degree that they accept anything before they put it into

verification and scientific experimentation. Accordingly, Adela’s experience in the caves

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remained vague throughout the novel for she failed to provide the readers with a precise

description of what actually happened there except for some minor unimportant details about

scratching the wall with her nail to produce the echo, the shadow she saw, and the way she

escaped from the cave. The vague account of this experience shaped the whole critical discourse

of A Passage to India. Adela failed to present a clear- cut empirical evidence whether or not Aziz

really had attempted to rape her. Returning to Mrs. Moore, the experience at the Marabar Caves

left a horrible impact on her as she was exposed to the echo as well. She could forget everything

in the Marabar hills except the echo sound which continued to fill her with terror. She felt that

she had no desire to testify in the court for two main reasons, her instability and her respect for

Aziz. Accordingly, she felt useless to the British in Aziz’s trial. Yet, this did not discourage her

form playing an important role in convincing Adela of Aziz’s innocence.

In general, the entire issue of rape seems to be nothing but a mere imaginative tale

created by Adela. In the court, she asserted with clarity that she imagined the physical assault

because she fell under a horrible experience when she was exposed to the echo in the cave. The

intolerable heat of India in the area of the Marabar hills, the echo she heard in the cave, and the

gloomy darkness of the surrounding caused her to hallucinate and lose her instability. Adela, as

an Anglo- Indian woman, believed that the Indians have an inherent sexual desire for the

European feminine gender. On the basis of this belief, she assumed that she was predisposed to

be raped by Aziz when they were alone in the cave. Before the incident, Adela introduced herself

as an intelligent woman who believes in conducting a liberal, honest conversation. But after the

incident, however, Silver argues that, “having been absorbed by the male discourse that

surrounds rape, she herself disappears” (1988: 100- 1), and these beliefs totally changed.

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The characters in A Passage to India, except for Aziz and Adela seemed uneager to

discover what actually happened in the caves. Instead, they were interested more in the

possibility that a black Indian very likely raped a white European woman. It is this idea that

drove the British to cluster around Adela during Aziz’s trial. But the entire English community

turned against her when she refused to testify against Aziz in the court. This stance caused her to

be discarded from the British club.

The incident of the Marabar cave casts light on a number of significant issues; among

these are racism and British nationalism. Furthermore, it builds a firewall in the face of any

possible effort to establish friendship or any other sort of mutual understanding between the two

opposed communities. It is this incident that eliminated all possibilities for the Indians and the

British to come any closer. Aziz, who keenly had struggled to make advances towards the

colonizers, now is thinking that the people from both sides can never be friends. Therefore, he

argued with confidence, ‘“I have become anti- British, and ought to have done sooner, it would

have saved me numerous misfortunes”’ (Forster, 1980: 250). This explains why symptoms of

defiance to the British system and administration, even inside the British club, are spotted.

Fielding, for instance, defied his countrymen twice, firstly, when he took sides with Aziz owing

to his strong belief in his friend’s innocence, and secondly, when he supported Adela’s testimony

in favor of Aziz’s innocence. Fielding further argued that Adela could have been very possibly

under some hallucination and that Aziz is innocent, ‘“But you see I believe she’s under some

hideous delusion and that that wretched boy is innocent”’ (Forster, 1980: 156). Thus, he insisted

to continue backing up his friend, Aziz. Also, he incorporated in convincing Adela to change her

mind and drop her charge against Aziz. But siding with Adela by affording her accommodation

and food, made Fielding lose his friendship with Aziz. Fielding sincerely tried to convince Adela

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that she was mistaken in accusing Aziz of the supposed rape. And, as an English man, he was

aware of the fact that the other English women hate the Indian natives to an extent that Adela

might have very possibly been influenced by the English women’s gossip that Indian men are

accused of being savage rapists of white women. Fielding is also aware of the fact that by

defending Aziz and leaving the club, he is choosing the side of the Indians whom are considered

to be lower in race, and therefore deserves to be called, “seditious” (Forster, 1980: 193).

However, Fielding seemed to be content with the consequences of his resolutions he had made.

4.3.3 Portrayal of Confusion

The Marabar caves caused a sort intellectual confusion to the colonizers because they are

unable to find a logical interpretation for their existence. Besides, the riddled echo they produce

creates a sense of bewilderment in their minds. Hence, critics interpret the denotations of these

monuments in different ways. Brown, for instance, connected the caves with man through

viewing the human communication and cave as a confrontation with “primitivism, a world which

is naturally kept separate from a civilized man” (1966: 155). Also, it is seen as an inductive

image that the cultures of the colonizers and the colonized can never meet in near future. In this

sense, it is India’s inherent otherness and alienation from the rest of the globe for they discard the

intruders that seek to subjugate the indigenes. Lastly, Beer described the caves as a place with

opposing duality because they, “seem to be capable of generating vision as well as nightmare:

they are described as ‘eggs’ as well as ‘holes’” (1985: 143).

The external shape of the Marabar Caves, as part of a series of hills, is displayed to the

readers as “fists and fingers”; [they are] primal [and they] rise abruptly, insanely, without the

proportion that is kept by the wildest hills elsewhere, they bear no relation to anything dreamt or

seen” (Forster, 1980: 9). Therefore, these hills defy the order of the universe and display a

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mysterious phenomenon. Here, Forster connects the word ‘extraordinary’ with the outer and

inner shapes of the caves indicating that they carry unusual implications that a visitor is unable to

probe unless he or she is mystic. Forster, by means of describing these caves as a historical site

of India, wants to confirm that the caves display a philosophical outlook that is implied in the

diction of the narrative. Consequently, the characters in the novels are unable to describe the

caves when they are asked to do so because there is no particular diction they may use to give an

ample image. This why, when Adela asked Godbole to describe the famous caves, he “forewent

the pleasure, and Aziz realized that he was keeping back something about the caves. He realized

because he often suffered from similar inhibitions himself” (Forster, 1980: 75) only able to

indicate what they are by describing what they are not. Forster described the Marabar Caves as

sites which “bear no relation to anything dreamt or seen… [They are] extraordinary [and

concludes that]…The caves are readily described” (Forster, 1980: 124). This statement makes

the mystical Godbole even incapable of describing the caves any better. It is noticeable that

Forster consistently deviates from providing his readers with a sufficient account of the caves.

As a result, the caves constantly appear to be significant and insignificant simultaneously.

However, Forester argues that though closed in the face of visitors, “nothing would be added to

the sum of good or evil” (Forster, 1980: 139). Once again the caves do not provide considerable

significance for they produce echoes only.

The fact that no two dissimilar caves meet implies the impossibility of connection

between the spiritualism and materialism. It also refers to the impossibility of bridging the East

with the West, in one word, India with Britain. In his comment on this topic, Stone argues that,

in the novel, Forester intended to convey a message to his readers that the western and eastern

philosophical views oppose one another, nevertheless, can be viewed as complementing each

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other: “this is not to say that Forster is a Hindu or that he is propagating Hindu values . . ., and

that we in the West in particular are impoverished by our repression of the irrational and the

unseen” (1985: 18).

To conclude, the caves send the readers a message that the mysteriousness of the Oriental

culture cannot be interpreted scientifically or empirically; it can only be understood spiritually.

The reason is that the echo that these caves produce disperses other sounds as well as it unifies

them at the same time. Interestingly enough, the interior of the caves deeply fascinates the alien

visitors with a series of echoes generated from the first sound. Accordingly, Forester argues that,

“Whatever is said, the same monotonous noise replies, and quivers up and down the walls until it

is absorbed into the roof . . . Hope, politeness, the blowing of a nose, the squeak of a boot, all

produce “boum.” . . . And if several people talk at once, an overlapping howling noise begins,

echoes generate echoes” (Forster, 1980: 159).

Forester continues to argue that the significance of the echo can never be integrated with

other sounds, nor can it perceive the meaning or meaninglessness of these sounds. Additionally,

it presents various forms from this process via which it joins different levels of sounds. Mrs.

Moore understood that this dull echo underestimated life as well as her religious beliefs in

Christianity. This echo also denotes that her faith in Christianity seemed to be changed as her

belief in the existence of God grows weaker to an extent that her Christian praying “satisfied her

less . . . Outside the arch there seemed always an arch, beyond the remotest echo a silence”

(Forster, 1980: 71). In India, Mrs. Moore experienced the Indian mysticism; she became

spiritually fond of India; yet, incapable of comprehending it. In the end, she became exhausted

and fell wretchedly into a deck chair. Adela, on the other hand, was disillusioned inside the cave;

the echo infused her with the sense that Aziz attempted to rape her. But when she dropped

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accusation, she created a chaos in the courtroom. Forester described this muddle saying that,

“people screamed and cursed, kissed one another, wept passionately . . . hundreds of things went

on at once, so that afterwards each person gave a different account of the catastrophe” (Forster,

1980: 232). This proves that Indian is a country of diverse stances and viewpoints. Forester used

the incident of the cave as a powerful theme to unite the comprehensible with the

incomprehensible and the material with the spiritual.

It appears very interesting when Aziz proposed an excursion to the Marabar Caves since

the two British ladies will have the chance to see the real India. The drastic end of this adventure

affected all those who entered the caves because, “They were sucked in like water down a drain”

(Forster, 1980: 158). Mrs. Moore’s impression after she entered the cave was that she felt

suffocated and, therefore, could not control herself. Her alienation on the Indian land caused her

to undertake this painful experience. This, of course, entails that the Marabar caves, like all the

Indian locations, are just tools which Forester utilized to state that the Indian locales separate the

West from the East and present India as an everlasting mystery insoluble by the foreigners. Of

course, not all the characters were able to encrypt the mystery or the echo. Accordingly, Stone

argues that: “there are mysteries in this novel that cannot be solved . . . and the characters are

tested by whether they can deal with those mysteries or cannot. Not all of the characters enter the

caves, but we can nevertheless say that some characters can enter them and some cannot” (1985:

17). Mrs. Moore tried to comprehend and analyze this bitter experience in the cave, whereas

Adela hated what happened to her in there, and; therefore, insisted to stay as an alien to the

Eastern culture. For this reason, her philosophical western mindset made her think that Aziz

attempted to molest her.

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Adela related Aziz’s physical assault to the difference in her race and color: she is white,

they are black; she is a westerner; they are easterners. This incident forced her to recognize a

serious issue that she, as a foreigner, is superior to the Indian community in terms of culture,

power and race. Also, she thought that the color and beauty of her body are fairly sufficient for

the assailant to launch his attack against her. Consequently, she identified her character with

material and physical terms for which she suffered from the attempt of rape. Silver argues,

therefore, that when Adela was enclosed by the cave, “she is enclosed as well by relations of

power, including gender, that make possible the discourse that represents woman as pretense for

male rivalry” (1988: 103).

Right from the very beginning of Adela’s charge of Aziz, Forester has persisted to inspire

his readers that Aziz had never committed the act of rape. But, his readers are not aware of what

happens in the cave, or even how Adela’s strap on her glasses broke. Forester himself claims that

he has no clue. Reference to this incident, Furbank, in his book, E. M. Forester: A Life, quotes

Forester’s claim that, “In the cave it is either a man, or the supernatural, or an illusion. And even

if I know! My writing mind therefore is a blur here-i.e., I will it to remain a blur, and to be

uncertain, as I am of many facts in daily life” (1978: 374).

Naturally, the lack of knowledge in the cultural differences that exist between the West

and the East may also lead the British community to visualize illusory things under the effect of

certain sounds. Bhabha admits this view by saying that, “Cultural difference, as Adela

experienced it, in the nonsense of the Marabar Caves, is not the acquisition or accumulation of

additional cultural knowledge; it is the momentous, if momentary, extinction of the recognizable

object of culture in the disturbed artifice of its signification, at the edge of experience” (1994:

126).

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Drastically enough, the novel is finalized with a sad ending as the Marabar excursion

failed to bridge the West with the East. This particular trip, like all other attempts which were

exerted to span a bridge between the British and the Indians, was a total disappointment to the

readers because they separated more than they connect. Said concludes that, “We are left at the

end with a sense of the pathetic distance still separating ‘us’ from an Orient destined to bear its

foreignness as a mark of its permanent estrangement from the West” (1977: 244), when Aziz and

Fielding were unable to be friends anymore because the Indian land, sky and nature, “didn’t want

it, they said in their hundred voices, ‘No, not yet,’ and the sky said, ‘No, not there’” (Forster,

1980: 316).

A Passage to India infers that the places in a given country signify the culture as well as

national heritage of its people. The country locales, in other words, provide the natives with the

utmost power to resist whoever wants to occupy or subjugate its indigenes. On the basis of this

fact, Forester makes a special reference to this canon in A Passage to India through using the

incident of the Marabar Caves to argue that it is highly impossible to the West and the East to

meet on a colonized land. The echo and the frightening shape of the caves keep the British

colonizers aloof from the Indian land. Adela and Mrs. Moore are just examples the novelist set to

stress this fact.

The ignorance of the Indian culture and history scared the British colonizers. Hence,

Adela imagined that Aziz had attempted to rape her. The mysteriousness of the echo indicates

that there are no chances for friendship or even reconciliation between the Orientals and

Occident to prosper again. According to Boehmer, the incident of the Marabar cave “holds out

little hope …for social interaction between Europeans and Indians” (2005: 101). This echo

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undoubtedly destroyed the western- eastern relationships and paved the way to further confusion

and misunderstanding.

Adela fell under the pressure of the cultural conflicts when she experienced the bitterness

of the echo in the Marabar Caves. However, those caves which have no particular shape are

apparently devoid of meaning. Only the locals comprehend their mysticism since they are part of

their life; whereas the foreigners are totally unable to realize their meaning. She realized that she

was unable to realize the emptiness of the echo. Her failure to realize the meaning of the echo

caused her to imagine that Aziz had attempted to rape her. All that happened was just in her head

and no one had created it. Forster himself stated this fact in a letter to William Plomer ten years

after A Passage to India was published by saying that, “I tried to show that India is an

unexplainable muddle by introducing an unexplained muddle- Miss Quested’s experience in the

cave. When asked what happened there, I don’t know” (Gillie, 1983: 147).

Bhabha shares the same interest to disentangle the cultural puzzle expressed in the

representation of the meaninglessness of the echo in the Marabar Caves. This echoic

phenomenon motivated him to inquire of what really happened there so that he can decode the

accusation of the attempted assault on Adela. He, then, suggested that, “There, the loss of the

narrative of cultural plurality; there the implausibility of conversation and commensurability;

there the enactment of an undecidable, uncanny colonial present, an Anglo Indian difficulty,

which repeats but is never itself fully represented” (1994: 126). The hallucination, the horrible

experience and shock which Adela endured inside the Marabar Caves stresses the issue that

westerners cannot realize the oriental cultural differences. This failure, therefore, discouraged her

to form any future friendships with the locals.

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By implication, the confusion naturally lies in the difficulty of maintaining

communication between the communities of rulers and ruled, and nothing else. During the

Bridge Party, for example, the dialogue registered this problem, namely the confused

understanding, when Mrs. Moore asked if she might visit Mrs. Bhattacharya. This following

conversation illustrates this fact:

‘When?’ she replied, inclining charmingly.

‘Whenever is convenient.’

‘All days are convenient.

‘Thursday . . .’

‘Most certainly.’

‘We shall enjoy it greatly, it would be a real pleasure. What about the time?’

‘All hours.’

‘Tell us which you would prefer. We’re quite strangers to your country; we don’t know

when

you have visitors,’ said Miss Quested.

Mrs. Bhattacharya seemed not to know either. Her gesture implied that she had known,

since Thursdays began, that English ladies would come to see her on one of them, and so

always stayed in. Everything pleased her, nothing surprised. She added, ‘We leave for

Calcutta to-day.’

‘Oh, do you?’ said Adela, not at first seeing the implication. Then she cried, ‘Oh, but if

you do we shall find you gone.’

Mrs. Bhattacharya did not dispute it. But her husband called from the distance, ‘Yes, yes,

you come to us Thursday.

‘But you’ll be in Calcutta.’

‘No, no, we shall not.’ He said something swiftly to his wife in Bengali. ‘We expect you

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Thursday.

‘Thursday . . .’ the woman echoed. (Forster, 1980: 63)

The verbal confusion of time and place reflects differences in attitude towards temporal and

special entities between the speakers. This confusion in understanding happens because the

dialogue is running between the British who belong to a technologically advanced country on

one hand, and the Indians who belong to India which is a developing country on the other hand.

Similarly, when Fielding expressed doubts about the existence of God at Aziz’s house, “The

Indians were bewildered. The line of thought was not alien to them, but the words were too

definite and bleak. Unless a sentence paid a few compliments to Justice and Morality in passing,

its grammar wounded their ears and paralysed their minds” (Forster, 1980: 124- 5). However, the

novel goes on to explore more examples about the confusion of understanding within each side.

So, when Godbole’s illness is reported, suspicions are immediately aroused:

‘If this is so, this is a very serious thing: this is scarcely the end of March. Why have I not

been informed?’ cried Aziz.

‘Dr. Panna Lal attends him, sir.’

‘Oh yes, both Hindus; there we have it; they hang together like flies and keep everything

dark.’ (Forster, 1980: 117- 8)

To conclude, life in India demands a person who is capable of bearing a dualistic sense of

reality. Thus, many of the events in the novel carry different meanings from different

perspectives. Again, when Mrs. Moore described her encounter with Aziz in the mosque, her

feelings of warmth and friendship were directly contradicted by Ronny’ misreading of the

incident:

‘Who was he?’ Ronny inquired.

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‘A doctor. I don’t know his name.’

‘A doctor? I know of no young doctor in Chandrapore. How odd! What was he like?’

‘Rather small, with a little moustache and quick eyes. He called out to me when I was in

the dark part of the mosque- about my shoes. That was how we began talking. He was

afraid I had them on, but I remembered luckily. He told me about his children, and then

we walked back to the club. He knows you well.’

‘I wish you had pointed him out to me. I can’t make out who he is.’

‘He didn’t come into the club. He said he wasn’t allowed to.’

Thereupon the truth struck him, and he cried, ‘Oh, good gracious! Not a Mohammedan?

Why ever didn’t you tell me you’d been talking to a native? I was going all wrong.’

(Forster, 1980: 51- 2)

One further example that Forster gives about the confusion in understanding between the

colonized and the colonizers during a conversation happened when the Nawab’s car had an

accident. Here, the language of the speakers reflected underlying racial distinctions and habits.

The speakers seek to detect an obvious cause that might trace back “the writhing of the tyres to

the source of their disturbance” (Forster, 1980: 104). And, when Mrs. Moore was told of the

accident, she muttered the word ‘ghost’, “‘A ghost! But the idea of a ghost scarcely passed her

lips. The young people did not take it up, being occupied with their own outlooks, and deprived

of support it perished, or was reabsorbed into the part of the mind that seldom speaks” (Forster,

1980: 111).

Proverbs are yet another source of confusion in understanding since they reflect only the

mindset of their users. Being culturally different from the Orientals, Fielding cannot not agree

with Aziz’s proverb: ‘“If money goes, money comes. If money stays, death comes. But it brings

worries and trouble if it is not spent”’ (Forster, 1980: 170). To Fielding, Aziz was spendthrift.

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But, Aziz saw no harm in spending such a huge amount of money on the Marabar trip as long as

it pleases his British guests in the end. Fielding, therefore, disagreed and introduced his own

proverb instead, ‘“A penny earned is a penny saved”’ (Forster, 1980: 170).

On another occasion, Fielding found it difficult to agree with Aziz that kindness alone

can lead to establish friendship between the people of different cultures and languages. Also, he

cannot trust nor can he call any person he encounters a friend, as Aziz would. Here, he argued,

‘‘‘I shall not really be intimate with this fellow,’ Fielding thought, and then ‘nor with anyone.’

[But he also admitted that] he really… was content to help people, and like them as long as they

didn’t object [otherwise, he would] pass on serenely” (Forster, 1980: 129). Fielding, however, is

just a sample of the regular English personality; his cultural environment in which he was

brought up taught him to be sincere while communicating his thoughts and attitudes to others.

Fielding is a good man at heart; yet, he cannot say or act anything on the expense of sincerity or

clarity. This is exactly where he is different from the oriental mindset.

4.4 Image of India as Character

Forster introduced a number of images about the colonized India as they are perceived by

the British colonizers. Forster projected the Indian locales as physical entities that keep the idea

of establishing friendships between the natives and the British highly unapproachable. Right

from the beginning, India is depicted as a vague character towards which the British people make

their passage. Adela, for instance, wished to see the real India, but she is never really sure what

she was looking for: whether it is the people, the scenery, the customs, or history which she

wanted to know about. She wished that she could understand India, but her attempts

unfortunately led to offence rather than friendship. Forster makes it clear that her desire to see

the real India is theoretical rather than heart- felt, “Fielding…found something theoretical in her

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outburst” (Forster, 1980: 66). Only Ronny is sure he has found the real India and was content

with that. Mrs. Moore succeeded in seeing the real India when she walked into the mosque and

met Aziz for the first time. But, Adela failed when she encountered nihilism in the Marabar

Caves which she mistook for the whole India. Fielding, on the hand, underestimated the

difficulties of the country because he led an easy life with Indians. Being a rationalist, he tried to

convert India into Italy where “The Mediterranean is the human norm. When men leave that

exquisite lake, whether through the Bosphorus or the Pillars of Hercules, they approach the

monstrous and extraordinary; and the southern exit leads to the strangest experience of all”

(Forster, 1980: 278), and to ignore the very difference of India.

The characters’ experience in India is physical, emotional, and spiritual. The terrain is

harsh and rigid, “walking fatigued [Aziz], as it fatigues everyone in India except the newcomer.

There is something hostile in that soil. It either yields, and the foot sinks into a depression, or

else it is unexpectedly rigid and sharp, pressing stones or crystals against the tread” (Forster,

1980: 40).The climate is in conflict with tempers, and people must stay apart indoors, in the hot

season to protect themselves. This harsh environment terribly affects Indians and foreigners

alike, for “in the tropics… the inarticulate world is closer at hand and readier to resume control

as soon as men are tired” (Forster, 1980:126) and Forster informs his readers that “the spirit of

the Indian earth… tries to keep men in compartment” (Forster, 1980: 141). The Marabar Hills

stick up out of the earth just as thorns, and the earth seemed to send up rocks in the end of the

novel, “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 there’” (Forster, 1980: 316). In his description of

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Chandrapore, Forster goes on to provide a full gloomy account of the city in which a visitor can

see nothing special except a dismal sense,

Except for the Marabar Caves--and they are twenty miles off- the city of Chandrapore

presents nothing extraordinary… it trails for a couple of miles along the bank, scarcely

distinguishable from the rubbish it deposits so freely. There are no bathing-steps on the

river front, as the Ganges happens not to be holy here; indeed there is no river front, and

bazaars shut out the wide and shifting panorama of the stream. The streets are mean, the

temples ineffective, and though a few fine houses exist they are hidden away in gardens

or down alleys whose filth deters all but the invited guest. Chandrapore was never large

or beautiful, but two hundred years ago it lay on the road between Upper India, then

imperial, and the sea, and the fine houses date from that period. The zest for decoration

stopped in the eighteenth century, nor was it ever democratic. There is no painting and

scarcely any carving in the bazaars. The very wood seems made of mud, the inhabitants

of mud moving. So abased, so monotonous is everything that meets the eye, that when

the Ganges comes down it might be expected to wash the excrescence back into the soil.

Houses do fall, people are drowned and left rotting, but the general outline of the town

persists, swelling here, shrinking there, like some low but indestructible form of life…

[As a conclusion, the city] has nothing hideous in it, and only the view is beautiful; it

shares nothing with the city except the overarching sky. (Forster, 1980: 31-2)

The voice of the narrator is present here as he introduces a clear description of Chandrapore. By

this dull portrayal, Forster wants to draw the readers’ attention to the decayed atmosphere of life

in the city. The above quotation helps the readers create a clear image of India as a deteriorated

country. However, the country appears beautiful and intangible. The night sky unites moon, stars

and earth, giving Mrs. Moore a momentary sense of unity, “She watched the moon, whose

radiance stained with primrose the purple of the surrounding sky… here she was caught in the

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shawl of night together with earth and all the other stars. A sudden sense of unity, of kinship with

the heavenly bodies, passed into the old woman and out, like water through a tank, leaving a

strange freshness behind” (Forster, 1980: 50- 1). Even the history of India is nothing but a series

of conflicts and conquests between different races and religions. But, Aziz, out of pride, wanted

to show his pride in past of his country when he referred to the great Mogul emperor Babur by

saying that “‘I feel like the Emperor Babur… he never ceased showing hospitality… he would

never let go of hospitality”’ (Forster, 1980: 155). On the contrary, Fielding did not agree with

Aziz upon that point. He said mockingly that India can be a nation in the future even if the

British agreed to leave the country. For him, India cannot be a united nation because it is a

country with different languages, castes, and religions, “India a nation! What an apotheosis!

Last comer to the drab nineteenth- century sisterhood! Waddling in at this hour of the world to

take [Its] seat! [India], whose only peer was the Holy Roman Empire, [India], shall rank with

Guatemala and Belgium perhaps! Fielding mocked again” (Forster, 1980: 315). At several points

in the novel, Forster showed the distrust and antagonism existing between the Muslims and

Hindus who are only united out of their dislike of the British. The Moslem festival of Muharram

from time to time produces riots. Later on, Aziz became unsure whether he was supposed to

attend the Hindu festival Gokul Ashtami or not. And towards the end of the novel, Forster adds,

“The fissures in the Indian soil are infinite: Hinduism, so solid from a distance, is riven into sects

and clans, which radiate and join, and change their names according to the aspect from which

they are approached” (Forster, 1980: 289).

Throughout A Passage to India, there is a series of contrasts very often conveyed through

the presentation of the earth and the sky in addition to the contrasts between the Indian seasons.

The human beings have to survive between the vast expanses of sky and earth, and it frequently

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appears that they are at odds, especially in the hot season during which life acquires a state of

alienation, “The sky dominated as usual, but seemed unhealthily near, adhering like a ceiling to

the summits of the precipices” (Forster, 1980: 153).

The majority of the events in the novel emphasize the physical presence of the earth, as

they show up rocks, dust, and mud tying human aspirations to boredom, “The very wood seems

made of mud, the inhabitants of mud moving. So abased, so monotonous is everything that meets

the eye, that when the Ganges comes down it might be expected to wash the excrescence back

into the soil” (Forster, 1980: 31). In contrast, the sky, the moon, and the stars seem unattainable;

they keep the human being very much distant from their aspirations. In fact, earth and sky seem

to move closer together in the hot pitiless sun and to draw far apart in darkness. Despite the

portrayal of the tension between earth and sky, as entities of nature, there is a possibility of

harmony and unity within the universe. Mrs. Moore and Aziz both experienced such visions. For

instance, when Mrs. Moore left the Club, she,

watched the moon, whose radiance stained with primrose the purple of the surrounding

sky. In England the moon had seemed dead and alien; here she was caught in the shawl of

night together with earth and all the other stars. A sudden sense of unity, of kinship with

the heavenly bodies, passed into the old woman and out, like water through a tank,

leaving a strange freshness behind. (Forster, 1980: 50- 1)

Here, the night sky with the metaphor of water presented a feeling of wholeness.

The description of the hills and the caves demonstrated that the novel is carrying the

characters beyond their own limits to a place where the deep understanding of the heart is no

longer adequate. The echo denies all distinctions, ‘“Pathos, piety, courage--they exist, but are

identical, and so is filth. Everything exists, nothing has value. If one had spoken vileness in that

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place, or quoted lofty poetry, the comment would have been the same- ‘ou- boum’ (Forster,

1980: 160).

It is in the caves that the colonial visitors discovered their inability of understanding the

identity of spiritual India. The expedition to the Marabar Caves was supposed to uniting Muslim,

Christian, and Hindu but things did not go well there. There, Forster described the hills as “older

than all spirits… [They go back even before Hinduism. They are] scratched and plastered a few

rocks” (Forster, 1980: 137). They are removed from man and history, and “Nothing, nothing

attaches to them” (Forster, 1980: 138). This nihilism annihilates value for Mrs. Moore, and in the

caves she underwent the experience of spiritual and material worlds. Because she was a woman

of worldly vision she rendered unable to understand the reality of the spiritual India.

Ronny kept trying to impede his mother from mingling with the Indian justifying himself

by saying, ‘“But, mother, you can’t do that sort of thing. No, really not in this country. It’s not

done. There’s the danger from snakes for one thing’” (Forster, 1980: 51). In his perception,

Ronny thought that the land was hiding a high alert and it could be too dangerous to visit the

mosque explaining that she could be bitten by wandering snakes.

However, Fielding said that both he and Aziz hold the same idea about India: for them it

is a muddle, ‘“Aziz and I know well that India’s a muddle [But, Aziz’s concept is that] There’ll

be no muddle when you come to see me”’ (Forster, 1980: 86). This suggests that once a person

sees India, it reveals out that the land is no longer alien to him. India is also well- known for its

unspeakable Himalayan Mountains in which the Marabar Caves can be seen. The author

described them as prehistoric amazing landmarks, “They are older than anything in the world…

They are like nothing in the world, and a glimpse of tem makes the breath catch … they bear no

relation to anything dreamt or seen. To call them ‘uncanny’ suggests ghosts, and they are older

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than all spirits” (Forster, 1980: 137). Forster dedicated almost the whole part of A Passage to

India to speak about the Marabar Caves and its relevant incident. The portrayal of these outposts

bears no remarkable details; they are devoid of life, sensation, and there is nothing extraordinary

which the visitor can see there: “They are dark caves… There is little to see, and no eye to see it,

until the visitor… [They simply are] Fists and fingers thrust above the advancing soil… Nothing

is inside them… nothing, nothing would be added to the sum of good or evil” (Forster, 1980:

138- 9). This ample portrayal of the caves fills the reader with depression and wonder. Being

dark from the inside, the visitor is unable to identify anything; they are folded with obscurity, as

well as good and evil at the same time.

4.5 Conclusion

Through the discussion of the above mentioned images, it becomes clear that the

establishment of friendship between the colonized and the colonizers is highly impossible no

matter how hard people from both sides attempt to come close to each other. Throughout the

novel, Forster keeps portraying the British colonizers as indifferent to the pains and sufferings of

the natives. Even when they come to connect with the Indians, they tend to treat them as an

inferior race. A Passage to India suggests that in order for different cultures to establish a sound

connection, they first need to acquire a non- prejudicial outlook towards one another. In this

connection, Forster introduces the friendship of Mrs. Moore- Aziz and Fielding- Aziz as good

examples to illustrate this concept. For Mrs. Moore, the acceptance to deal with other people’s

culture on the basis of human equality can definitely lead to maintain mutual understanding.

‘The Bridge party’ demonstrates that the relationship between the natives and the

colonized is governed by the sense of power, politics and superiority bias inherent in the minds

of the colonizers; these factors separate the individuals of the divergent races in colonized India.

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The natives come to a conclusion in this particular stage that building sound connections with the

occident is doomed to fail due to the inequality of power, racial bias and social prestige. It

becomes clear, then, that the actual desire of the British authority in India rests on following the

orders of the colonial authority, ruling the country, and protecting the British Empire welfare, but

not to befriend with the natives.

Mrs. Moore and Fielding are the only exceptions in the Anglo- Indian community who

sincerely desire to befriend with the natives because they are not inflicted with the sense of racial

superiority. In other word, Mrs. Moore and Fielding perceive their human connections with the

Indian indigenes with high esteem, unlike the rest of the colonizers who are only interested in

ruling and overpowering the natives.

A Passage to India clearly supports the argument that friendship cannot be realized

between the English and the Indians while under occupation. In the end, the novel concludes

with a disappointing end where Aziz and Fielding fail to reconcile as friends.

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CHAPTER FIVE

Conclusion and Recommendations for Future Research

5.0 Overview

Colonialism is a practice of domination, which involves the subjugation of one people to

another. It also involves political and economic control over a dependent territory. The

colonizing country seeks to benefit from the colonized nation and its land mass. In the process of

time, colonizers imposed their language, culture, religion, and economics on the natives. They

justify their colonizing practices by arguing that they want to educate, modernize and enlighten

the people of that particular land. However, colonialism is regarded as a relationship of

domination of a colonizing minority over a colonized majority in search of economic interests.

The colonization of Africa and India were very different. The European colonization of

Africa, on the one hand, was mainly motivated by an economic factor. It exploited the riches,

wealth and the raw material of Africa to fuel European industry. The demands of the European

capitalist industrialization- including the demand for sources of raw materials, the search for

markets and profitable investment- urged the Europeans to colonize Africa and subjugate its

people. In Africa, the colonizers were not people with important professions or educational

degrees; they came to Africa mainly to exploit the materialistic sources such as ivory. Their lack

of proper education made them adopt an aggressive stance against the Africans by regarding

them as cannibalistic savages with no identifiable language. Accordingly, communication

between the colonized and the colonizers was minimal. The colonizers not only used the natives

as slaves, but they also left them to die out of starvation and fatal diseases under the intolerable

sun of the African wilderness. In the Congo, the colonizers took the ivory and made money off

the trade, but gave back little or nothing of value to the natives that live there, and had little

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regard for the land that might be damaged in the process. Generally speaking, the reader can feel

the sense of fear and death in Africa.

On the contrary, the colonization of India is of course unlike that of Africa on the ground

that the colonizers had educational centers, modern medical facilities, modern technologies as

well as social clubs. These facilities helped the colonizers build factories and develop India. It is

clearly noticed that in India, the colonizers were people with important professions, such as

magistrates, doctors, and educated professionals of a higher class than Conrad’s Europeans. Also

significant in India is the presence of European women, which also designates a certain level of

civilization and safety and a desire to stay for a significant period of time and create a homelike

atmosphere for themselves. Also, the Indians had jobs though kept under the supervision of the

colonizers. Even the relationship between the Indian natives and the British is nicer than that one

between the Africans and the Europeans. Not only image, but also there is a good level of

communication between locals and the colonizers. In the end, these differences in the image of

colonization made our authors- Conrad and Forster- write different novels as far as the image of

the colonized and the colonizers are concerned.

Accordingly, Heart of Darkness is set to retell the story of Marlow’s job as an ivory

transporter down the Congo. Through his journey, Marlow developed an intense interest in

investigating Kurtz, who was an ivory agent. And, Marlow was shocked upon seeing what sorts

of atrocities the European traders have done to the colonized natives.

Of course Heart of Darkness has a variety of themes; among the focal ones are, “The

hypocrisy of colonialism” and “madness as a result of colonization”. Under the first theme, the

novella shows the atrocities of the European colonization in Africa during Marlow’s voyage up

the River Congo. The European colonizers describe what they did as “trade,” and their treatment

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of native Africans as part of a benevolent project of “civilization.” Kurtz, on the other hand,

claimed that he did not trade but rather took ivory by force, and he described his own treatment

of the natives with the words “suppression” and “extermination”. For Marlow, Africans in this

book were mostly objects, not humans. But their existence and their estrangement enabled him to

contemplate about their sufferings and present a bitter criticism of the European civilization.

However, “madness” is an image which is closely linked to colonization; the colonizers were

gone mad due to their excessive indulgence in the world of materialism and detachment from

their home civilization.

As for the author’s writing style, Conrad used frame narrative technique in Heart of

Darkness to present the image of the colonized and the colonizers. This technique which is also

known as narrative within narrative has become one new technique for Conrad to narrate his

story to the readers. The narrator in this technique does not involve himself in the events, but

keeps himself at a distance so as to observe all the accounts of the characters and delivers it to us.

The narrators go on describing the events one after another, interweaving all the incidents.

In A Passage to India, however, a Muslim man named Aziz struggled to make friends

with the English. He invited a group of them out to explore the Marabar Caves. At the Caves,

Aziz left Miss Quested alone for a while, and she fell down a hill. She then accused him of

making sexual advances toward her. Aziz was arrested, but found innocent at trial. Years later,

Fielding, Miss Quested’s British friend, visits Aziz in Mau. They attempted a friendship, but are

unable to keep it up due to the social circumstances in India.

In A Passage to India, Forster used a variety of themes. The text begins and ends by

posing the question of whether it is possible for an Englishman and an Indian to ever be friends.

Forster uses this question as a framework to explore the general Britain’s political control of

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India on a more personal level, through the friendship between Aziz and Fielding. Not less

importantly, the novel is an obvious critique of the British Empire which is portrayed as a

fundamentally racist institution that excludes and subjugates others. But the novel is doubtful

that the Indian aspirations for independence would succeed; it assumes that a country like India

with so much religious and social diversity cannot be unified under one government. In A

Passage to India, the colonizers are not the same in their attitudes of the Indians. While some

colonizers adopted a racist attitude towards the Indians, others sympathized with them. Generally

speaking, however, the British cultural mindset urged the colonizers to believe that a person must

adopt a racist attitude to survive and thrive, and that the colonizer’s Englishness makes him

superior to the Indians.

Concerning Forster’s writing technique, the reader can notice that the novel is written in

the third person with an impersonal narrative voice. The writer’s style is straightforward and the

events follow one another in logical order. Structurally, his sentence style also is relatively

uncomplicated, and he reproduces accurately the tones of human conversation; his handling of

the idiom of the English- speaking Indian is especially remarkable. However, Forster’s

descriptions of the landscape have a poetic rhythm. The writer makes use of both satire and

irony, and the satire is especially bitter in his treatment of the English colonizers. But he is also

capable of gentle humor, notably in his depiction of the high- spirited and volatile Aziz. Some of

the statements in the book are in the form of questions to which answers are obvious; but for

many of them no answers are suggested or even implied.

5. 1 Findings

The present thesis aims to provide a comprehensive statement about the images of the

colonized and the colonizers as they are used by Conrad and Forster. Prior to speaking about the

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points the novels meet or depart at, it is very important to enlist some facts about both works.

First of all, Heart of Darkness and A Passage to India are two novels written in different time

periods and in different lengths as Heart of Darkness is a novella and A Passage to India is a

detailed novel. Yet, both Conrad and Forster utilized Britain age of Empire as a backdrop for the

narratives. Both the texts explore images of colonized natives and British colonizers in foreign

lands and cultures.

Both the novels share a number of points. As colonial works, they deal with the issues of

colonialism and, not only fall into the category of colonial literature, but introduce for discussion

a number of controversial topics, like politics, religion, diversity of cultures and languages in

colonies. The colonial novels Heart of Darkness and A Passage to India reinforce the colonial

model with their similarities, but more interestingly exhibit differences in the colonial

experience.

As for Heart of Darkness, the present thesis focuses on just the images of the African

colonized and the European colonizers who are changed into complete savage barbarians

due to their greedy commercial mentality. In this novella, Conrad stresses the images of

evil as the Company’s European agents become so obsessed with obtaining so much

ivory that that they forget about their morals and so- called civilized ways. The study

further focuses on the images of the colonized Africans who, as seen by the colonizers,

have neither distinguishable identities nor recognizable shape under the severe impact of

starvation and fatal diseases in the unbearable heat of Africa.

In A Passage to India, however, Forster uses a series of images to describe the

uncontrolled political, cultural, and social climate in colonial India. There are many

interesting images to be discovered within the novel, and the chief among them are

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images of the colonized- colonizer relationship and the way they view each other. The

existing thesis further presents the incident of the Marabar Caves as another colonial

image where the main turning point of the plot occurs and the resultant images out of the

incident there. In the end of the novel, Forster appears to be suspicious about the

possibility of the colonized and the colonizers to encounter at least in the forthcoming

future.

Among other similarities, the study shows that the authors of the novels are colonial male

Europeans, outsiders to the cultures being described, and creating fantastic images that

influence Western views of the colonized, even today. Also, the study shows that both

texts are concerned with the relationship between human beings and their apparent

inability to overcome the elements that separate them, and bring about the goals which

unite them. Conrad and Forster raise the motto of connection between people with

different cultures and origins. The novels further show that there are elements afflicting

the connection in a multi- racial and cultural community. They proceed to point out that

these divisions are not easily healed, not because of malevolent or evil force, but often

because of our own insincere and dishonest actions.

Both texts portray images of racism in Congo and India. In Heart of Darkness, as Marlow

travelling from the Outer Station to the Central Station and Inner Station, he encountered

scenes of torture, cruelty, and slavery. The European men who work for the Company

describe what they do as “trade”, and their treatment of native Africans as part of their

civilizing mission. Kurtz, on the other hand, treat the Africans with severity. In A

Passage to India, Forster commented upon the image of the British colonization of India

by suggesting that the British would be well served by becoming kinder and more

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sympathetic to the Indians with whom they live. Thus, these texts provide further images

about to the issues of race, cruelty and dehumanization resulted from the colonial system

in Africa and India.

In both texts, however, the European characters find themselves in foreign lands as direct

representatives of a European power. Conrad’s characters take up their roles and move

ahead in the execution of the European colonial policies. Kurtz is depicted as a

representative of the entire Western civilization. He forced his order on the colonized

natives with intimidation, suppression and extermination. Forster’s characters are very

strong and fully developed. Fielding is yet another interesting character in the novel. Just

as Marlow serves as an intermediary between the two extremes of Kurtz and the

Company, similarly, Fielding appears to be a moderator between the Court and Aziz.

Human relations and their limitations is yet another important image recurring time and

again in both the novels. Forster is drifted towards humanistic philosophy and his

characters turn out to be good subjects for psychoanalysis. Nowhere do we find his voice

clearer and louder than in A Passage to India, in which human relations are pushed to the

very limits, trying to break boundaries of numerous kinds and attempting to bridge the

gap between cultures and castes, a gap that remains as wide as ever by the end. We

certainly agree with the idea that the result is just a disaster when English people and

Indians attempt to be intimate socially. Similarly, Heart of Darkness can also be studied

as Marlow’s journey into the depths of human psyche and relations. The “darkness”

becomes a prejudice that fails to see other culture as humans and, therefore, rejects all

sorts of intimacy between people of different races- the Africans and Europeans.

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In Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, however, the image of darkness is associated with almost

all the places and people that Marlow came across including his own self. The River

Thames, like the dark Africa, turns out to be one of the dark places. The River Congo that

Marlow travelled in and the Marabar Caves in A Passage to India serve the colonizers’

difficulty in comprehending the cultural mystery of the colonized Africa and India

respectively. To conclude, the endings of both the novels leave a somewhat similar

impact on the readers. While everything seems to lead to an immense darkness for

Conrad’s protagonist, all the forces of nature seem to resist the connection of the

colonizers and the colonized.

However, the texts are undoubtedly dissimilar in a number of things. To begin with,

Heart of Darkness is set in the Congo where the jungle environment and natives are

hostile, but the area is rich in ivory which Europeans want. Therefore, the colonizers’

intentions are to get the ivory and leave. This type of enterprise only attracts opportunists

who are willing to risk danger, such as laborers, traders and managers whose stations are

little more than encampments. On the other hand, A Passage to India is set in the city of

Chandrapore which is big enough to have schools, modern medical facilities, as well as

the social club. The colonizers in Forster’s India are educated people, such as magistrates,

doctors, and knowledgeable professionals of a higher class than Conrad’s Europeans.

Also significant in A Passage to India is the presence of European women, which also

indicates a certain level of civilization and safety, a desire to settle for a significant period

of time and create a homelike atmosphere for themselves.

The portrayal of the colonized along with their primary conditions and concerns are very

different in the two works. In Heart of Darkness there is fear, violence, exploitation, and

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death, so survival is the major concern, whereas in A Passage to India independence and

social concerns dominate.

The natives in Heart of Darkness are overworked, starving and being cheated of their

wages. In other words, they are physically oppressed to the edge of death. The relation of

the Africans to the Europeans is either fatal enemies or just slaves. This means that

communication between the colonized and the colonizers is minimal. We can only

assume from Conrad’s depiction of the African native’s condition that they would want

to be free of the Europeans for mere survival. In A Passage to India, however, the natives

have social identities, jobs, civilization and education. They live in towns, have families

with houses, and maintain a good level of communication with the colonizers in English.

The colonial characters’ viewpoints of the colonized are considerably contradicted. The

colonized in Heart of Darkness are seen as cannibalistic savages with no definite

language, or simply shown as just phantoms who have no recognizable shape or identity.

In A Passage to India, the colonizers treat the Indians nicer. Though inferior in rank and

race, the colonized natives have language, jobs, religion and social ranks.

Human relations in the two texts have different cultures, languages, nationalities as well

as mindsets. In A Passage to India, we find these relationships sometimes good and bad.

The good type exists in Aziz’s relationship with Fielding and Mrs. Moore. The

relationship of Aziz and Adela has also experienced bitter circumstances as she accused

him of her assault. But she did not intentionally want to harm Aziz. Ronny’s relationship

towards Aziz in particular and other Indian natives in general was very rude. This

rudeness shows the colonizer’s superiority complex towards the colonized natives. In,

Heart of Darkness, we find cruelty in the relationships of the colonized and the

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colonizers. They Europeans gave themselves the right to exploit, suppress or even

exterminate the Africans. Conrad very rarely registers any sign of human linguistic

communication between the natives and the Europeans, except the slave- master one.

The Marabar Caves and the Congo are central to the texts; yet present different images.

While the caves in A Passage to India are pictured as muddled and mysterious, the

Congo in Heart of Darkness is portrayed as a land of horror. However, unlike this image

of wilderness in Heart of Darkness, India’s Marabar Caves are not something that is

savage or wild; they are presented as something that is ancient, and unresponsive. The

Caves are treated as an impersonal entity, dark and empty; echoing back that nothing in

the world has meaning.

In A Passage to India, Forster appears to be more optimistic than Conrad in Heart of

Darkness about the future possibility of bridging the west with the east. While Forster

expects that the English and the Indians might be friends in the future, naturally after the

English are gone; Conrad, on the contrary, seems to be pessimistic and skeptical about

such opportunity. We assume that there is a rarity or almost no hope of any sociable

connection between the African natives and European colonizers except the master- slave

relationship.

To conclude, whether a racist novel or not, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness is a fascinating

and marvelous text which provides its readers with vivid and realistic images about the

hollowness and atrocities of the European civilization. Forster’s A Passage to India, on the other

hand, is one of the great discussions of the British colonial era. It is a mixture between a realistic

setting and a mystic tone, and shows its author as an excellent judge of human character

5.2 Recommendations

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Since the commencement of the colonial literature, the images of the colonizers’ cruel

practices against the colonized nations received much attention. As a genre, this type of literature

has been dedicated to address the problems and consequences of the decolonization of the

colonized nation, especially issues relating to the political and cultural independence of

previously dominated people, as well as images of racialism due to the superiority bias of

colonizers. This thesis which studies the images of the colonized and the colonizers in Heart of

Darkness and A Passage to India offers an extensive examination for the relating literature and

will be considered as a reference for researchers and scholars interested in colonial literature in

general, and the image of colonized- colonizer relationship in particular. The thesis, of course,

draws the attention to a list of issues on which further research would be undertaken. The

following are a number of recommendations which have been listed down based on the data

gathered from the present study.

Whereas the present thesis has undertaken an examination on the image of the colonized

and the colonizers, other topics with a colonial orientation in the novels, such as imperialism,

gender bias, and clash of different cultures remained untouched. Putting this in mind, the

researchers are strongly advised to conduct more promising studies on other colonial works in

order to find more images.

The study analyzes the use of imagery in Heart of Darkness and A Passage to India as

one concept in colonial literature. Additional research is required to be undertaken to show the

sorts of results gathered from this study in politics, religion, art and language which can show

how the use of this portrayal is employed, described, and interpreted by linguists, artists and

politicians so as to depict alienation, hegemony, hybridity and superiority bias in the universe.

227

In A passage to India, the incident at the Marabar Caves proved to be a significant

turning point in the relationship between the Indians and the British. Nonetheless, the

disentanglement of its mystery has been purposefully left open ended; Forster has not provided

an answer to what exactly took place there. Further research might be undertaken to investigate

and disentangle the mystery of the incident in these hills. In Heart of Darkness, researcher might

also undertake yet another significant study on Kurtz’s dying words as he cried, “horror, horror!”

so as to probe into the reasons for his madness in the African wilderness.

Conrad has been under a critical attack because of his writing style and intentional

vagueness. He, therefore, has been critically attacked as providing a racist depiction of Africans;

researchers might conduct further study through finding evidence from the text to either support

or deny this claim

The study strongly advises the researchers to understand the evils of racism and

colonialism while conducting their studies in colonial literature. This is an insight the researchers

need to know to understand as to why many countries, or even continents, are still suffering so,

and hopefully be able prevent such problems in the future via their studies. A liberal literature

should prepare its readers to be citizens of the world, and this study intends to go a long way

toward achieving this goal.

5.3 Summery

To sum up, the study argues that our world is still suffering from colonialism in a variety

of forms and types, and the colonized nations are striving for decolonization, freedom and

cultural pride. Based on this fact, the present study proposes that the future research ought to be

conducted in a more realistic setting by searching for new trends pertinent to the image of the

228

colonized- colonizer interaction in colonial literature taking into consideration the problems of

the writer’s community in time and place.

5.4 Suggested Topics for Future Research

The study suggests the following topics for further studies:

Forster’s Imperial Romance: Chivalry, Motherhood, and Questing in A Passage to India.

Bearing the White Man’s Burden: Misrecognition and Cultural Difference in E. M. Forster’s A

Passage to India.

A Passage to India: The Echoes in the Marabar Caves.

Reading the Club as Colonial Island in Forster’s A Passage to India.

Colonial Friendships in Forster’s A Passage to India.

Social Cohesiveness among the Muslims and the Anglo- Indians in A Passage to India.

Exclusion as a Social Mechanism of Maintaining the Cohesiveness of a Social Group in A

Passage to India.

Envisioning Africa: Racism and Imperialism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness: A Journey to the Heart of Darkness

Heart of Darkness: A Satire of European Civilization

Heart of Darkness and the Ends of Man

Heart of Darkness and the Failure of Imagination

Heart of Darkness: The Grounds of Civilization in an Alien Universe

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and the World of Western Women

229

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