Essay --

Having focused on E.M Forster’s ‘A Passage to India’ and Paul Scott’s ‘The Jewel in the Crown’ it is evident that both novels share the central theme of contrasting views of Indian culture to reflect society from the time periods of which their novels are set. The form of ‘A Passage to India’ is a retrospective diary account dictated by an omniscient third person narrator who has multiple viewpoints which endeavours into the psychological mind set of the characters. The form allows the reader to experience a first-hand account and a view on the forefront of the minds of the characters’ experiences. ‘The roads, named after victorious generals and intersecting at right angles, were symbolic of the net Great Britain had thrown over India. He felt caught in their meshes.’ From this, the main protagonist Aziz is claiming that the ‘right angles’ which are marked out by the colonial roads, connotes the British illustration on how they organise their colony. By being ‘caught in their meshes’, Aziz is affected greatly by the ordeal at a psychological level as he is feeling individually trapped. This epitomises the society’s reaction during the British ruling as the readers are able to see how it affects Aziz on a personal level, but this is a common theme through the novel – the analysis of the minds of the characters. By using an omniscient narrator, Forster can exploit the character’s f laws, especially when we learn that ‘suspicion in the Oriental is a sort of malignant tumour, a mental malady, that makes him self-conscious and unfriendly suddenly’ which claims that Aziz is naturally dubious just because he is Indian. Equally, the form of Scott’s ‘The Jewel in the Crown’ is written in a third person narrative with multiple narrations ... ...ogan of Oceania from the novel. The party’s power of the psychological control is equally contradictory to that of their testimony of power. By stating that ‘war is peace’ it is arguable that Orwell writes this to show that having an enemy within your nation will bring the nation (in this case Oceania) united together just like India becomes united with the acts of Gandhi to fight for independence. In sum, through their dichotomies of the British and Indian relationship during the emergence of India to independence, Forster and Scott allow the reader to free themselves of their prejudices and open up to their views on historical culture. Forster ‘attaches to India through extravagant metaphorical meanings and anthropomorphisms’ whilst Orwell stated that he ‘didn’t do prophecy’ and that he would not ‘put anything into it that human societies have not already done.’