E.M FORSTER'S ART OF CHARACTARISATION
A Passage to India has been unanimously hailed by all the critics as the best novel of E.M Forster. Forster, here, advocates relationships between nations, as well as between individuals, based on equality. G. Lowes Dickenson descirbes it as "a classic of the strange and tragic fact of history of life__ called India." Its a monumental work and a modern classic. This book after its publication in 1924, brought Forster into the limelight.
Characterization of the novel is worth mentioning. L. D. Cecil says "Mr. Forster has an acute insight into certain aspects of a character. He is a subtle observer of the actual movement of the human mind". He has done justice with the characters according to the perspective of colonialism. There could be no friendship between haughty British rulers and humble natives___ the Indians. Can the barriers be removed? Characterization of the novel makes an attempt to find out the answers. The greatness of the novel lies in posing the questions and leaving the readers and the critics to find out the answers.
In characterization of "A Passage to India", Forster does not seem to be a writer but a psychologist. He presents the characters in front of us just as he is sitting right inside their minds. There has been a cluster of characters each delineated in their own peculiar and accomplished way, according to their psyche and situations. And this is something which makes this novel an unforgetful piece of literature, a mini India in itself.
The central character in the novel happens to be that of Dr. Aziz, a Muslim widower. His three children live with his wife’s mother. He is described as “an athletic little man, daintily put together but really very strong.” He is shown as a prey to British narrowness and snobbery. Inspite of the fact that Aziz beloged to a different race, the author has exercised utmost restraint in delineating him. He has neither been presented biasedly nor in any particular...