EM Forster Part II

Forster visited India in 1914, also he went to Egypt with his friend Lowes Dickinson.  His liberal beliefs made him highly critical of the Empire and the British who ruled India.  There were liberals (Liberal Imperialists) who were critical of the Empire but believed that it could be a force for good, and that Britain should work towards  preparing their colonies for independence and democracy.   Forster was deeply sympathetic towards the Indian people.

When War came in 1914 he worked for the Red Cross as he was a pacifist. He spent much of the war as a searcher for missing servicemen in Egypt- and he finally in 1917, began to have a sex life.  He became involved with a wounded soldier.  He referred to it as “Losing his R” a euphemism for respectability.   He began to be a little more open about his feelings, but mainly to friends who were gay… of whom he had many.  Later on, he met a young policeman called Bob Buckingham, who became his lover… Buckingham married and had children but he and his wife May were close friends with Forster all of his life.

After his war years, he lived with his mother in Surrey, still, until she died in 1945. He had written most of his novels by the time of the war, but he wrote stories and journalism and book reviews.  He was involved with many liberal causes, such as anti-censorship, prison reform etc., though not party political ones.

In the 20s he paid another visit to India, working as a private secretary to one of the princes.  His second visit inspired him to write his last Novel, Passage to India.  It involved the clash of cultures, when a young Englishwoman, Adela Quested visits India with her fiancé’s mother, Mrs Moore.  She wants to “meet Indians” but her fiancé Ronny who is a colonial administrator is not.  He is rude and arrogant towards Indians.  She begins to wonder if they have a future together. 

Mrs Moore forms a friendship with Aziz, a young doctor, and Adela meets hm.. He has become good friends with Fielding, the Principal of a government college.

Mrs Moore and Adela go with Aziz on an expedition to the Marabar Caves, she becomes convinced that Aziz has tried to molest her.  The case goes to trial , and the British colony is horrified by the idea that a white girl might be touched by an Indian man.  However the case collapses when Adela withdraws her testimony.  It’s never made clear whether she was molested by someone else…or if she just imagined it.. But it creates an even greater divide between the Indians and British and Adela is disliked then by both factions.   She leaves India, and goes home and Mrs Moore who has left earlier, dies on the journey.  Aziz is bitter, and breaks off his friendship with Fielding.  He goes to work in Hindu Ruled state and refuses to associate with white people.   Later, Fielding comes back to India, with his wife, Mrs Moore’s daughter Stella - and he and Aziz meet again….  But the two of them wonder if an Englishman and an Indian can be friends.