A Passage to India

A prominent issue in post-colonial and decolonization studies, the concept of civilization runs through A Passage to India. Forster frequently uses the term civil or civilization to demarcate a boundary of social and cultural norms between the English (and, by extension, the Western world they represent) and the Indians of Chandrapore. Ronny, the Turtons, the McBrydes, and the other Anglo-Indians regard their Empire as being on a necessary (and profitable) civilizing mission in India, bringing Western culture to India as a means of reform.

When working as a magistrate, Ronny finds solace in settling the disputes between Chandrapore’s citizens: “Ronny had not disliked his day, for it proved that the British were necessary to India” (103). This use of “necessary” in such a context indicates Ronny’s perceived superiority to Indians. Rudyard Kipling’s poem “The White Man’s Burden” famously explores this hypocritical and culturally insensitive idea of imperialism and civilization: the Anglo-Indians are in Chandrapore under the orders of Empire to perpetuate the belief that the Indians are socially, culturally, and intellectually underdeveloped and that it is England’s duty as a superior nation to facilitate a Westernization of India through a political relationship marked by paternalism and exploitation.