THE USE OF INDIAN TOPOGRAPHY AND UNIVERSAL ARCHETYPES IN E. M. FORSTER’S A PASSAGE TO INDIA

Abstract

A Passage to India by E. M. Forster has mostly been admired for its post-coloniality, but reading at a profound level suggests that the narrative also deals with a very intriguing feature of Indian topography. Forster calls India ‘a muddle’ based on the formlessness and mysteriousness of its terrain. Indian landscape seems to affect the lives, mutual interactions, and feelings of all human beings there. Nature is not only a personified observer of the general affairs in India but also an active participant all along. As soon as the characters from different cultures come closer to each other in that world, not only does the intricate complex of races, cultures, and religions interreact, but nature also interferes and visibly affects the lives of the natives and the foreigners alike. This article is a study of the special topography of India that exhibits the interplay of nature and the universal archetypes.