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A Passage to India | Forster's Critique of Imperialism in A Passage to India

In the following excerpt, Hawkins considers Forster's primary anti-imperial argument as the impossibility of personal relationships. Besides the bigotry of the English in India, he dwells on the self-interest and fear of betrayal on the Indian side. He also questions not only politics but nature itself as a power against human connection.

The chief argument against imperialism in E. M. Forster's A Passage to India is that it prevents personal relationships. The central question of the novel is posed at the very beginning when Mahmoud Ali and Hamidullah ask each other "whether or no it is possible to be friends with an Englishman." The answer, given by Forster himself on the last page, is "No, not yet... No, not there." Such friendship is made impossible, on a political level, by the existence of the British Raj. While having several important drawbacks, Forster's anti-imperial argument has the advantage of being...

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