More Than Just An 'Echo'

It has become quite apparent that one of the main themes of E.M. Forster’s “A Passage to India,” is the concept of cultural misunderstanding. At the root of all the tension and miscommunication between the Indians and the Anglo-Indians in the novel is the difference in expectation regarding ideas about social propriety, religious beliefs and practices, and conflicting ideals about hospitality and acceptance between and among cultural communities. These repeated misunderstandings have the potential to progress into hardened cultural stereotypes which can become destructive, isolating barriers, and Forster demonstrates this time after time in his novel. For instance, when Aziz offers Fielding his collar studs in a genuine attempt at friendship, Ronny later sees Aziz’s missing stud and misinterprets it as a sloppy oversight, generalizing : "...there you have the Indian all over: inattention to detail; the fundamental slackness that reveals the race" (82). It is this type of misunderstanding in the novel which may seem harmless enough by itself, but actually contributes to a progressively widening cultural gap between the Indians and the Anglo-Indians that ultimately culminates in profound emotional and psychological damages that go far beyond the realm of repair.
One of the most important and symbolic relationships in the novel is the one between Dr. Aziz and Mrs. Moore. Their friendship is free of racial boundaries and cultural barriers, and the respect they show for one another is truly genuine. Although Mrs. Moore never comes right out and says that she is against the English colonial powers being in India, she admonishes Ronny for his stubborn attitude regarding the Indians. She asks him why they cannot be more pleasant to the natives and when he replies that it is not their purpose to be “pleasant” she boldly tells him that “India is part of the earth. And God has put us on the earth in order to be pleasant to each other. God…is…love” (53).
Although Mrs. Moore is revered by Aziz and many of the other Indians due to the respect she never fails to show them, she becomes afflicted by something in India that she can’t quite put her finger on at first, but that continues to erode away her personal beliefs, faith and compassion. This affliction is symbolized by the echo that she hears in the Marabar Caves, and continues to hear throughout the novel. The caves and their ‘echo’ are symbolic of the vast and enigmatic “muddle” of India- a land that the English can neither learn to understand nor appreciate, no matter how hard some of them may think they are trying.
Mrs. Moore first hears the echo at the Marabar Caves, and continues to be haunted by it for weeks to come. It encourages her to reflect upon her own ideals and beliefs regarding her religion, Christianity. Being exposed to the beliefs of both Hinduism and Islam during her stay in India causes her to re-examine her entire belief system and critically question its meaning and value. The ‘echo’ that continues to plague her until her death is symbolic of the culmination of events that ultimately causes her to abandon all of the beliefs, ideals, and relationships that she once lived for. Mrs. Moore’s personal battle with the sound of the ‘echo’ in her head that she cannot escape is representative of the struggle that so many of us are familiar with- accepting the different and the unknown.