British Culture - User contributions [en]

Neoliberalism

2012-06-15T20:06:17Z

Jonny1:

Neoliberalism is a type of economy whose central characteristic is the non-intereference of the state in the economy. In Britain, this "laissez-faire" type of economy is mostly accredited to [[Margaret Thatcher]], who introduced many neoliberal policies during her time in office from 1979 to 1990.

== The Neoliberal Dogma ==

Although there is no unanimous and clear-cut definition of the concept of neoliberalism, David Harvey's following definition of it is a rather neutral one:

Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that
human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills
within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets and
free trade. The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to
such practices. (Harvey, qtd. in Barnett 2)

This way of looking at it collides with how scholars from the political left would define the economic order in question. For Noam Chomsky, the guidelines of the neoliberal order are the liberalization of commerce and finances, the fighting of inflation (i.e. “macroeconomic stability”), privatisation and markets regulating the prices (Chomsky 22). Naomi Klein’s understanding of the main guidelines comes very close to that of Chomsky. At the very centre of the doctrine, she sees the recurring pattern of deregulation, privatisation and cuts to social spending – together constituting the holy trinity of the free-market ideology (Klein 29). The most elemental problem of this ideology which may sound reasonable in theory is that when put into practice, it tends to have a beneficial effect only for a rather small elite, mostly in the form of a few multinational corporations (ibid).

== Neoliberalism in the UK ==

What Margaret Thatcher wanted to implement in Britain is a total turn to a laissez-faire economy (Sakowsky 109). As can be seen in her sym-pathies with the type of economy designed by Friedrich von Hayek, Thatcher had in mind a very radical transformation of the British economy (Klein 185).

At the beginning of Thatcher’s economic restructuring of Britain, she saw herself confronted with the pressing task of fighting the trade unions which she famously called the “enemy within” in the context of the miners’ strike. She rejected the politics of consensus as practiced in the post-war era because she was convinced that in a free market economy there was no place for such organized and powerful advocacy groups as the trade unions. She wanted to get rid of this form of tripartism (i.e. the trade unions and the two political parties) altogether (cp.Sakowsky 109). She therefore deprived the trade unions of some of their vital rights in order to get closer to her vision of an economy driven by market forces alone and not by the interests of unionists (ibid. 111). A drastic deregulation of the economy was thus at the very centre of her party's economic policies, which aimed at healing such British “diseases” as inefficient businesses (e.g. too much personnel) and expensive subsidies for old and technologically obsolete industries (ibid.).

Another central element of her economic policies was the enforcement of privatisations, not least so of key industries such as telecommunications and utilities (ibid. 195). By then, the nationalised industries accounted for more than 10% of GDP and about 1.5 million people were in employment there (ibid.). Behind the idea of privatisation is the notion that private initiatives are more innovative and efficient than public ones(ibid. 196 f.).

Thatcher’s appproach to privatisation was a very gradualist one and it must be added here that it was a process that had been started under Callaghan’s government, who, under IMF pressure, was forced to sell the first shares of British Petroleum (Derbyshire, J. D.; Derbyshire J. 232). The gradualist character of the government’s privatisation programme can be seen in the fact that started in 1979, it was not completed by 1992, when last shares of BP and British Steel were privatised (ibid. 233). As a result of this programme, state industries had come to add no more than 6.5% to GDP, down from more than 10% (cp. Ibid.).

== Works Cited ==

- Barnett, Clive. The Handbook of Social Geography, edited by Susan Smith, Sallie Marston, Rachel Pain, and John Paul Jones III. London and New York: Sage.

- Chomsky, Noam. Profit Over People. War Against People. München: Piper, 2006.

- Derbyshire, K. Denis and Jan Derbyshire. Politics in Britain. From Callaghan to Thatcher. Edinburgh: Chambers, 1990.

- Klein, Naomi. Die Schock-Strategie. Der Aufstieg des Katastrophen-Kapitalismus. Trans. Hartmut Schickert, Michael Bischoff and Karl Heinz Siber. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 2007.

- Sakowsky, Dagmar. Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Regierung Thatcher. Göttingen: Ernst Oberdieck, 1992.

Neoliberalism

2012-06-15T20:04:41Z

Jonny1:

Neoliberalism is a type of economy whose central characteristic is the non-intereference of the state in the economy. In Britain, this "laissez-faire" type of economy is mostly accredited to [[Margaret Thatcher]], who introduced many neoliberal policies during her time in office from 1979 to 1990.

== The Neoliberal Dogma ==

Although there is no unanimous and clear-cut definition of the concept of neoliberalism, David Harvey's following definition of it is a rather neutral one:

Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that
human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills
within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets and
free trade. The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to
such practices. (Harvey, qtd. in Barnett 2)

This way of looking at it collides with how scholars from the political left would define the economic order in question. For Noam Chomsky, the guidelines of the neoliberal order are the liberalization of commerce and finances, the fighting of inflation (i.e. “macroeconomic stability”), privatisation and markets regulating the prices (Chomsky 22). Naomi Klein’s understanding of the main guidelines comes very close to that of Chomsky. At the very centre of the doctrine, she sees the recurring pattern of deregulation, privatisation and cuts to social spending – together constituting the holy trinity of the free-market ideology (Klein 29). The most elemental problem of this ideology which may sound reasonable in theory is that when put into practice, it tends to have a beneficial effect only for a rather small elite, mostly in the form of a few multinational corporations (ibid).

== Neoliberalism in the UK ==

What Margaret Thatcher wanted to implement in Britain is a total turn to a laissez-faire economy (Sakowsky 109). As can be seen in her sym-pathies with the type of economy designed by Friedrich von Hayek, Thatcher had in mind a very radical transformation of the British economy (Klein 185). At the beginning of Thatcher’s economic restructuring of Britain, she saw herself confronted with the pressing task of fighting the trade unions which she famously called the “enemy within” in the context of the miners’ strike. She rejected the politics of consensus as practiced in the post-war era because she was convinced that in a free market economy there was no place for such organized and powerful advocacy groups as the trade unions. She wanted to get rid of this form of tripartism (i.e. the trade unions and the two political parties) altogether (cp.Sakowsky 109). She therefore deprived the trade unions of some of their vital rights in order to get closer to her vision of an economy driven by market forces alone and not by the interests of unionists (ibid. 111). A drastic deregulation of the economy was thus at the very centre of her party's economic policies, which aimed at healing such British “diseases” as inefficient businesses (e.g. too much personnel) and expensive subsidies for old and technologically obsolete industries (ibid.).
Another central element of her economic policies was the enforcement of privatisations, not least so of key industries such as telecommunications and utilities (ibid. 195). By then, the nationalised industries accounted for more than 10% of GDP and about 1.5 million people were in employment there (ibid.). Behind the idea of privatisation is the notion that private initiatives are more innovative and efficient than public ones(ibid. 196 f.). Thatcher’s appproach to privatisation was a very gradualist one and it must be added here that it was a process that had been started under Callaghan’s government, who, under IMF pressure, was forced to sell the first shares of British Petroleum (Derbyshire, J. D.; Derbyshire J. 232). The gradualist character of the government’s privatisation programme can be seen in the fact that started in 1979, it was not completed by 1992, when last shares of BP and British Steel were privatised (ibid. 233). As a result of this programme, state industries had come to add no more than 6.5% to GDP, down from more than 10% (cp. Ibid.).

== Works Cited ==

- Barnett, Clive. The Handbook of Social Geography, edited by Susan Smith, Sallie Marston, Rachel Pain, and John Paul Jones III. London and New York: Sage.

- Chomsky, Noam. Profit Over People. War Against People. München: Piper, 2006.

- Derbyshire, K. Denis and Jan Derbyshire. Politics in Britain. From Callaghan to Thatcher. Edinburgh: Chambers, 1990.

- Klein, Naomi. Die Schock-Strategie. Der Aufstieg des Katastrophen-Kapitalismus. Trans. Hartmut Schickert, Michael Bischoff and Karl Heinz Siber. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 2007.

- Sakowsky, Dagmar. Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Regierung Thatcher. Göttingen: Ernst Oberdieck, 1992.

Neoliberalism

2012-06-15T20:00:47Z

Jonny1: Neoliberalism - a type of economy whose central element is the non-intereference of the state in the economy, It became most important in Britain during Margaret Thatcher's time in office.

Neoliberalism is a type of economy whose central characteristic is the non-intereference of the state in the economy. In Britain, this "laissez-faire" type of economy is mostly accredited to Margaret Thatcher, who introduced many neoliberal policies during her time in office from 1979 to 1990.

== The Neoliberal Dogma ==

Although there is no unanimous and clear-cut definition of the concept of neoliberalism, David Harvey's following definition of it is a rather neutral one:

Neoliberalism is in the first instance a theory of political economic practices that proposes that
human well-being can best be advanced by liberating individual entrepreneurial freedoms and skills
within an institutional framework characterized by strong private property rights, free markets and
free trade. The role of the state is to create and preserve an institutional framework appropriate to
such practices. (Harvey, qtd. in Barnett 2)

This way of looking at it collides with how scholars from the political left would define the economic order in question. For Noam Chomsky, the guidelines of the neoliberal order are the liberalization of commerce and finances, the fighting of inflation (i.e. “macroeconomic stability”), privatisation and markets regulating the prices (Chomsky 22). Naomi Klein’s understanding of the main guidelines comes very close to that of Chomsky. At the very centre of the doctrine, she sees the recurring pattern of deregulation, privatisation and cuts to social spending – together constituting the holy trinity of the free-market ideology (Klein 29). The most elemental problem of this ideology which may sound reasonable in theory is that when put into practice, it tends to have a beneficial effect only for a rather small elite, mostly in the form of a few multinational corporations (ibid).

== Neoliberalism in the UK ==

What Margaret Thatcher wanted to implement in Britain is a total turn to a laissez-faire economy (Sakowsky 109). As can be seen in her sym-pathies with the type of economy designed by Friedrich von Hayek, Thatcher had in mind a very radical transformation of the British economy (Klein 185). At the beginning of Thatcher’s economic restructuring of Britain, she saw herself confronted with the pressing task of fighting the trade unions which she famously called the “enemy within” in the context of the miners’ strike. She rejected the politics of consensus as practiced in the post-war era because she was convinced that in a free market economy there was no place for such organized and powerful advocacy groups as the trade unions. She wanted to get rid of this form of tripartism (i.e. the trade unions and the two political parties) altogether (cp.Sakowsky 109). She therefore deprived the trade unions of some of their vital rights in order to get closer to her vision of an economy driven by market forces alone and not by the interests of unionists (ibid. 111). A drastic deregulation of the economy was thus at the very centre of her party's economic policies, which aimed at healing such British “diseases” as inefficient businesses (e.g. too much personnel) and expensive subsidies for old and technologically obsolete industries (ibid.).
Another central element of her economic policies was the enforcement of privatisations, not least so of key industries such as telecommunications and utilities (ibid. 195). By then, the nationalised industries accounted for more than 10% of GDP and about 1.5 million people were in employment there (ibid.). Behind the idea of privatisation is the notion that private initiatives are more innovative and efficient than public ones(ibid. 196 f.). Thatcher’s appproach to privatisation was a very gradualist one and it must be added here that it was a process that had been started under Callaghan’s government, who, under IMF pressure, was forced to sell the first shares of British Petroleum (Derbyshire, J. D.; Derbyshire J. 232). The gradualist character of the government’s privatisation programme can be seen in the fact that started in 1979, it was not completed by 1992, when last shares of BP and British Steel were privatised (ibid. 233). As a result of this programme, state industries had come to add no more than 6.5% to GDP, down from more than 10% (cp. Ibid.).

== Works Cited ==

- Barnett, Clive. The Handbook of Social Geography, edited by Susan Smith, Sallie Marston, Rachel Pain, and John Paul Jones III. London and New York: Sage.

- Chomsky, Noam. Profit Over People. War Against People. München: Piper, 2006.

- Derbyshire, K. Denis and Jan Derbyshire. Politics in Britain. From Callaghan to Thatcher. Edinburgh: Chambers, 1990.

- Klein, Naomi. Die Schock-Strategie. Der Aufstieg des Katastrophen-Kapitalismus. Trans. Hartmut Schickert, Michael Bischoff and Karl Heinz Siber. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer, 2007.

- Sakowsky, Dagmar. Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Regierung Thatcher. Göttingen: Ernst Oberdieck, 1992.

A Passage to India

2011-12-13T11:05:32Z

Jonny1:

Novel by [[E.M. Forster]] first published in 1924. It is set in India and portrays the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Plot ==

It is the story of the two English ladies Adela Quested and her fiancé's mother Mrs. Moore coming to Chandrapore, India. Although they come because Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, the city's magistrate Ronny Heslop, the two women point out their willingness to see the real India, undeterred by the evident racism of the established British community in Chandrapore.
As a matter of fact, they form a friendship with Dr. Aziz, a Muslim doctor who is the assistant to the local British doctor. He invites them to show them the Marabar Caves, Chandrapore's only real attraction. Fielding, the principal of the local college, Dr. Godbole, a Hindu teacher, were to join them, but on the day of the excursion they miss the train so that Aziz goes ahead with the two ladies.
In the caves, things start to go horribly wrong. Adela mistakenly believes to be assaulted by Aziz and Mrs. Moore has a profound nihilistic epiphany ("Everything exists, nothing has value" [page? chapter?]) from which she never recovers. Although Dr. Aziz is eventually acquitted of the charge of rape, his trial widens the divisions between the native population and the British (cf. Trilling 111).

== Analysis ==

According to Lionel Trilling, ''A Passage to India'' is the most comfortable and conventional novel by Forster. The novel creates a clear pattern of the reader's emotions and keeps with it throughout the novel. This pattern always remains simple and easy to grasp and it excels through its objectivity. Sympathy is given to Mrs. Moore and Fielding, Adela Quested is regarded with interest and Aziz and his friends with affectionate understanding. On the other hand, the reader is taught to withhold all sympathies from the British officials, who are portrayed as arrogant and autocratic. The really interesting thing about the novel, however, is not this simple pattern which is characteristic of the rather simple plot as outlined above [but: the plot is a bit more complex than that - have you, dear author, read the novel? If so: add a little more complexity. Thank you].
Behind the plot there is the story. While the plot is simple and linear, the story is abstract and philosophical. One of the many recurrent themes and leitmotifs characterising the story is the various separations in India and life in general: the separations of the natives from the British, of Muslims from Hindus, of men from women, etc. (Trilling 109-115).
This is Trilling about the unique discrepancy between plot and story: "The story is beneath and above the plot and continues beyond time. It is, to be sure, created by the plot, it is the plot's manifold reverberation, but it is greater than the plot and contains it. The plot is as decisive as a judicial opinion; the story is an impulse, a tendency, a perception [...]. This relation of plot and story tells us that we are dealing with a political novel of an unusual kind. The characters are of sufficient size for the plot; they are not large enough for the story - and that indeed is the point of the story" (Trilling 111).

== Works cited ==

* Forster, E. M.. ''A Passage to India''. Ann Arbor: Borders Classics, 2006.
* Trilling, Lionel. ''E.M. Forster''. Oxford: OUP, 1982.
* http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/modern-library-revue-25-a-passage-to-india.html

E.M. Forster

2011-12-13T11:04:40Z

Jonny1:

1879-1970. Novelist, essayist and radioist.

Wrote ''[[Howards End]]'' (1910) and [[A Passage to India]] (1924).

Edward Morgan Forster was born in London on January 1 in 1879. His father died early so he was brought up by a single mother. He had no siblings and he was surrounded by mostly female relatives. He inherited a large amount of money from his great-aunt Marianne Thornton, which made it possible for him to attend a good school and get a proper education. Forster attended King’s College in Cambridge. He was member of an upper-class society, towards which he was not uncritical.

Forster was not only a novelist, but also an essayist and journalist. As a novelist, he produced five novels, a sixth, called ''Maurice'' was published posthumously. Forster had already started working on ''Maurice'' as early as 1913, but in this period it had not been publishable due to the fact that it dealt with homosexuality. Forster’s biggest success is regarded to be ''Howards End'', which was published in 1910.

Unfortunately, after this achievement Forster had a hard time writing more pieces of fiction and devoted himself to commentaries on social problems, political issues, books, art and war instead. Furthermore, during his lifetime Forster can be regarded as being politically active. He, for example, opposed and fought censorship, which was imposed on speakers on the BBC. He also protested against the Nazi regime. All in all, it can be said that Forster put himself out for humanistic and moral values.

E.M. Forster lived a long life and died in 1970 at the age of ninety-one.

Bibliography:

McDowell, Frederick P.W.. ''E.M. Forster. Revised edition.'' Twayne's English Authors Series. Ed. Kinley E.Roby. Boston: Twayne, 1982.

Page, Norman. ''E.M.Forster. Macmillan Modern Novelists''. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1987.

A Passage to India

2011-12-01T19:10:04Z

Jonny1: /* Analysis */

''A Passage to India'' is a novel by E.M. Forster. It appeared in 1924 and is Forster's best known and most widely read novel. It is set in India and potrays the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Plot ==

It is the story of the two English ladies Adela Quested and her fiance's mother Mrs. Moore coming to Chandrapore, India. Although they come because Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, the city's magistrate Ronny Haeslop, the two women point out their willingness to see the real India, undeterred by the evident racism of the established British community in Chandrapore.
As a matter of fact, they form a friendship with Dr. Aziz, a muslim doctor who is the assistant to the local British doctor. He invites them to show them the Marabar Caves, Chandrapore's only real attraction. Fielding, the principal of the local college, Dr. Godbole, a Hindu teacher, were to join them, but on the day of the excursion they miss the train so that Aziz goes ahead with the two ladies and his rather absurd entourage.
In the caves, things start to go horribly wrong. Adela mistakenly believes to be assaulted by Aziz and Mrs. Moore has a profound nihilistic epiphany ("Everything exists, nothing has value") from which she never recovers psychologically. Although Dr. Aziz is eventually acquitted of the charge of rape, his trial widens the divisions between the native population and the British. (cp. Trilling 111)

== Analysis ==

According to Lionel Trilling, ''A Passage to India'' is the most comfortable and conventional novel by Forster. The novel creates a clear pattern of the reader's emotions and keeps with it throughout the novel. This pattern always remains simple and easy to grasp and it excels through its objectivity. Sympathy is given to Mrs. Moore and Fielding, Adela Quested is regarded with interest and Aziz and his friends with affectionate understanding. On the other hand, the reader is taught to withhold all sympathies from the British officials, who are portrayed as arrogant and autocratic. The really interesting thing about the novel, however, is not these strikingly simple pattern which is characteristic of the rather simple plot as outlined above.
Behind the plot there is the story. While the plot is simple and linear, the story is abstract and philosophical. One of the many recurrent themes and leitmotifs characterizing the story is the various separations in India and life in general: The separations of the natives from the British, of Muslims from Hindus, of men from women, etc. (Trilling 109-115)
This is Trilling about the unique discrepancy between plot and story:

"The story is beneath and above the plot and continues beyond time. It is, to be sure, created by the plot, it is the plot's manifold reverberation, but it is greater that the plot and contains it. The plot is as decisive as a judicial opinion; the story is an impulse, a tendency, a perception [...]. This relation of plot and story tells us that we are dealing with a political novel of an unusual kind. The characters are of sufficient size for the plot; they are not large enough for the story - and that indeed is the point of the story." (Trilling 111)

== Works cited ==

Forster, E. M.. ''A Passage to India''. Ann Arbor: Borders Classics, 2006

Trilling, Lionel. ''E.M. Forster''.Oxford: OUP, 1982

http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/modern-library-revue-25-a-passage-to-india.html

A Passage to India

2011-12-01T19:01:58Z

Jonny1: /* Plot */

''A Passage to India'' is a novel by E.M. Forster. It appeared in 1924 and is Forster's best known and most widely read novel. It is set in India and potrays the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Plot ==

It is the story of the two English ladies Adela Quested and her fiance's mother Mrs. Moore coming to Chandrapore, India. Although they come because Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, the city's magistrate Ronny Haeslop, the two women point out their willingness to see the real India, undeterred by the evident racism of the established British community in Chandrapore.
As a matter of fact, they form a friendship with Dr. Aziz, a muslim doctor who is the assistant to the local British doctor. He invites them to show them the Marabar Caves, Chandrapore's only real attraction. Fielding, the principal of the local college, Dr. Godbole, a Hindu teacher, were to join them, but on the day of the excursion they miss the train so that Aziz goes ahead with the two ladies and his rather absurd entourage.
In the caves, things start to go horribly wrong. Adela mistakenly believes to be assaulted by Aziz and Mrs. Moore has a profound nihilistic epiphany ("Everything exists, nothing has value") from which she never recovers psychologically. Although Dr. Aziz is eventually acquitted of the charge of rape, his trial widens the divisions between the native population and the British. (cp. Trilling 111)

== Analysis ==

According to Lionel Trilling, ''A Passage to India'' is the most comfortable and conventional novel by Forster. The novel creates a clear pattern of the reader's emotions and keeps with it throughout the novel. This pattern always remains simple and easy to grasp and it excels through its objectivity. Sympathy is given to Mrs. Moore and Fielding, Adela Quested is regarded with interest and Aziz and his friends with affectionate understanding. On the other hand, the reader is taught to withhold all sympathies from the British officials, who are portrayed as arrogant and autocratic. The really interesting thing about the novel, however, is not these strikingly simple pattern which is also confirmed by the rather simple plot as outlined above. Behind the plot there is the story.. The story is abstract and philosophical, and it is about separations. The separations of the natives from the British, of Muslims from Hindus, of men from women etc. (Trilling 109-115)
This is Trilling about the unique discrepancy between plot and story:

"The story is beneath and above the plot and continues beyond time. It is, to be sure, created by the plot, it is the plot's manifold reverberation, but it is greater that the plot and contains it. The plot is as decisive as a judicial opinion; the story is an impulse, a tendency, a perception [...]. This relation of plot and story tells us that we are dealing with a political novel of an unusual kind. The characters are of sufficient size for the plot; they are not large enough for the story - and that indeed is the point of the story." (Trilling 111)

== Works cited ==

Forster, E. M.. ''A Passage to India''. Ann Arbor: Borders Classics, 2006

Trilling, Lionel. ''E.M. Forster''.Oxford: OUP, 1982

http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/modern-library-revue-25-a-passage-to-india.html

A Passage to India

2011-11-30T21:41:12Z

Jonny1: /* Plot */

''A Passage to India'' is a novel by E.M. Forster. It appeared in 1924 and is Forster's best known and most widely read novel. It is set in India and potrays the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Plot ==

It is the story of the two English ladies Adela Quested and her fiance's mother Mrs. Moore coming to Chandrapore, India. Although they come because Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, the city's magistrate Ronny Haeslop, the two women point out their willingness to see the real India, undeterred by the evident racism of the established British community in Chandrapore.
As a matter of fact, they form a friendship with Dr. Aziz, a muslim doctor who is the assistant to the local British doctor. He invites them to show them the Marabar Caves, Chandrapore's only real attraction. Fielding, the principal of the local college, Dr. Godbole, a Hindu teacher, were to join them, but on the day of the excursion they miss the train so that Aziz goes ahead with the two ladies and his rather absurd entourage.
In the caves, things start to go horribly wrong. Adela mistakenly believes to be assaulted by Aziz and Mrs. Moore has a profound nihilistic epiphany ("Everything exists, nothing has values") from which she never recovers psychologically. Although Dr. Aziz is eventually acquitted of the charge of rape, his trial widens the divisions between the native population and the British. (cp. Trilling 111)

== Analysis ==

According to Lionel Trilling, ''A Passage to India'' is the most comfortable and conventional novel by Forster. The novel creates a clear pattern of the reader's emotions and keeps with it throughout the novel. This pattern always remains simple and easy to grasp and it excels through its objectivity. Sympathy is given to Mrs. Moore and Fielding, Adela Quested is regarded with interest and Aziz and his friends with affectionate understanding. On the other hand, the reader is taught to withhold all sympathies from the British officials, who are portrayed as arrogant and autocratic. The really interesting thing about the novel, however, is not these strikingly simple pattern which is also confirmed by the rather simple plot as outlined above. Behind the plot there is the story.. The story is abstract and philosophical, and it is about separations. The separations of the natives from the British, of Muslims from Hindus, of men from women etc. (Trilling 109-115)
This is Trilling about the unique discrepancy between plot and story:

"The story is beneath and above the plot and continues beyond time. It is, to be sure, created by the plot, it is the plot's manifold reverberation, but it is greater that the plot and contains it. The plot is as decisive as a judicial opinion; the story is an impulse, a tendency, a perception [...]. This relation of plot and story tells us that we are dealing with a political novel of an unusual kind. The characters are of sufficient size for the plot; they are not large enough for the story - and that indeed is the point of the story." (Trilling 111)

== Works cited ==

Forster, E. M.. ''A Passage to India''. Ann Arbor: Borders Classics, 2006

Trilling, Lionel. ''E.M. Forster''.Oxford: OUP, 1982

http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/modern-library-revue-25-a-passage-to-india.html

A Passage to India

2011-11-30T21:40:16Z

Jonny1: /* Analysis */

''A Passage to India'' is a novel by E.M. Forster. It appeared in 1924 and is Forster's best known and most widely read novel. It is set in India and potrays the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Plot ==

It is the story of the two English ladies Adela Quested and her fiance's mother Mrs. Moore coming to Chandrapore, India. Although they come because Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, the city's magistrate Ronny Haeslop, the two women point out their willingness to see the real India, undeterred by the evident racism of the established British community in Chandrapore.
As a matter of fact, they form a friendship with Dr. Aziz, a muslim doctor who is the assistant to the local British doctor. He invites them to show them the Marabar Caves, Chandrapore's only real attraction. Fielding, the principal of the local college, Dr. Godbole, a Hindu teacher, were to join them, but on the day of the excursion they miss the train so that Aziz goes ahead with the two ladies and his rather absurd entourage.
In the caves, things start to go horribly wrong. Adela mistakenly believes to be assaulted by Aziz and Mrs. Moore has a profound nihilistic epiphany ("Everything exists, nothing has values") from which she never recovers psychologically. Although Dr. Aziz is eventually acquitted of the charge of rape, his trial widens the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Analysis ==

According to Lionel Trilling, ''A Passage to India'' is the most comfortable and conventional novel by Forster. The novel creates a clear pattern of the reader's emotions and keeps with it throughout the novel. This pattern always remains simple and easy to grasp and it excels through its objectivity. Sympathy is given to Mrs. Moore and Fielding, Adela Quested is regarded with interest and Aziz and his friends with affectionate understanding. On the other hand, the reader is taught to withhold all sympathies from the British officials, who are portrayed as arrogant and autocratic. The really interesting thing about the novel, however, is not these strikingly simple pattern which is also confirmed by the rather simple plot as outlined above. Behind the plot there is the story.. The story is abstract and philosophical, and it is about separations. The separations of the natives from the British, of Muslims from Hindus, of men from women etc. (Trilling 109-115)
This is Trilling about the unique discrepancy between plot and story:

"The story is beneath and above the plot and continues beyond time. It is, to be sure, created by the plot, it is the plot's manifold reverberation, but it is greater that the plot and contains it. The plot is as decisive as a judicial opinion; the story is an impulse, a tendency, a perception [...]. This relation of plot and story tells us that we are dealing with a political novel of an unusual kind. The characters are of sufficient size for the plot; they are not large enough for the story - and that indeed is the point of the story." (Trilling 111)

== Works cited ==

Forster, E. M.. ''A Passage to India''. Ann Arbor: Borders Classics, 2006

Trilling, Lionel. ''E.M. Forster''.Oxford: OUP, 1982

http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/modern-library-revue-25-a-passage-to-india.html

A Passage to India

2011-11-30T21:38:26Z

Jonny1: Created page with '''A Passage to India'' is a novel by E.M. Forster. It appeared in 1924 and is Forster's best known and most widely read novel. It is set in India and potrays the divisions betwee…'

''A Passage to India'' is a novel by E.M. Forster. It appeared in 1924 and is Forster's best known and most widely read novel. It is set in India and potrays the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Plot ==

It is the story of the two English ladies Adela Quested and her fiance's mother Mrs. Moore coming to Chandrapore, India. Although they come because Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, the city's magistrate Ronny Haeslop, the two women point out their willingness to see the real India, undeterred by the evident racism of the established British community in Chandrapore.
As a matter of fact, they form a friendship with Dr. Aziz, a muslim doctor who is the assistant to the local British doctor. He invites them to show them the Marabar Caves, Chandrapore's only real attraction. Fielding, the principal of the local college, Dr. Godbole, a Hindu teacher, were to join them, but on the day of the excursion they miss the train so that Aziz goes ahead with the two ladies and his rather absurd entourage.
In the caves, things start to go horribly wrong. Adela mistakenly believes to be assaulted by Aziz and Mrs. Moore has a profound nihilistic epiphany ("Everything exists, nothing has values") from which she never recovers psychologically. Although Dr. Aziz is eventually acquitted of the charge of rape, his trial widens the divisions between the native population and the British.

== Analysis ==

According to Lionel Trilling, ''A Passage to India'' is the most comfortable and conventional novel by Forster. The novel creates a clear pattern of the reader's emotions and keeps with it throughout the novel. This pattern always remains simple and easy to grasp and it excels through its objectivity. Sympathy is given to Mrs. Moore and Fielding, Adela Quested is regarded with interest and Aziz and his friends with affectionate understanding. On the other hand, the reader is taught to withhold all sympathies from the British officials, who are portrayed as arrogant and autocratic. The really interesting thing about the novel, however, is not these strikingly simple pattern which is also confirmed by the rather simple plot as outlined above. Behind the plot there is the story.. The story is abstract and philosophical, and it is about separations. The separations of the natives from the British, of Muslims from Hindus, of men from women etc.
This is Trilling about the unique discrepancy between plot and story:

"The story is beneath and above the plot and continues beyond time. It is, to be sure, created by the plot, it is the plot's manifold reverberation, but it is greater that the plot and contains it. The plot is as decisive as a judicial opinion; the story is an impulse, a tendency, a perception [...]. This relation of plot and story tells us that we are dealing with a political novel of an unusual kind. The characters are of sufficient size for the plot; they are not large enough for the story - and that indeed is the point of the story."

== Works cited ==

Forster, E. M.. ''A Passage to India''. Ann Arbor: Borders Classics, 2006

Trilling, Lionel. ''E.M. Forster''.Oxford: OUP, 1982

http://www.themillions.com/2011/09/modern-library-revue-25-a-passage-to-india.html