A Passage to India | Themes

A Passage to India Themes

Culture Clash

At the heart of A Passage to India -and in the background-Is a clash between two fundamentally different cultures, those of East and West. The British poet Rudyard Kipling, who was born in India and lived there for several years as an adult, wrote: "East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."_ Without quoting or acknowledging Kipling, Forster adopts this premise as a central theme of A Passage to India.

The West is represented by the Anglo-Indians (the British administrators and their families in India) in Chandrapore. They form a relatively small but close-knit community. They live at the civil station, apart from the Indians. Their social life centers around the Chandrapore Club, where they attempt to recreate the entertainments that would be found in England. Although these Westerners wish to maintain good relations with the Easterners whom they govern, they have no...
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