Passage to India: Topic Tracking (Source)
| Earth | West vs East | Religion | Women | Nationalism | Love |
Topic Tracking: Earth
Chapter 1
Earth 1: The Marabar Hills are described as the fists and fingers of the south. Despite their human characteristics, the hills are imposing. Earth here is more impressive than any of the people in Chandrapore.
Chapter 3
Earth 2: The women are fascinated by the moonlight, which has a mystical quality to it. However, a British stranger reminds them that in British India, though they might be halfway around the world from home, they stick to the same moon. Therefore, there is little spirit or imagination in the India of the English. Mrs. Moore and Adela hope for something more.
Chapter 3
Earth 3: Looking into the sky, Mrs. Moore sees a moon that is very different from the moon in England. This moonlight filled her with a sense of unity with nature and the heavens the way it never had at home.
Chapter 10
Earth 4: The heat of April, an aspect of the earth in India, makes things quite unbearable and influences the behavior of those who live there.
Chapter 18
Earth 5: McBryde tries to argue that the hot climate and geographic conditions of India drive the Indians to behave the way they do. He contends that nature has control over man in India and if the British were to endure this climate, they would behave the same way.
Chapter 23
Earth 6: When Mrs. Moore first came to India, the mystical forces of the earth overtook her. However, after the engagement of Ronny and Adela, she becomes burdened with the duties of reality and this disrupts her union with spirit and earth.
Chapter 24
Earth 7: The echoes of the cave haunt Adela and make her question her charges against Aziz. The sound of the caves haunts her until she reveals the truth about Aziz and clears her conscience.
Chapter 37
Earth 8: The earth prevents Aziz and Fielding from riding back to each other. It prevents the continuation of their friendship, at least until the British leave India.
Topic Tracking: West vs. East
Chapter 2
West vs. East 1: English people are civil, or even friendly, towards natives when they first arrive in India. However, the longer they stay in India, the greater the gulf grows between them and the Indians. Though the English and Indians are both physically in the East, there is a clear separation between Eastern and Western culture in colonized India.
Chapter 3
West vs. East 2: Adela confronts Ronny about his treatment of Indians. Still fresh in India, she feels the bridge between East and West can be crossed with pleasant and equal behavior. Ronny advises her that her naïve perspective will change the longer she stays in the country.
Chapter 4
West vs. East 3: Many Indians are skeptical about the sincerity of Turton's invitation to his Bridge Party. Nawab Bahadur, a person who is respected by British and Indians, convinces his countrymen to attend the party.
Chapter 5
West vs. East 4: Adela and Mrs. Moore are sad that there is no interaction between the British hosts and the Indian guests. The Bridge Party does not create a bridge between the people.
Chapter 7
West vs. East 5: Fielding and Aziz forge an instant friendship despite their racial differences.
Chapter 8
West vs. East 6: Aziz tells Nawab Bahadur's grandson that believing in superstition and evil spirits is a defect of the East. The West has advanced, he believes, because they believe in reason and logic.
Chapter 16
West vs. East 7: Fielding tries to tell Aziz that he should not think about the picnic in terms of East and West, but simply in terms of friendship.
Chapter 17
West vs. East 8: Turton, who believes his years of experience in India have made him wise and knowledgeable, says that Indians and English are incapable of interacting on an intimate basis. That is why he feels there should exist a great distance between them.
Chapter 27
West vs. East 9: Aziz tries to explain to Fielding that Mrs. Moore, though an old British woman, was an Oriental at heart. She had an Eastern way of relating to people. Aziz considers measuring emotion, as Fielding does, to be a Western trait.
Chapter 37
West vs. East 10: Aziz and Fielding part ways, knowing they will never see each other again. The notion that Indians and British can never be intimate friends while the British control India seems to hold true.
Topic Tracking: Religion
Chapter 2
Religion 1: At the Mosque, Aziz feels renewed. He feels most at home there. His body and spirit are unified by his religion in the Mosque. He is more loyal to Islam than to his country.
Chapter 4
Religion 2: Two missionaries discuss God and how he does not exclude any creature from his house. This conversation is ironic against the backdrop of the colonized India.
Chapter 5
Religion 3: Mrs. Moore is a religious woman. She talks to Ronny about the bad and unchristian treatment of the British towards the Indians. She says that God loves everyone and since India is part of the earth, God loves the Indians.
Chapter 7
Religion 4: Religious thought is divided in India. Aziz blames an Indian couple's bad manners on the fact that they are Hindu.
Chapter 13
Religion 5: To put Aziz at ease when Fielding and Godbole do not arrive, she tells him that they will all be Muslims together--signifying their equality.
Chapter 14
Religion 6: Aziz tells Mrs. Moore and Adela that he can not accept the Hindu notion of universality. He believes it is best if every one adheres to his own religion.
Religion 7: In the caves, the 'boum' sound erases all religious thoughts from Mrs. Moore's mind. The echo becomes more powerful than her religion.
Chapter 22
Religion 8: In the aftermath of the incident at the caves, Mrs. Moore loses her interest in religion and all other aspects of life.
Chapter 24
Religion 9: In her despair, Adela strays from her usually intellectual ways and begins praying again.
Chapter 24
Religion 10: In her absence, the Indians at the trial begin to chant Mrs. Moore's name. By mispronouncing her name as Esmiss Esmoor, they have called her the name of a Hindu goddess.
Chapter 33
Religion 11: Mrs. Moore appears in Godbole's head during a spiritual fervor. The visit by Mrs. Moore completes him and brings him closer to God. God is love.
Topic Tracking: Women
Chapter 2
Women 1: Mrs. Moore impresses Aziz by removing her shoes before she enters the Mosque. This is a sign of respect that he does not expect from British women in his country.
Chapter 7
Women 2: Fielding contends that English women can never be friends with Indian men. Disaster happens whenever the two meet.
Chapter 11
Women 3: Aziz shows Fielding a picture of his wife: an act that is forbidden unless it is between brothers due to the tradition of purdah, the separation and veiling of women. Fielding asks if people in the world were to treat each other as equally as brothers, if there would be no more need for purdah.
Chapter 13
Women 4: Aziz's friends now warn him that it is not advisable for him to mix with British women. They predict something bad will happen due to his interaction with these ladies.
Chapter 20
Women 5: At the club, the men talk of protecting the women and children. This incites in them a blinding national pride.
Chapter 34
Women 6: Aziz begins to write poetry about Oriental womanhood. He calls for the end of purdah, which he believes is an essential step to forming Indian statehood.
Topic Tracking: Nationalism
Chapter 3
Nationalism 1: The British National Anthem inspires feelings of power rather than patriotism. England's role in India is one of power and control.
Chapter 14
Nationalism 2: While discussing Akbar, a Hindu figure who had a unifying force, Aziz tells Mrs. Moore and Adela that India cannot be united. As a Muslim, he feels divided from the other half of India.
Chapter 24
Nationalism 3: Adela begins to feel guilty about the notion of the British as a civilizing force. She contemplates who gave them the right to control a country. At the same time, McBryde uses a "scientific" approach to prove the racial and national superiority of the British over the Indians.
Nationalism 4: Mahmoud Ali becomes vocal about the unfair role of the British in India. He stands up for Indian nationalism and storms out of the court.
Chapter 25
Nationalism 5: The otherwise pro-British Nawab Bahadur, the most diplomatic and respected of Indians, becomes so inspired by the cruel treatment of his son and the treatment of Aziz by the British, that he renounces his name and title for his Islamic name.
Chapter 30
Nationalism 6: The trial awoke the nationalist spirit in Aziz. He now began to think of the motherland in his poetry.
Chapter 35
Nationalism 7: Aziz expresses his wish not to associate with any British people. He even pushes away the friendship of Fielding.
Chapter 37
Nationalism 8: Aziz and Fielding part ways, knowing they can never be friends as long as the British continue to control India.
Topic Tracking: Love
Chapter 8
Love 1: Though they have broken off the engagement, the bumpy ride in Nawab Bahadur's car awakens Adela and Ronny's feelings of love, or at least lust.
Chapter 11
Love 2: Aziz and Fielding discuss marriage. Aziz admits that he fell in love with his wife after they were married. Sharing the photo of his wife with him is an act of brotherly love. Fielding also admits that he has never married or never plans to. He says he is too old to fall in love.
Chapter 15
Love 3: Adela begins to doubt her love for Ronny. She realizes she is not in love with him and questions if she is capable of loving another. She thinks she is too intellectual to be in love.
Chapter 27
Love 4: Fielding can not understand why Aziz loved Mrs. Moore so much, since she had not been there for Aziz, especially after the cave incident. He tells Fielding that Mrs. Moore was oriental in her emotions--she never measured love. Fielding is very western and Aziz feels he measures his emotions too much.
Chapter 28
Love 5: Ronny terminates the engagement with Adela. The two had never been in love and were probably incapable of loving each other.
Chapter 29
Love 6: Both Adela and Fielding have given up on love and think they will never love anyone.
Chapter 36
Love 7: Ralph tells Aziz that his mother loved him very much. Though Aziz is very short with Ralph, Ralph overlooks the behavior and assures him that he is a friend, though he is a stranger. This oriental attitude is like his mother's. Ralph proves he is capable of loving on instinct the way his mother had.