"They didn't want it, they said in their hundred voices, no, not yet, and the sky said no, not there'- (Forster, 362). In E.M. Forster's novel, A Passage to India, there is a clash between two cultures, England and India. Aziz, a respected Indian and Fielding, a liberal Englishman both desire the camaraderie of each other. A friendship between an Indian and an Englishman cannot develop due to the many conflicts between the English and Indian nations.
The major reason preventing the friendship between the two men is the hostility between the East and the West. England has colonized India and is pushing their beliefs of religion and government onto the Indians. The English do not want anything to do with the Indian people or culture. Mrs. Callendar, a British woman, said, "The kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die- (Forster, 25). This statement suggests that the English hate the Indians, and the English feel they are better than the natives. When the English colonized in India, they built their establishments in the hills, above the Indians to show their superiority and to get as far away from the natives as possible. The English find it horrible to become friends with an Indian.
In the eyes of the Indians, an interracial friendship is also frowned upon. Since the British took over in India, the natives have had a hatred towards the English. The Indians do not have any power and ultimately cannot do anything about their situation. Aziz says, "Why be either friends with the fellows or not friends? Let us just shut them out and be jolly- (Forster, 9). Every Indian lives this way of life, only dealing with his own race, interacting with the British only when he received an order. Fielding and Aziz try to defy this rule of life in the British India and become friends, but the hatred between the two countries causes tension in their friendship. The tension becomes too large, ultimately causing them to break their friendship.
