Significance of Godbole in Passage to India - 1463 Words

In E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India, the reader experiences multiple layers within the novel beginning with the structure, the focus on relationships, and the characters. The author makes a concerted effort throughout the novel to build a bridge between Western and Eastern societies by using the characters to demonstrate the deep differences in the cultures. For the reader, unfamiliarity with Indian culture may pose some issues in interpreting and understanding behaviors and roles within the text. One character in particular, Professor Godbole, enhances the mystery of the contrasting societies because he seems to not notice the feelings of other people. That is in contrast to his high position in the Indian caste system. As a Hindu†¦show more content†¦This layer of the novel is preparing the reader to see the trial from a religious aspect. The Sparknotes editors point out that â€Å"the reader is left to imagine that if Fielding and Godbole had been able to accompany Aziz and the women as they had planned, the terrible and confusing incidents that befall the members of the party at the Marabar Caves might never have occurred.† Culture and religion continually make Godbole a major focus of the novel. According to The Review of English Studies, Godbole as a character is possibly named for an actual person the author met on his travels to India. The translation of the name Godbole is associated with music and actually means â€Å"sweet-tongued†. Godbole the character has a unique view of situations and speaks in such a way that he represents both sides of any situation as his belief that fate determines the outcome of all situations. Godbole’s philosophy of: â€Å"Good and evil are different, as their names imply. But, in my own humble opinion, they are both aspects of my Lord. He is present in the one, absent in the other, and the difference between presence and absence is great, as great as my feeble mind ca n grasp. Yet absence implies presence, absence is not non-existence, and we are there for entitled to repeat, ‘Come, come, come, come.† Although this sounds confusing and on the surface doesn’t seem to make sense, Godbole points out there is another way to look atShow MoreRelated The Important Role of the Marabar Caves in A Passage to India2630 Words   |  11 PagesThe Important Role of the Marabar Caves in A Passage to India      Ã‚  Ã‚   During the fourteen years that followed the publication of Howards End, Edward Morgan Forster underwent a harsh mood change that culminated in the publication of A Passage to India, Forsters bitterest book (Shusterman 159).   Forster was not alone in his transition to a harsher tone in his fiction.   A Passage to India was written in the era that followed the First World War.   George Thomson writes