A Passage to India February 13, 2003
Adela and Aziz become symbolic to the Anglo-Indian characters. Adela, who takes an interest in India and is the aloof fiancé of an English official, is once looked down upon by the other "club women", but after the allegations of "offensiveness" towards her from Aziz, the other women feel bad for ever having disliked her or made fun of her, as she now represents themselves. They invest all of their disgust and prejudice regarding Indians into the act she accuses Aziz of committing. What she "suffered" makes their feelings about Indians real and present.
Aziz becomes the representative of all Indians to the Anglo-Indian mind. When his shirt collar is not fixed properly, the quick judgement is that this is because there's always a small way in which Indians disappoint the English. Forster uses this as an example of the judgements made against Indians without the truth being known-that the "disappointment" Aziz inflicts by way of his collar is actually the result of a very giving, selfless nature. However when he becomes the accused, the stronger prejudice becomes clear; that all Indians are dangerous and cannot be trusted around English women, or trusted at all. They try to avoid saying his name, which has become "synonymous with the power of evil".
Fielding, by defending Aziz and maintaining his innocence, becomes almost as guilty in the eyes of the Anglo-Indian community as Aziz. Ronny and McBryde believe something is innately wrong with him, in the same way there is something innately bad about Indians. His every action comes under scrutiny. When he does not stand for Ronny's entrance, it is as if he struck him with his fist. When he goes so far as to write a letter to Adela about her misunderstanding, he, the "one righteous Englishman in a horde of tyrants" becomes a muddle to the English. "It is hard to get into the mind of a man like that," McBryde tells Adela, because Fielding's behavior has made him as much a "muddle" as India and the Indian people already are.
Like Fielding, Mrs. Moore becomes a voice in defense of Aziz. Adela had taken an anthropological interest in Indians and India, but Mrs. Moore has had a sincere interest in the Indians as people and Aziz as an individual. In discussing the accusations brought against Aziz, Ronny assures Adela the his mother never proclaimed him innocent, but Adela claims to have heard her say so, or at least to know that Mrs. Moore thinks so. When Mrs. Moore confirms this, rather than see her demonized-or demonize her himself-as happens to Fielding, he thinks of sending her out of India, because "she was doing no good to herself or to anyone else." In lieu of exploring Adela's sudden doubts about her perceived experience in the caves, or Fielding or Mrs. Moore's statements on Aziz's character, Ronny fears that the symbol and example of Aziz will be lost. He prefers to maintain him as the guilty prisoner. Of course, he believes in Aziz's guilt because he is an Indian after all. Later, McBryde will make accusations about Aziz's carnal nature and uncontrollable desires, which are really accusations against Indians as a whole.
When Adela finally acknowledges her mistake and Aziz is freed, Aziz is still thought guilty by the Anglo-Indians. He understandably feels abandoned and betrayed by his Anglo friends. He is of course bitter towards Adela, the homely woman who falsely accused him, and even Fielding who he once held in high esteem, because Fielding in many ways portrays Adela as heroic and brave for admitting her mistake. Forster further portrays her as honorable and heroic because of the new light in which the prosecution, and the English in general, see her-she must have gone mad. Fielding, who strangely becomes a supporter of Adela, does not understand how she could make an accusation and then retract it, and even Adela has no explanation, except that she was ill since the trib to the caves. The irony is that her false experience of being harmed by Aziz was the actual madness, but never considered to be so.
Fielding leaves India and travels to other places, viewing these new places as ideals to help him escape what happened in India. Aziz feels so betrayed and angered that he will not finish Fielding's letters, and thereby believes that he has married Adela-the ultimate betrayal. When the truth is learned, that he has married Mrs. Moore's daughter, Aziz is greatly relieved. Aziz had promised Mrs. Moore that he would treat her children with great kindness were they to ever meet. It seems that this complicates his relationship with Fielding because not only is Fielding married to Mrs. Moore's child, but he is now her child-in-law himself.
Mrs. Moore, Forster's symbol for the good English person, is the most accepted by the Indians, and her name continues to live on after her death. Where Adela had a fascination with them and Fielding was too practical and detached to ever fit in with them (or the English for that matter), Mrs. Moore was able to interact in positive ways. She cared about Aziz and the process by which he was being tried. A rumor arises that Ronny had her killed so that she could not defend Aziz. After losing her faith and spirituality, she ironically comes to be seen as a martyr and a saint.
By the end of A Passage to India Aziz has an answer for the question posed at the novel's beginning. He believes that through the experiences of his trial he has learned that an Englishman and a Moslem could be friends but only after the English let go of India. To Aziz, however, there is no "India". He would like for the descendants of his ancestors, Moslems, to rule India so that they might be a nation. Inside of India at the time, however, there is no nation, only factions-English, Moslem, Hindu. But Aziz says the Indians may hate each other, but they hate the English most of all. When Indians have their nation and have driven the English out, then an Indian and an Englishman can be friends.