E. M. Forster's Use of Music in A Passage to India

This paper attempts to explore Forster’s use of music in A Passage to India (PI) to suggest the message of genuine unification. Forster is known as a musical novelists who can meticulously employ musical elements in his novels. While Forster displayed stereotypical western music in the previous novels, he used an alternative form of music in PI. His perspective on the art and human relationship is effectively reflected throughout the novels, such as the national anthem in the club house, Aziz’s poetry, echoes, and Godbole’s performance. Forster refused both social homogeneity and nationalism, whereas he saw the possibility of absolute unification through transcendental music, which has contrasting aspects. Echoes can be construed as destructive expansion of music, which brings cacophony to the characters. On the other hand, Godbole’s Hindu performance, which embraces all living entities, seems to truly provide remedial expansion for unification, evidenced by Aziz’s turning point for the liberation from the past.