Analysis of The Conflicts in E.M.Forster's 'A Passage To India' and Rudyard Kipling's 'Kim'.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam skripsi ini saya membahas konflik-konflik yang terjadi antara

penduduk asli India dengan pendatang-pendatang Inggris yang terdapat dalam novel

karangan E.M. Forster berjudul A Passage to India dan novel karangan Rudyard

Kipling berjudul Kim.

Konflik-konflik yang terjadi adalah konflik sosial dan dapat dijelaskan dengan

teori yang ditawarkan oleh Edward Said dalam bukunya yang berjudul Orientalism.

Menurut saya bahasan ini menarik karena merupakan masalah budaya yang pelik dan

mempunyai dasar-dasar yang sama yang melandasi konflik-konflik antar budaya

yang lainnya, baik konflik-konflik pada masa lalu maupun pada saat ini.

Pertama-tama saya menganalisis konflik-konflik sosial yang ada pada kedua

novel lalu kemudian mengaplikasikan teori Orientalisme untuk mendapat penjelasan

atas penyebab konflik-konflik tersebut. Setelah itu saya menarik kesimpulan yang

terdapat pada bab terakhir skripsi ini.

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APPENDIX

Synopsis of A Passage to India

A Passage to India is a novel about the relationship between a native

Indian doctor named Aziz with his associates many of whom are British settlers.

The story is set in Chandrapore, a city where the British settlers rule. Generally,

Aziz has no good relationship with the British settlers until Adela Quested comes

to the city.

Adela is the city magistrate’s fiancee, who is very curious about India.

Aziz and Adela make good friends. They prepare a journey to an exotic cave not

far from Chandrapore. Adela, feeling bored, unintentionally insults Aziz. He is

shocked, and leaves her for a moment to light a cigarette and to calm himself.

Then Adela, who at that time has a problem with her upcoming marriage,

suddenly panics inside the cave; she runs outside and throws herself from the cliff,

landing right in front of a British settler’s car passing at that very moment. The

news widely and quickly spreads. Aziz is instantly accused of assaulting Adela.

The British settlers put Aziz in jail and accuse him of assaulting Adela

without any proper proof. His settler friend, Fielding, who at that time tries to

defend Aziz, is powerless. Adela, recovering from her wounds, does not try to

explain the truth; she is too afraid. Aziz is locked up for several days until his trial

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day comes. When the court is in progress the people of Chandrapore come to

support and to free Aziz and they are succesful.

Aziz, being treated unfairly, turns to despise the British settlers. He hates

Adela, who does not tell the truth to the people; moreover, he despises the British

settlers who put him in jail without any proper proof. Then Fielding tries to calm

him and he persuades Aziz not to sue back, but Aziz is very angry. He even hates

Fielding, whom he thinks does nothing to defend him. Aziz’s greatest hatred for

Fielding is because Aziz finds that Fielding and Adela leave India together. He

thinks that there is a romance between them.

Years later, Fielding and his wife visit Aziz in his new residence. Aziz

realizes that he is wrong, Fielding does not marry Adela; he takes Adela outside

India at that time to prevent any violence. Fielding then tries to make Aziz

understand the British presence in India. Nevertheless, Aziz has become anti–

British and does not change his mind. The two of them separate at the end of the

novel. They realize that they cannot be friends only because of their different

cultures.

Synopsis of Kim

Kim was published in 1901. It is a story about an orphaned son of an Irish

soldier. His father and mother are white people but he is born and grows in the

rural area of India. Thus, he is a native but no one realizes that he is a white

descendant. Kim is a very clever boy; though he is in the poor care of an Indian

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Kim meets a Tibetan lama in the city of Lahore. Kim decides to

accompany the Lama in his search for a mystical river that he believes will

cleanse his sins, the River of Arrow. Kim treats the Lama well and the Lama is

fond of him. In their journey, they meet a group of Irish soldiers. Kim is curious

because his father once tells him to come to an Irish flag once he finds one. Kim is

accused of being a thief when an Irish reverend catches him sneaking in the camp.

He catches Kim by the throat and beats him.

Only after he opens Kim’s charm and finds his father’s note that he

realizes Kim is a descendant of an Irish soldier. Instead of letting Kim continue

his journey with the Lama, the British settlers force Kim to enter a British school

and to leave the Lama. He objects but the settlers insist.

In the schooling institution, Kim is despised by his classmates and

teachers. A colonel notices Kim’s ability and he is then moved to the surveillance

school where the Irish regiment trains him to be a spy. The settlers do not let Kim

continue his journey with the Tibetan Lama; however, Kim intends to continue his

journey right after his school and his service to the Irish regiment ends.

Kim proves to be a good spy. He manages to get hold of an important

surveillance paper. He is also able to make the British settlers approve his request

to continue his journey with the Lama. Kim finally meets the Lama and asks the

Lama to stay while he finishes his duty and they will continue their journey as

planned. Kim is finally able to gain advantages from the British settlers and at the

same time finishes his search with the Lama.

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Biography of EM Forster

Edward Morgan Forster was born in London on 1 January 1871. His

father, an architect, died when Forster was about 2 years old. He spent his

childhood and adult life with his mother and aunt. He then suffered from cruelty

of his classmates when he was in school. He attended King’s College in

Cambridge (1897-1901). There, he met his friends with whom he later formed a

group, Bloomsbury group. Graduating from the college, he started to write some

essays and short stories for Independent Review.

His first novel was Where Angels Fear to Tread, published in 1905. Some

of his novels are The Longest Journey (1907), A Room With A View (1908), a

novel based on his holiday in Italy with his mother, and Howards End (1910), a

story about a clash between two families in England. Forster also wrote some

biographies such as of Goldsworthy Lowes Dickenson (1934) and Marianne

Thornton (1956).

Forster travelled in India between 1912 and 1913 but he came back to

London in 1914 to work for the National Gallery for two years. In the First World

War Forster served in Red Cross and went to Alexandria, Egypt. He returned to

India in 1921 to work as private secretary of Maharajah Dewas. India was the

scene where he wrote his last novel, A Passage to India. After that, he devoted his

life to other activities, mostly writing reviews and essays.

In 1934 he was elected the first president of the National Council for Civil

Liberties. He was also elected as an honorary fellow of King’s College. He

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accepted an Order of Merit a year before his death in 1969. EM Forster died on 7

June 1970.

Biography of Rudyard Kipling

Kipling was born in Bombay, India, on 30 December 1865, but he was

educated in England at the United Service College. Then he returned to India in

1882 to work in an Anglo-Indian newspaper. He was soon popular and became

the poet of the British Empire and its yeoman. His early works were Plain Tales

from the Hills (1888), and Soldiers Three (1888), and a collection of short stories

with soldier portraits. His writings about soldiers continued and Barrack Room

Ballads (1892) was published.

In 1894, his famous work, Jungle Book, was published and soon became

children’s favourite. The novel Kim was published in 1901 and said to be his

masterpiece. He also wrote other novels such as The Second Jungle Book (1895),

The Seven Seas (1896), Captain Courageous (1897), The Day's Work (1898),

Stalky and Co. (1899), Just So Stories (1902), Trafficks and Discoveries (1904),

Puck of Pook's Hill (1906), Actions and Reactions (1909), Debits and Credits

(1926), Thy Servant a Dog (1930), and Limits and Renewals (1932). Kipling was

said to be the best children story–writer, but this was quite a controversy because

many people saw prejudices and militarism in his works. During the break of the

First World War Kipling wrote some propaganda books for the United Kingdom.

Kipling received a lot of honorary degrees and awards. He was awarded

Gold Medal of The Royal Society of Literature. Only Scott, Meredith, and Hardy

had been awarded the same Medal. Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize in

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Literature. He rejected a number of knighthood occasions just like Forster did.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the study

The era of European colonialism started in the 15th century and lasted until

the mid-20th century. During that time people in many European countries

invaded the Eastern parts of the globe, in the interest of trade and to spread their

culture in their colonies. By 1921, the country with the greatest number of

colonies was the Great Britain with about a quarter of the globe. However, most

of its empire had the same problem, their natives in the colonies could not have a

good relationship with the settlers. The colonizers acted as superiors and

underestimated the natives.

There were different perceptives of colonialism in the British society,

some people supported the colonialism but some were against it. Then people

found some ways to express their ideas. Some of them showed their perceptions

through literature. Kim and A Passage to India are two novels written by two

English writers, Rudyard Kipling and EM Forster respectively. These novels are

about the relationships between the natives

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and the settlers with its problematic conflicts in India, one of the British colonies, in

which the natives objected to the coming of the settlers because they could not have a

good relationship with them. In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, native is

defined as ‘a person who was born in a particular country or area’ ;while the second

definition is ‘a person who lives in a particular place, especially sb [somebody] who has

lived there a long time.’ (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2000: 848). On the

other hand, settler, in the same dictionary is defined as ‘a person who goes to live in a

new country or region.’ (P.1171). Although the two novels have a similar topic, Kim, the

protagonist in Kim, seems to have been able to settle his conflicts with the settlers. While

Azis, the protagonist in A Passage to India, does not have a good relationship with the

settlers due to the conflicts. These conflicts are the unifying elements of the two novels

and this will be the focus of my thesis as I would like to analyse the cause of the conflicts

and to compare the different conflict resolutions between the natives and the settlers

found in the novels.

The two writers, Rudyard Kipling and E.M. Forster, spent a lot of time in India so

they knew exactly what had happened in India and the relationships between the natives

and the settlers. Rudyard Kipling was a pro-imperialist, while EM Forster supported

Indian independence. Thus there are two objective points of view about the relationships

between the natives and the settlers in India.

In analyzing the conflicts between the natives and the settlers in both novels I

would like to concentrate on the element of conflict. In Dictionary of Literary Terms,

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namely social conflict, physical conflict and internal conflict. In this thesis I would like to

focus on social conflict only. Social conflict is ‘a struggle between man and man or man

and society’ (p.91).

To understand the reason why there are two different relationships between the

natives and settlers in the same colonized country in the two novels I would like to use

the theory of Orientalism by Edward Said. According to Said, the world is divided in two

parts, the Orient and the Occident. The Orient is inhabited by people such as Africans,

Indians, and Indonesians, and the Occident by people such as the British, French,

Americans, and Australians. The images, ideas and personalities of people in the

Occident are in contrast with those in the Orient. Moreover, ‘The relationship of

Occident and Orient is that of power, of domination, and varying degrees of a complex

hegemony’ (Said, 1978:5). The main idea of Orientalism is that the Orientals cannot

represent themselves because their existing ideas or images adopted in the world are

Occident-made. These ideas or images are very poor, untrue and manipulated. The

images or identities of the Orient are made by the Occident for a certain purpose, that is

for the sake of the Occident themselves. Because Orientals and Occidentals are supposed

to be in contrast, thus by giving the Orient the image of bad, evil and weak race, the

Occident will be the good, kind, and powerful race. The existing representations of native

Indians make most Occidentals react towards the Orientals with some kind of disrespect

or disgust. This is the trigger of most conflicts between Orientals and Occidentals.

Statement of the Problems

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The problems that will be analyzed in this major thesis are:

1. What conflicts happen between the natives and settlers in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim

and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India ?

2. What are the causes of those conflicts that happen between the natives and the

settlers in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India?

3. How does the theory of Orientalism help to give a better understanding about the

relationships between the natives and settlers in the two novels?

Purpose of the Study

Based on the statement of the problems above, the purpose of this study is:

1. To describe the conflicts that happen between the natives and the settlers in

Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India

2. To know what causes those conflicts that happen between the natives and the

settlers in Rudyard Kipling’s Kim and E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India.

3. To know how the theory of Orientalism helps in giving a better understanding

about the relationships between the natives and the settlers in the two novels.

Method of Research

The method of research used is library research. First of all, I read the two novels

as the primary texts. I then gather the information needed for the major thesis through

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Organization of the Thesis

I divide this thesis into four chapters, which are preceded by the Preface and the

Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which contains the Background of the Study,

the Statement of the Problem, the Purpose of the Study, the Method of Research and the

Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two deals with the analysis of the conflicts between

the natives and the settlers in EM Forster’s A Passage to India, whereas Chapter Three

deals with the analysis of the conflicts between the natives and the settlers in Rudyard

Kipling’s Kim. Chapter Four is the Conclusion, in which I conclude and compare my

analysis of the conflicts in the two novels. The thesis ends with the Bibliography and the

Appendix, which consists of the summaries and the biographies of the two writers.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

After analyzing the two novels, I would like to draw some conclusions. In

these two novels, Forster’s A Passage to India and Kipling’s Kim, there are

always conflicts in the interaction between the native Indians and the British

settlers. The conflicts are varied; nevertheless, the triggers of most conflicts in

these novels are actually the same.

The social conflicts in A Passage to India happen because most of the

British settlers in the story believe in certain stereotypes of the native Indians.

Aziz, the main character in the novel, a native Indian, has problematic conflicts

mainly with Adela, some officers in the City of Chadrapore, and his settler friend

Fielding. These characters have the mindset that native Indians are all the same;

evil, uneducated and weak. They do not consider Aziz’s personal characteristics

and other objective truth, which results in Aziz’s rejection towards their attitude,

thus conflicts are inevitable.

Kim, like Aziz, experiences conflicts with the British settlers in the novel

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assume whatever the British settlers do is right and vice versa. The main conflicts in

Kim are between Kim and Reverend Arthur Bennett, Father Victor, and the people in

the schooling institution. These people assume that their race is the better one, and

they know what is right or wrong for other races. Assuming they are the better race,

they believe that they have power over other races as well. That is why they have

conflicts with Kim, whom they think is a native Indian, and thus he is their

subordinate.

According to Edward Said in his book entitled Orientalism, the Occidentals

tend to use their own-made stereotypes about the Orientals in their interaction with

the Orientals. The Occidentals put themselves in a binary opposition as the better race

with the attribute of being kind, educated and powerful in order to put their opposite,

the Orientals, as the worse race that are evil, uneducated and weak. This theory can

greatly explain the conflicts that both Aziz and Kim experience in the novels.

However, these two novels show a difference in the end of the conflicts, and

this is what makes the two novels different. Aziz, in A Passage to India, turns to hate

the British settlers and never makes peace with any of them. These conflicts are not

settled throughout the novel. It is different with Kim, in the novel Kim, who finally

realizes that what the British settlers do is not all bad. He takes the advantage of

British education and after that he comes back to the Lama and continues the journey

until at the end of the novel the two of them finish their search.

In my opinion the difference between the resolutions of the conflicts in the

two novels are due to the personal lives of the authors themselves. EM Forster was

known for his support for Indian independence. His support can be seen clearly in the

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conflicts in his novel where Aziz finally fights the British settlers with their

colonialism out of India. In the novel, there is a message that the Indians shall be free

and gain their independence. The Indians are actually able to control themselves and

do not need the presence of the British. This is some kind of propaganda telling the

Indian to rise and fight for their own nation.

On the other hand, in his life, Rudyard Kipling was known to be a

pro-imperialist. His loyalty to the Kingdom was unquestionable. He spent most of his

time writing journals and propagandas for the sake of the British. He also wrote many

columns in newspapers showing his support for British colonialism. In my opinion,

the novel Kim was one of Kipling’s propagandas. By giving such resolution of the

conflicts, where Kim and the British settlers finally get along together, Kipling would

like to deliver a message to the readers that it is possible for India to get along with its

colonizers. All the Indians should do is obey the British at first, just like Kim, who

finally realizes that British education is good for him and good things will follow in

the end.

A Passage to India was first published in 1924, and the number of copies were

later multiplied, in the era when the freedom movement in India arose. The

movement continued until India’s independence in 1947. It is very possible, in my

opinion, that indirectly the novel gave quite a number of effects to the freedom

movement in India at that time. As I have mentioned before, A Passage to India is a

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Nevertheless, not long after its independence, India in fact suffered declines in

many aspects, unlike when it was ruled by Great Britain. Conflicts happened, the

quality of education was poor, many people starved, etc. These show that the people

of India were actually not prepared for its independence, despite the fact that there is

an opinion saying that the decline of India was caused by the British themselves who

divided India into two nations, Pakistan and India, by the time they left India. I

cannot agree to the opinion saying that the separation of India was behind the decline.

In my opinion, it should not have been the problem because the two nations should

have been able to cope with the separation and work together as they were actually

one nation. I do believe that there were some cases in which India still needs the

attention of the British. This is Kipling’s opinion that I think is true.

However, a nation needs its independence. Being independent, a nation can

have unity in some aspects including a unity in past times, culture and views. These

aspects could have been the basic identity of a nation which I cannot find in colonized

India. According to Orientalism this is because the Occidentals, in this case the

British, will not allow the Orientals to show their own identity; instead, they make

Oriental stereotypes in order to gain advantages for their own race. The Occidentals

make the bad images of the Orientals for their own sake; this is why the Orientals

find difficulties to show their own identity.

In conclusion, there is the most ideal solution to this situation. At that time,

India neeeded the attention of the British in order to be a better nation, and at the

same time the British needed India to strengthen its economy and politics. The two

nations should have created a mutual agreement in order to gain advantages for both

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of them. In the process, the two nations should pay respect to all aspects including the

most sensitive one, culture. By respecting the other race, one would let the other race

show their own identity. Showing the Oriental identity is also the core of

Orientalism. Orientals need to be given the opportunity to show their own true

identity, instead of the ones given by the Occidentals, and that is all they need. Then,

with their own different identity, together they can be part of the world without

discrediting each other. This way, the two races will have the benefits of reaching

their own targets. I believe that today’s conflicts suffered by a number of nations can

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000

Said, Edward W. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books, 1979

Shaw, Harry. Dictionary of Literary Terms. New York: McGraw-hill Company,

1905.

Internet Website

Wikipedia. 8. March. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 10 March 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygamy.

Primary Texts

Forster, EM. A Passage to India. Great Britain: Penguin Books, 1961.

Kipling, Rudyard. Kim. Great Britain: Wordsworth Edition Limited, 1993