Quote:
Originally Posted by beppe
Forster often uses the expression "muddle".
It explains it in detail in chapter 23, where Fielding returns to the western world of Egypt, Crete and Venice. Everything is in the right place, whereas in poor India ...
Later, in chapter 33, he defines muddle as a frustration of reason and form.
I intend this as a thought provoking comment.  |
I think the British try very hard to create a microcosm of their world in India. This is a world filled with narrow prejudices. Further, they try to
impose this world on India. The trial is the great dramatization of this attempt. The failure to convict Aziz {even though Ronnie thinks the guilty verdict is certain} show the impossibility of this attempt to impose the values of one civilisation on another. No wonder such a goal is unreasonable and bound to be frustrated--in short the British are in a "Muddle".
The irrational attitude of the British overlords is seen, too, in their treatment of those whom they feel don't "toe the line". Mrs Moore is conveniently sent away. Fielding takes the side of Aziz and when he first appeals to Adela, she ignores him. In the end, Fielding is presented as an outcast. He's the only Englishman who supports Aziz and sits with the Indians at the trial. It is only because somehow Adela finds an inner resource of truth that she manages to prevent a miscarriage of justice.
And consider India itself. It is huge, teeming with millions of diverse people, there are exotic colours, sounds, creatures, belief systems There is the gentle beauty of the mosque, the strange mysticism of the caves, and the chaotic excursion to them, No wonder such a place will seem to be a "muddle" to the straight-laced English.
But perhaps the "muddle" is only a richness not understood.