Many of the exilic figures portrayed in 18th
century, 19th century narratives revolve around the very confusions
of individualism and to some extent sexuality. What Foster has highlighted in
his narrative, is the question of his characters’ freedom, sexuality and what
sort of implications they create for governing their life. One rather odd or
misfit character in this setting is that of Adela Quested who as the name
implies, is on a quest to find the “real India” and may be through that
discovery, hopes to find her “real personality”.
In the very first encounter of the reader with the
character, three things become very clear about the personality of Miss
Quested. First of all, her life revolves around intellectualism and there is no
place for emotional associations, even though she expresses a great desire for
them but lacks the intimacy in her relationship with Ronny. Secondly, her
reservations about the way the subjects of Imperialism are being treated by the
British and the Anglo-Indians. Lastly, the experience in Marabar Caves is
the depiction of her desperate nature for discovering the “real life” and the
person she is.
In her very desire of seeing the real India, we see a great
deal of desperation that exists in her personality for feeling the plight of
those existing beyond the sophisticated bubble of British India created by her
countrymen. A general aura of plea to passionately associate herself with the
life of those around her and to experience the versatilities of the world is
the main focus of the narrative. Furthermore, her disagreement on how the
Indians are subjected to inferiority complex and treated in a derogatory and
demotivating way shows her real passion for helping people out of their misery
and spreading of “love-for-all” message, overall giving her personality a light,
humanist perspective.
But in this little perfectionist or an exemplary idea for a
character, we also see the little imperfections when it comes to handling her
personal life and sorting out the muddles of love and relationships and what an
association really means. Her traumatic experience in the Marabar Caves
can be viewed to be the bigger picture of a series of events preceding it and
which primarily culminated of her unpredictable emotional personal life. She is
seen to be constantly puzzled and confused about her relationship with Ronny
and how she views her interactions with him to be “ordinary”. The absence of romantic
letters, love declarations, intimate moments in their engaged life shows the
very confused sentiments in both of the characters. A mere touch of a hand in a
car is a proof of their engagement which in the context of overall intimacy and
sexuality represented in the novel represents nothing but an acquaintance and
much less a romantic relationship.
Therefore, the very incident of Marabar Caves
can be viewed to be the depiction of Adela’s desperation for drama and a
hallucination to overcome the boredom of her travel and love life. It can also
be seen to be simply a hysterical fantasy driven as a result of sexual
attraction to Aziz. So may be the whole experience was in fact an attempt by
Adela for discovering herself and discovering the harsh realities of the life
outside the bubble that she is brought in from Britain. Fielding’s thought on
her experience after the trial also sums up this perspective, where he says:
“was no longer
examining life, but being examined by it; she had become a real person”
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