Fielding comes home.

Cyril Fielding ceases to become an exile by the closing end of the novel. In the first half he is a liberal English man who is well grounded in the ways of India. He is keen about establishing friendships with the natives as seen through his close association with Aziz. In class we have discussed at length how these friendships distance Fielding from the English mentality which is not interested in fostering relations with the natives based on mutual respect and goodwill. Fielding is though, and that puts him in exile from his own fellow countrymen.

However, it is in the latter half of the book, especially after Aziz’s trial that Fielding starts to shift towards the sensibilities of his own community. He goes back to England and gets married to Mrs Moore’s daughter – a move which is clearly at odds with his earlier statement in which he shows no interest of marriage or having descendants that continue his name. Before leaving India he also finds company in Adela who wrongfully charges Aziz with rape. Later this becomes a source of increasing distance between Aziz and Fielding as Aziz begins to wonder if Fielding has started to value Adela’s friendship more.

In this context Fielding’s character evolves, taking on a dimension which is different from his past self. “[Fielding] felt surprise at his own past heroism” (303) – the heroism in which he struggled for an Indian man against his own people. With this new self he reconnects with the British pride that is intrinsic of their imperial rule. And thus, he had “hardened” and had “no further use for politeness” (305), because “the British empire really can’t be abolished because it’s rude.”

And with this new outlook which is more grounded in his native sensibilities, he indulges in a friendly war of words with Aziz in which he discusses the future of India and who should rule it. His statements suggest a pride and honor taken in ruling a colony. He says: “Who do you want instead of the English? The Japanese?” – presenting the British rule as being the most effective form of imperialism.

These ending few lines of the book are particularly important as the defining features of characters and their old ties (that the book started with) seem to take a back seat and the issues of Nationalism and foreign rule begin to take centre stage. Amidst these relocations, Fielding, the liberal colonizer, finds the nucleus that he belongs to, in which he is able to assert, tactically, the ambitions of the colonizers and sympathize with their interests. With this emerges the clear distinction between “us” and “others” whereby both Fielding and Aziz realize that they can truly be friends only when removed from the colonizer-subject dynamic (306). Even if they don’t feel the friction amongst each other, the tension that the exists between the powers and the subjects at the national level will always undermine their attempts at having a realistic friendship.

By the end, Fielding is no more the exile as he relinquishes the struggle to connect with the Indian,  and finds his place which is that of the other, also made clear by the author as well, with the line “said the ‘other’” in reference to a statement that Fielding makes.