Obaid Saeed: The Liberal Colonizers

Obaid Saeed: The Liberal Colonizers

In part one, chapter three of “A Passage to India”, we are introduced to the character of Miss Quested. After Mrs. Moore returns to the English club having viewed Cousin Kate, an interesting conversation takes place between the Englishmen and its primary crux revolves around Miss Quested wanting to see the Indians while her companions dissuade her. Miss Quested exemplifies the qualities of the liberal colonial, she is open to the idea of interaction between the Indians and the English. What interested me most about this conversation was the response of the Englishmen to her request, whereby a slow poisoning of the mind of Miss Quested begins. Mrs. Callender remarks : “Why, the best thing one can do to a native is to let them die”. A deep interactive divide exists between the English and the Indians, and the arrogance exhibited by Heaslop shows the inevitability of Miss Quested developing a similar attitude over time. What is even more interesting in this conversation is the fact that Miss Quested and the Englishmen both treat the Indians as if they are objects worth seeing. The Collector actually enumerates his contacts which can allow her to see Indians of different occupations. New to India, Miss Quested already has perhaps had a colonial effect on her mind, which is why she –according to a perspective- comments extremely insensitively when she reiterates her desire to “see the Indians”. But can we therefore say that this is the attitude of the liberal colonial? During the conversation, Ronny asks Fielding the best way to see the Indians, and he replies: “Try seeing them”. Perhaps Fielding is an exception that proves the rule, but I felt that this was an attempt by the author to show how the liberal colonials are perhaps not all the same.