The picnic at the Marabar Caves is an important moment in A Passage to India. Barring Mr. Fielding's casual visit to Aziz's home, it is the first instance in which the liberal colonial - Miss Quested - experiences Chandrapore (and, by extension, India) under the auspices of a local subject. Before this the Indian experience, much to her chagrin, was circumscribed to the Cantonment area and filtered according to the cultural preferences of the colonial class. The 'unadulterated' Indian experience of her desires is, thus, the perfect backdrop to showcase her problematic existence as a liberal colonial.
Miss Quested's emphatic rejection of the distinctions between the colonizer and the colonized at Mr. Turton's party, despite its naivete, is a forceful and definite statement of her liberal ideals. At this point in the text there is little to suggest the problematic relationship between these ideals and her membership of the colonial class. But once immersed fully in the local context, the precarity of these ideals viz. her social status is almost impossible to notice.
The journey to the Marabar Hills with Aziz, to Adela's mind, seems like a moment of equalization, where the barriers between colonizer and colonized are erased, if not completely eradicated. However, she is only able to feel so because of the privilege of her social position. For the colonized other, Aziz, this same journey reinforces his inferiority further. For though the moment allows Aziz a brief opportunity to masquerade as Mughal Emperor, his actual status within this moment is not lost upon the reader. Aziz, despite all his efforts, emerges as the "oriental guide" rather than appear as the Mughal-esque host who can impress his magnanimity upon his guest, regardless of the resources at his disposal (134). A host, after all, is able to entertain and educate his guests from whatever resources he has at his disposal - to play a "beautiful tune" from the sole instrument he owns (134). Yet, here we see Aziz pandering to the colonizer's every need, attending to them like a British-trained foot-servant, and going far beyond his means in the process. The lengths he goes to in arranging an elephant ride on location for his "guests" illustrates this point well. The fact that Aziz had to borrow servants from here and there, only to leave them behind at different points in the journey, emphasizes the indignity of his position further.
Thus, simply rejecting the colonizer-colonized distinction in theory does little to erase the same in practice. The gulf, in terms of social position, between colonizer and colonized is vast; so vast, in fact, that its rejection serves only to reinforce it further. If Aziz and Adela occupied a similar social position, their journey would be an entirely different proposition altogether. Adela would not feel the need to exaggerate her response to every sight and sound; neither would Aziz feel compelled to make every moment seem extraordinary to the colonial gaze. The fact that they could not refrain from doing so, despite the ostensible erasure of all social boundaries between them, shows just how pervasive the distinction between colonizer and colonized actually is.
Miss Quested's emphatic rejection of the distinctions between the colonizer and the colonized at Mr. Turton's party, despite its naivete, is a forceful and definite statement of her liberal ideals. At this point in the text there is little to suggest the problematic relationship between these ideals and her membership of the colonial class. But once immersed fully in the local context, the precarity of these ideals viz. her social status is almost impossible to notice.
The journey to the Marabar Hills with Aziz, to Adela's mind, seems like a moment of equalization, where the barriers between colonizer and colonized are erased, if not completely eradicated. However, she is only able to feel so because of the privilege of her social position. For the colonized other, Aziz, this same journey reinforces his inferiority further. For though the moment allows Aziz a brief opportunity to masquerade as Mughal Emperor, his actual status within this moment is not lost upon the reader. Aziz, despite all his efforts, emerges as the "oriental guide" rather than appear as the Mughal-esque host who can impress his magnanimity upon his guest, regardless of the resources at his disposal (134). A host, after all, is able to entertain and educate his guests from whatever resources he has at his disposal - to play a "beautiful tune" from the sole instrument he owns (134). Yet, here we see Aziz pandering to the colonizer's every need, attending to them like a British-trained foot-servant, and going far beyond his means in the process. The lengths he goes to in arranging an elephant ride on location for his "guests" illustrates this point well. The fact that Aziz had to borrow servants from here and there, only to leave them behind at different points in the journey, emphasizes the indignity of his position further.
Thus, simply rejecting the colonizer-colonized distinction in theory does little to erase the same in practice. The gulf, in terms of social position, between colonizer and colonized is vast; so vast, in fact, that its rejection serves only to reinforce it further. If Aziz and Adela occupied a similar social position, their journey would be an entirely different proposition altogether. Adela would not feel the need to exaggerate her response to every sight and sound; neither would Aziz feel compelled to make every moment seem extraordinary to the colonial gaze. The fact that they could not refrain from doing so, despite the ostensible erasure of all social boundaries between them, shows just how pervasive the distinction between colonizer and colonized actually is.
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