The 'Wild' Elephant

Eliot's poem 'The Wasteland' is filled with desolation and barrenness. While reading the poem a second time I noticed the carved animals on the 'burnished throne' (II) as well as the reference to Philomel (a princess who was raped and mutilated and then turns into a nightingale) and her sorrowful lament. There are other references to birds and animals throughout the poem, most notably rats which feed off the litter city dwellers leave behind. Eliot shows animals as impure and unnatural in the depraved 'West'

The poem ends on a hopeful note however as it depicts the Orient as fertile, spiritual and a place that the West can and should learn from. Eliot believes that the Orient places nature and religion above the trappings of modernity and so it would not be reckless to assume he believed that animals too were somehow purer, more comfortable in a natural habitat and definitely more free.

Considering this, it is hilarious to learn how Aziz arranged for an elephant for his grand expedition with Mrs Moore and Adela. In fact, I believe this was a particularly brilliant scene because though it seems insignificant it challenges the idea of a 'free' India that put nature before everything else. Aziz may have intended for the elephant to come across as part of the natural landscape but it turns out he actually had to pull quite a few strings in order to obtain an elephant for the journey. (Ironically, this seems bureaucratic and closer to Eliot's depiction of the West not the East) Furthermore, the ladies themselves were not excited by the elephant, they were simply 'polite' about it (they had been in India for some time at this point and the idea of animals 'roaming about' the country probably no longer seemed too novel) and it was Aziz who felt that an elephant was necessary in order for this expedition to be truly Indian. Lastly, the elephant is obviously tame but he refers to it as 'wild', further perpetuating this idea that in India you may hop onto any elephant and it will take you where you wish to go because here nature and man are inextricably linked.

Thus this small instance shows how problematic Eliot's solution to the problems of the West are.India (or at least Forster's depiction of India) is far more complicated, bureaucratic and alienating than Eliot's poem leads us to believe.