A Passage to India

Novel | E. M. Forster

Briefly describe the ‘Marabar Caves’ in “A Passage to India.”

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Briefly describe the Marabar Caves in A Passage to India NU E M Forster s A Passage to India uses the Marabar Caves as a powerful symbol The caves are dark empty and confusing They play a key role in the story of Aziz Mrs Moore Adela Fielding and Ronny The Echo of Meaninglessness The Marabar Caves are not like ordinary caves They have no pattern no color and no light When someone speaks inside the sound returns without meaning Forster writes The echo in a Marabar cave is entirely devoid of distinction all produce boum This echo is strange It reduces every word to the same dull noise Love hate truth or prayer all return as boum Nothing is kept Nothing is respected This echo destroys the differences between right and wrong It makes everything empty and meaningless The caves symbolize confusion and chaos Mrs Moore s Breakdown Mrs

Moore goes to the Marabar Caves with Aziz Adela and others At first she is calm and curious But when she enters a cave she feels trapped The air is heavy The darkness is complete Forster writes She lost Aziz and Adela in the dark The echo breaks her spirit It turns all sounds into one meaningless noise She feels that nothing has value Love prayer and truth all lose meaning She begins to think life itself is empty She cannot pray anymore She feels cut off from God Finally she leaves India by ship On her journey she dies Thus the caves destroy Mrs Moore s faith Adela s Fear and Aziz s Arrest Adela Quested also enters a cave She feels lost The echo frightens her She imagines Aziz attacked her Aziz is innocent but he is arrested Ronny Turton Mrs Turton and Callendar support Adela Hamidullah and Mahmoud Ali defend Aziz Among the British only Fielding believes him The caves cause mistrust trial and broken friendship The Marabar Caves are the heart of the novel They symbolize emptiness fear and separation They break Mrs Moore s faith They frighten Adela They destroy Aziz s trust Through the caves Forster shows the failure of communication between East and West

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