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... " mutters Mrs. Moore as she collapses into the raving madness of spiritual despair (228). ... Forsters most sympathetic character through nearly all of A Passage to India, she is suddenly immobilized after her experience in the Marabar Caves; her perspective, thoughts, and even language degenerate into withered cynicism and virtually incoherent ramblings. Indeed, the last of these seemingly irrational monologues convinces Ronny that his mother has fallen off completely; he sends her back to England believing that India has warped her sense of reality. In looking more carefully at one of these thought-driven monologues, however, we find that Mrs. ... By analyzing the structure of these thoughts, the new ideology driving them, and the possibility of their resolution, we discover that Mrs. Moores revelations and subsequent transformation stem from a startling anti-vision. The Caves undifferentiated echoes have convinced Mrs. ...
Though Mrs. Moore seems to rattle on endlessly in her last conversation with Ronny and Adela, one short passage stands out that begs close interpretation:
Oh, why is everything still my duty? ... and ending everything the echo. ... What prompts Mrs. ... Instead of leaving these inquiring thoughts open-ended, the echo ends everything. A question mark means nothing, a question itself means nothing the echo (and whatever this echo represents) ends all curiosity, all discovery, all possibility for a new perspective. In a sense, Mrs. Moore realizes that her own ideas are futile since the echo will indiscriminately wipe out every thought she produces. In this realization lies the source of her despair: her constant questions concerning spiritual depth and understanding are to be echoed instead of answered. The echoes themselves seem resistant to critical interpretation, but Mrs. Moores earlier explication of them "everything exists, nothing has value" proves remarkably lucid (165). ... "Everything exists" in that it persists without definition, without aesthetic or spiritual texture; at the same time, however, "nothing has value" since everything is negated in this echo (165). The superficial
order of her culture - and her value scheme - is completely obliterated by the chaos and disorder reflected in the echo. ...
Looking at the passage again, Forsters use of pronouns also proves important to understanding the structuring of Mrs. Moores thought process. ... (228)
Mrs. ... In a sense, Mrs. ... Additionally, the pronouns accentuate just how crucial the words "I," "we," and "us" are to the value scheme which Mrs. ... Yet, the Caves rejection and negation of this consciousness destroys Mrs. Moores conception of her world. ... Interestingly, the source of Mrs. Moores ultimate despair involves her failure to find an adequate substitute for the pronouns: she perceives the echo in terms of her own ego and thus cannot evolve a more universal perspective. In addition, Mrs. Moores heavy pronoun use reflects her cognizance of the falseness of interactions. ...
Also packed within this loaded passage are undertones of the British and Christian ideology which Mrs. ... The experience in the Caves forces Mrs. Moore to reject her two most sacred value conceptions: the existence of spiritual absolutes and the idea of interpersonal love. Of the former, Mrs. ... and ending everything the echo" (228). In even the most fundamental and basic doctrines of Christianity, Mrs.
Approximate Word count = 2547
Approximate Pages = 10.2
(250 words per page double spaced)
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