You are on page 1of 4

A Passage to India Plot summary A young British schoolmistress, Adela Quested, and her elderly friend, Mrs.

Moore, visit the fictional city of Chandrapore, British India. Adela is to marry Mrs. Moore's son, Ronny Heaslop, the city magistrate. Mean hile, !r. A"i", a young Indian Muslim physician, is dining ith t o of his Indian friends and conversing a#out hether it is possi#le to #e friends ith an $nglishman. !uring the meal, a summons arrives from Ma%or Callendar, A"i"'s unpleasant superior at the hospital. A"i" hastens to Callendar's #ungalo as ordered, #ut is delayed #y a flat tyre and difficulty in finding a tonga and the ma%or has already left in a huff. !isconsolate, A"i" al&s do n the road to ard the rail ay station. 'hen he sees his favourite mos(ue, a rather ramshac&le #ut #eautiful structure, he enters on impulse. He sees a strange $nglish oman there, and angrily yells at her not to profane this sacred place. )he oman, ho turns out to #e Mrs Moore, has respect for native customs *she had ta&en off her shoes #efore entering and she ac&no ledged that +,od is here+ in the mos(ue- disarms A"i", and the t o chat and part as friends. Mrs. Moore returns to the British clu# do n the road and relates her e.perience at the mos(ue. Ronny Heaslop, her son, initially thin&s she is tal&ing a#out an $nglishman, and #ecomes indignant hen he learns the facts. He thin&s she should have indicated #y her tone that it as a +Mohammedan+ ho as in (uestion. Adela, ho ever, is intrigued. Because the ne comers had e.pressed a desire to see Indians, Mr. )urton, the city ta. collector, invites numerous Indian gentlemen to a party at his house. )he party turns out to #e an a & ard #usiness, than&s to the Indians' timidity and the Britons' #igotry, #ut Adela does meet Cyril /ielding, headmaster of Chandrapore's government0run college for Indians. /ielding invites Adela and Mrs. Moore to a tea party ith him and a Hindu0Brahmin professor named 1arayan ,od#ole. 2n Adela's re(uest, he e.tends his invitation to !r. A"i". At /ielding's tea party, everyone has a good time conversing a#out India, and /ielding and A"i" even #ecome great friends. A"i" #uoyantly promises to ta&e Mrs. Moore and Adela to see the Mara#ar Caves, a distant cave comple. that everyone tal&s a#out #ut no one seems to actually visit. A"i"'s Mara#ar invitation as one of those casual promises that people often ma&e and never intend to &eep. Ronny Heaslop arrives and rudely #rea&s up the party. A"i" mista&enly #elieves that the omen are really offended that he has not follo ed through on his promise and arranges the outing at great e.pense to himself. /ielding and ,od#ole ere supposed to accompany the little e.pedition, #ut they miss the train. A"i" and the omen #egin to e.plore the caves. In the first cave, ho ever, Mrs. Moore is overcome ith claustropho#ia, for the cave is dar& and A"i"'s retinue has follo ed her in. )he press of people nearly smothers her. But orse than the claustropho#ia is the echo. 1o matter hat sound one ma&es, the echo is al ays +Boum.+ !istur#ed #y the echo, Mrs. Moore declines to continue e.ploring. 3o Adela and A"i", accompanied #y a single guide, a local man, clim# on up the hill to the ne.t cluster of caves. As A"i" helps Adela up the hill, she innocently as&s him hether he has more than one ife. !isconcerted #y the #luntness of the remar&, he duc&s into a cave to compose himself. 'hen he comes out, he finds the guide sitting alone outside the caves. )he guide says Adela has gone into one of the caves #y herself. A"i" loo&s for her in vain. !eciding she is lost, he angrily punches the guide, ho runs a ay. A"i" loo&s around again and discovers Adela's field glasses lying #ro&en on the ground. He puts them in his poc&et. )hen A"i" loo&s do n the hill and sees Adela spea&ing to another young $nglish oman, Miss !ere&, ho has arrived ith /ielding in a car. A"i" runs do n the hill and greets /ielding effusively, #ut Miss !ere& and Adela have already driven off ithout a ord of e.planation. /ielding, Mrs. Moore, and A"i" return to Chandrapore on the train.

)hen the #lo falls. At the train station, !r. A"i" is arrested and charged ith se.ually assaulting Adela in a cave. 3he reports the alleged incident to the British authorities. )he run0up to A"i"'s trial for attempted se.ual assault releases the racial tensions #et een the British and the Indians. Adela accuses A"i" only of trying to touch her. 3he says that he follo ed her into the cave and tried to gra# her, and that she fended him off #y s inging her field glasses at him. 3he remem#ers him gra##ing the glasses and the strap #rea&ing, hich allo ed her to get a ay. )he only actual evidence the British have is the field glasses in the possession of !r. A"i". !espite this, the British colonists firmly #elieve that A"i" is guilty4 at the #ac& of all their minds is the conviction that all dar&er peoples lust after hite omen. )hey are stunned hen /ielding proclaims his #elief in A"i"'s innocence. /ielding is ostraci"ed and condemned as a #lood0traitor. But the Indians, ho consider the assault allegation a fraud aimed at ruining their community's reputation, elcome him. !uring the ee&s #efore the trial, Mrs. Moore is une.pectedly apathetic and irrita#le. Her e.perience in the cave seems to have ruined her faith in humanity. Although she curtly professes her #elief in A"i"'s innocence, she does nothing to help him. Ronny, alarmed #y his mother's assertion that A"i" is innocent, decides to arrange for her return #y ship to $ngland #efore she can testify to this effect at the trial. Mrs. Moore dies during the voyage. Her a#sence from India #ecomes a ma%or issue at the trial, here A"i"'s legal defenders assert that her testimony alone, had it #een availa#le, ould have proven the accused's innocence. After an initial period of fever and eeping, Adela #ecomes confused as to A"i"'s guilt. At the trial, she is as&ed point0#lan& hether A"i" se.ually assaulted her. 3he as&s for a moment to thin& #efore replying. 3he has a vision of the cave in that moment, and it turns out that Adela had, hile in the cave, received a shoc& similar to Mrs. Moore's. )he echo had disconcerted her so much that she temporarily #ecame unhinged. 3he ran around the cave, fled do n the hill, and finally sped off ith Miss !ere&. At the time, Adela mista&enly interpreted her shoc& as an assault #y A"i", ho personifies the India that has stripped her of her psychological innocence, #ut he as never there. 3he admits that she as mista&en. )he case is dismissed. *1ote that in the 5657 draft of the novel $M /orster originally had A"i" guilty of the assault and found guilty in the court, #ut later changed this in the 5689 draft to create a more am#iguous ending-. All the $nglish are shoc&ed and infuriated #y hat they vie as Adela's #etrayal of the hite race. Ronny Heaslop #rea&s off their engagement. Adela stays at /ielding's house until her passage on a #oat to $ngland is arranged. After e.plaining to /ielding that the echo as the cause of the hole #usiness, she departs India, never to return. Although he is free and vindicated, A"i" is angry and #itter that his friend, /ielding, ould #efriend Adela after she nearly ruined his life. Believing it to #e the gentlemanly thing to do, /ielding convinces A"i" not to see& monetary redress from her. )he t o men's friendship suffers in conse(uence, and /ielding soon departs for $ngland. A"i" #elieves that he is leaving to marry Adela for her money. Bitter at his friend's perceived #etrayal, he vo s never again to #efriend a hite person. A"i" moves to the Hindu0ruled state of Mau and #egins a ne life. ) o years later, /ielding returns to India and to A"i". His ife is 3tella, Mrs. Moore's daughter from a second marriage. A"i", no the Ra%a's chief physician, at first persists in his anger against his old friend. But in time, he comes to respect and love /ielding again. Ho ever, he does not give up his dream of a free and united India. In the novel's last sentences, he e.plains that he and /ielding cannot #e friends, at least not until India is free of the British Ra%. $ven the earth and the s&y seem to say, +1ot yet. A Tale of Two Cities Plot Summary It is the year 5::;, and $ngland and /rance are undergoing a period of social upheaval and turmoil. )he forces that are leading to revolution in /rance are colliding ith a circle of people in $ngland, causing their destinies to #e irrevoca#ly intert ined. <ucie Manette, a young oman ho has #een raised as an orphan and a ard of )ellson's #an&, learns that her father is alive and has recently #een released from prison after eighteen years of un%ust incarceration. 3he travels to the /rench su#ur# of 3aint Antoine ith Mr. =arvis <orry, a longtime )ellson's employee ho had managed her

father's affairs #efore his imprisonment. )hey find her father at the home of $rnest !efarge, a former domestic of !r. Manette's ho has housed the doctor since his release. )hough her father is teetering on the #rin& of insanity, she solemnly vo s that she ill #e true to him and devote her life to helping him recover himself. )he family relocates to <ondon, and Mr. <orry #ecomes a friend of the family. After time, the doctor #egins to recover and resumes his practice, and though he occasionally reverts #ac& to his trance0li&e state, he slo ly #ut surely returns to himself. )hroughout the process, he and <ucie #ecome e.tremely close. After a period of five years, <ucie and her father are called to testify in the trial of Charles !arnay, a /rench citi"en and <ondon resident ho has #een accused of treason against $ngland. <ucie testifies that she and her father sa !arnay on a ship #ound for $ngland the night she #rought her father #ac& home to <ondon, and that he as conversing ith other men and poring over documents. )hough the testimony is damaging, <ucie notes that !arnay had #een e.tremely &ind and helpful to her in caring for her father on the ship, and she admits that she hopes her testimony has not doomed him. !arnay is ultimately saved hen one itness' testimony hinges on the itness' certainty that he sa !arnay at a certain locale at a particular time. 'hen 3ydney Carton, a mem#er of !arnay's defense team, removes his ig in court, it is revealed that he #ears a stri&ing resem#lance to !arnay, there#y eroding the itness' credi#ility in terms of his certainty of having seen Charles !arnay himself. !arnay is ultimately freed, and this circumstance dra s everyone involved closer together. !arnay, along ith Mr. <orry, #ecomes a friend of the family, and 3ydney Carton #ecomes a regular visitor, if not an entirely elcome one00he is fre(uently drun&, often sullen, and coarse in his manner. )hough the others complain of Carton's manner, one evening he confides in <ucie and tells her that hile he has made nothing of his life and ill not improve #efore he dies, he ants her to &no that she has a a&ened feelings in him that he thought had #een stamped out long ago. 3he as&s if she can help him, and he says no, #ut that he ants her to &no that he cares for her deeply. )he group continues to visit regularly, and on one particular evening, <ucie notes that there is an ominous feeling in the air, as if she is a#le to forecast that grave danger and turmoil are in her future. But the family continues to #e happy, and <ucie eventually marries !arnay, ho tells her father that he has a secret that no one else &no s. !r. Manette as&s !arnay to save the secret for the marriage morning, and !arnay does. A year passes. !arnay returns to /rance to attend to the #usiness that had gotten him into trou#le in $ngland in the first place. He pays a visit to his uncle, a corrupt aristocrat ho is so cruel that hen his carriage driver rec&lessly ran over and &illed a peasant's child, he #lamed the peasants for #eing in the ay. After having dinner in his uncle's lavish chateau, !arnay a&es up to find that his uncle has #een murdered. He returns to $ngland, and several more years pass. He and <ucie have t o children, a son and a daughter. )he son passes a ay as a young #oy, #ut the family continues to #e relatively happy despite this tragic circumstance. But the fore#oding sense looms in the air, and Mr. <orry notes that many of )ellson's >aris customers are frantically transferring their assets to the <ondon #ranch, signaling some &ind of danger in >aris. He notes that he ill have to travel to >aris to help the office there handle the volume. 2ne day, Mr. <orry remar&s to !arnay that he has received a letter addressed to a Mar(uis 3t. $vr?monde in care of )ellson's. !arnay says that he &no s the man and ill deliver the letter4 in truth, !arnay is the Mar(uis 3t. $vr?monde, a descendant of the corrupt rulers of /rance. )he letter is from an old friend ho has #een put in prison un%ustly and ho fears that he ill soon #e e.ecuted. !arnay, ho has so long avoided /rance for fear of hat might happen to him there #ecause of his heritage, reali"es that he must go. He goes to intervene on his friend's #ehalf and (uic&ly reali"es that the situation is orse than he could have imagined. A revolution has ta&en place4 the peasants have overthro n the government and are murdering anyone ho they feel represents the old guard. !arnay is immediately ta&en into custody, though he tries desperately to e.plain that unli&e his uncle and father, he is on the peasants' side and ants to help them. )hey disregard his testimony, and none other than $rnest !efarge, ho has since #ecome a revolutionary, sends !arnay to prison. By this time, <ucie and her father have learned that !arnay has returned to /rance, a are that !arnay is pro#a#ly in grave danger. )he revolutionaries treat !r. Manette as a hero, ho ever, #ecause he had so long suffered at the hands of the same government that oppressed them *and that they have since overthro n-. Because of his ne found influence, he is a#le to learn here !arnay is, and he intervenes on his #ehalf. 'hen !arnay is tried for his life in front of a corrupt and farcical tri#unal, only !r. Manette's testimony saves him. He is freed, #ut #efore even one day passes, he is recaptured on the grounds that three /rench citi"ens have

denounced him. He is forced to undergo another trial, at hich it is learned that the citi"ens ho denounced him are $rnest !efarge, Madame !efarge *$rnest's cruel and vengeful ife-, and !r. Manette. 'hen !r. Manette declares that he has never denounced Charles and that hoever accused him of doing so is lying, !efarge presents a paper to the tri#unal to #e read aloud. )he paper turns out to #e a %ournal that !r. Manette had ritten after ten years in prison and hidden in a chimney4 !efarge discovered it hen the peasants freed that particular prison. )he account reveals that !r. Manette had learned that a Mar(uis 3t. $vr?monde and his #rother had cruelly murdered a peasant, and he learned this #ecause the men retrieved him to give medical attention to their victims #efore they died. He sa ho the #rothers treated their victims so cruelly, and he had ritten a letter to the government informing them of hat he sa . )he #rothers $vr?monde learned that !r. Manette had ritten the letter. 3hortly thereafter, he as ta&en prisoner, and his ife as never informed of hat happened to him. /or this, !r. Manette rote that he denounced the #rothers $vr?monde and all their descendants. After the letter is read, the court erupts into an uproar, and the tri#unal votes unanimously to e.ecute !arnay. <ucie and her father are #eside themselves4 #y this time, Carton has traveled to >aris, and he and Mr. <orry confer and try to decide hat to do. !uring this time, !r. Manette tries to save !arnay, #ut he relapses into his trance0li&e state and is una#le to do anything. )hrough a series of coincidences, Carton discovers that one of the men ho testified against !arnay at his trial several years earlier is or&ing as a spy in /rance. He learns that the man is a spy in the prison here !arnay is held, and he #lac&mails the man into granting him access to !arnay. Mr. <orry remar&s solemnly that this ill not help !arnay4 Carton says he &no s this, and !arnay's fate seems irrevoca#ly sealed. Carton, ho ever, has other plans. He goes to the prison on the day of Charles' e.ecution on the pretense of visiting him one last time. But once he gets inside, he uses his physical resem#lance to !arnay and his a#ility to manipulate the spy to pull off the ultimate sacrifice. He drugs !arnay into a stupor, s itches clothing ith him, and has the spy smuggle !arnay out of the prison and into a aiting carriage that also includes !r. Manette, <ucie, and Mr. <orry. He tells no one of his plan, and not even the Manettes &no it. )hey are aiting in their carriage for Carton, fully e.pecting that he ill %oin them and that they ill leave /rance in a hurry. )he rest of the family is in danger #ecause of Madame !efarge, ho ants to denounce all of them. )he peasant that the $vr?monde #rothers murdered as her #rother, and she ants revenge against !arnay and his entire family. )he spy smuggles Charles to the aiting carriage, and the family escapes /rance. Carton, ho ever, goes to the guillotine and dies for <ucie, fulfilling his promise to her that he ould die +to &eep a life you love #eside you.+ =ust #efore he dies, he thin&s to himself that his final act is far #etter than anything else he has ever done.

You might also like