When Dr. Aziz approaches Old Callendar's house in chapter 2, his internal perspective becomes more evident. He knows that if he approaches the house in a tonga, a type of carriage, he might be turned away from the Englishman's house for acting too proud for an Indian. Forster writes, "his feelings—the sensitive edges of him— feared a gross snub." As Dr. Aziz waits for a message from Callendar, two Englishwomen come out and take his...
When Dr. Aziz approaches Old Callendar's house in chapter 2, his internal perspective becomes more evident. He knows that if he approaches the house in a tonga, a type of carriage, he might be turned away from the Englishman's house for acting too proud for an Indian. Forster writes, "his feelings—the sensitive edges of him— feared a gross snub." As Dr. Aziz waits for a message from Callendar, two Englishwomen come out and take his tonga without asking. He then thinks, "The inevitable snub—his bow ignored, his carriage taken." The women take his carriage without thanking him, and the reader is privy to his thoughts. He feels that he has been embarrassed and wronged, and he feels invisible in front of the Englishwomen who think everything they see belongs to them.
Later in the chapter, Dr. Aziz enters a mosque where he meets Mrs. Moore for the first time. By this point, his internal perspective is very clear. The author conveys Dr. Aziz's feelings in the mosque in great detail in the following passage:
A mosque by winning his approval let loose his imagination. The temple of another creed, Hindu, Christian, or Greek, would have bored him and failed to awaken his sense of beauty. Here was Islam, his own country, more than a Faith, more than a battle-cry, more, much more. . . Islam, an attitude towards life both exquisite and durable, where his body and his thoughts found their home.
It is because the reader is allowed to feel Dr. Aziz's peace and his comfort in the mosque after being rebuffed by the other English people that the reader understands why Mrs. Moore's presence in the mosque rattles Dr. Aziz. Unlike the outside world, where he must be subservient to English people, Dr. Aziz feels that the mosque is his territory. He confronts Mrs. Moore in the mosque and says, "Madam, this is a mosque, you have no right here at all; you should have taken off your shoes; this is a holy place for Moslems." The reader has insight into the way Dr. Aziz feels at this point and understands his anger at an Englishwoman invading the place he feels is his sanctuary.
No comments:
Post a Comment