"Why talk about the English? Brrrr...!" An Outlook on Aziz's
Attempts to "Bridge the Gap" A Passage To India by E. M. Forster is a rich, postcolonial novel delving into the possibility of sustaining a personal friendship between an English person and an "Indian" person. This topic is being discussed in the beginning of the novel at the home of Hamidullah, "... they were discussing as to whether or no(t) it is possible to be friends with an Englishman. Mahmoud Ali argued that it was not, Hamidullah disagreed, but with so many reservations..." (Forster 7) Aziz, who the novel centers around, has the disposition to just shut them out and ignore them and all will be jolly. Of course, later, we find Aziz does not shut them out and rather …show more content…

The only reason that this relationship seems to work is because Mrs. Moore dies at the right time enabling Aziz to memoralize and glorify her. The dead have no faults or character flaws. Now moving onto the relationship of Fielding and Aziz, the novel's flippancy about transgressive sexuality opens the door for alternative sexuality. On the surface, A Passage to India is purely heterosexual, almost asexual in it's utter lack of overt carnal physicality. A close reading by the eagle eyed reader reveals something utterly different. No woman in the novel is physically portrayed as beautiful. The Anglo Indian women are deficient of any morality or good will towards Indians or each other. Mrs. Moore and Ms. Quested are either old or angular and both devoid of any attraction, especially from Aziz. Aziz as a matter of fact is not shown to be attracted to any woman. His wife who passed away did not please him physically, "...he begat his first child in mere animality." (Forster 57) Aziz also is constantly characterized within the novel as being gay, flamboyant, gorgeous, beautiful, and sensitive. These are not characteristics usually attributed to men nor heterosexual men either. I believe Forster (being a homosexual himself) may have cast Aziz to be the latent gay character in the novel. His relationship with Fielding certainly brings his sexuality into question. Fielding travels light. He has no kids and no wife. He's educated and open to anyone regardless of race.