Self Lost And Self Regained

Edward Morgan Forster, one of the twentieth century English novelists, has ranked among the greatest novelists. A Passage to India draws from Forster’s two personal experiences to India. The best known but also the most complicated novel arouses the numerous critical responses from the contemporary commentators. Most commentators have pointed out the main characters’dilemma of cross-cultural communication and the failed connection, considering the travel to India is devastating and India is not a pilgrimage. From the Delphic oracle "Know thyself" people always pursue the value of life. However, the road to self-knowledge is never-ending, as "the Riddle of Sphinx". The main characters in A Passage to India travel in heterogeneous space and they keep asking "Who am I". In this sense, the travel to India is not devastating and India can be regarded as a pilgrimage.Firstly, self lost. The real society is a mirror. Aziz, Mrs. Moore and Adela make a preliminary understanding of their own according to the social activities. Simultaneously, the society likes the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Aziz, Mrs. Moore and Adela, confused by the social illusion unconsciously, make incorrect judgments. They lost themselves because of the misperception of self.Secondly, self redemption. Traveling in India, especially the trip to the Marabar caves, Aziz, Mrs. Moore and Adela undergo the psychological anxiety and the cultural conflicts which provoke them to envisage the limitations of self-knowledge and to seek the way out of the dilemma.Thirdly, self regained. By comparing to the original rooted ideals, Aziz, Mrs. Moore and Adela eventually dispel their limitations and get the real knowledge of self.To sum up, the travel to India is not devastating. Aziz, Mrs. Moore and Adela know themselves by the constant self-denial. Thus, interacting with the reality, we can get self-knowledge and we can answer the question "Who am I". Only knowing ourselves, can we avoid a life tragedy.