An Analysis Of Cultural Symbol In A Passage To India From The Postcolonial Perspective

E.M.Forster(1879-1970)is one of the most famous British novelists in the 20 th century.The Times newspaper calls him as “one of the most esteemed English novelists of his time”.His works vividly reveal the contradictions in glorious modern civilization.The novel A Passage to India establishes his status in the history of English literature,which explores whether the British colonizers and native Indians can become true friends by describing the experience of two British ladies traveling to India.Under the guidance of postcolonialism,this thesis explores the embodiment of political and cultural status of Britain colonizer and Indian colonized in cultural symbol.Cultural symbol highlights the spirit and emotion of a social group or a country,revealing the inner meaning of the phenomenon that dominating the surface of culture.Through the symbolic analysis of the British and Indian cultures in the novel,this thesis aims to discuss the loss of British hegemony,the construction of India’s subjectivity,and the good wishes and hopes of the two countries to reach a reconciliation,to reveal the limitations and contradictions in colonial discourse power and stimulate the subjective initiative and national confidence of the colonized and then promote the regional culture of “others”.The thesis contains five chapters.The first chapter introduces the author Forster and his novel A Passage to India,makes a literature review of relevant research at home and abroad,and introduces the method,purpose and significance of the thesis.The second chapter mainly analyzes British cultural symbol in the novel which expounds the contradictions and uncertainties in the colonial discourse power and the cultural hegemony of Britain,the deconstruction of the binary opposition between the colonizer and the colonized,and the gradual loss of British hegemonic rule and colonial discourse power.The third chapter mainly discusses Indian cultural symbol which explains that in the process of collision and communication between British and Indian cultures in time and space.Indians’ strong sense of patriotism is awakened and they show a distinct sense of resistance to British colonial and cultural hegemony.It shows the Indian people’s control over their country and their strong cultural confidence.The subjectivity of the Indian people is constructed and declared.The fourth chapter mainly discusses the cultural symbol of the integration between Britain and India which illustrates that only when the colonizer abandon the prejudice of Eurocentrism and racism can the equal communication between Britain and India be realized,which shows Forster’s wish for equal relations and friendly communication between the British and Indian people.The fifth chapter is a conclusion.Under the colonial rule of British hegemony,the indigenous Indians loses their subjectivity,but the British hegemony is not monolithic.In the cultural negotiation between Britain and India,the status of the colonizer and the colonized is shaken,which poses an inherent threat to the western disciplinary power and then the colonized people have a rising sense of sovereignty.Mutual respect for each other’s cultures is conducive to reconciliation and friendly communication between the two countries,and helps the colonizer to realize the limitations in colonial discourse power,so as to eliminate the absolute boundaries between the two countries and further achieves world equality and harmony.