THIS is with reference to the article ‘The White Man’s Burden and A Passage to India’ (Aug 2), which was a delightful read, comparing the work and ideological inclinations of two famous writers of the Raj: Rudyard Kipling and E.M. Forster.

Kipling’s Jungle Book and Forster’s A Passage to India became very famous. Excerpts from the former were included in the syllabi of schools even after independence.

Kipling was, however, quite racist and pro-imperialism in his lookout and even in his work. In his poem The White Man’s Burden, Kipling justifies colonialism and imperialism by asserting that it is the white man’s burden to bring civilisation to the natives of the colonies.

Forster, on the other hand, was a more nuanced writer, with no particular enthusiasm for imperialism. In his magnum opus, A Passage to India, he narrates the story of a friendship between Dr Aziz, a native, with Fielding, the British principal of a college. Even this relationship, in spite of Dr Aziz’s effort at acculturation, falls prey to doubts and differences.

This relationship of Aziz and Fielding is thus considered to be a metaphor signifying the differences between the East and the West, according to Sara Suleri.

Coincidently, Kipling won the Nobel prize, whereas Forster could not win one, despite getting nominated for it a few times.

Akbar Jan Marwat
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2021