Gender Bias in the 1920’s as Portrayed in "A Passage to India"

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Recommended: Essays gender inequality between men and women introduction

Today, for the most part, women are seen as equal to men. Women are given the same opportunities as men, and an equal chance at getting a job. In today’s society, women no longer have one role, which is to have kids and raise them, but they can pursue any career they wish. However, it was not always this way. According to feminist theorists, western civilizations were patriarchal, meaning they were dominated by males. Society was set up so the male was above the female in all cultural aspects, including family, religion, politics, economics, art, and the social and legal realms. The patriarchal biases of gender between male and female said that a male must be active, dominating, adventurous, rational, and creative.

In the novel, A Passage to India, E. M. Forster expressed this male dominance during the 1920’s by writing, “He took no notice of them, and with this, which would have passed without comment in feminist England, did harm in a community where the male is expected to be lively and helpful” (Forster 52). They say that to be female is to be passive, agreeable, timid, emotional, and conventional. The feminist theorists’ argument of a male-centered society is definitely present in Forster’s novel, where he reveals cultural, economic, and educational factors within the patriarchal society of India that limit women. In Forster’s novel, A Passage to India, Forster exposes derogatory stereotypes of women to uphold the view of women during the time period.

In A Passage to India, Forster shows bias against women. One of the derogatory stereotypes Forster uses is lack of intelligence. While reading the novel, Forster gives the reader the impression that the female characters are not smart or important in society. Ma...

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...chnique 20.3 (1990): 331-41. JSTOR. Web. 4 Mar. 2011. .

Sharpe, Jenny. “A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. James P Draper, Jennifer Brostrom, and Jennifer Gariepy. Vol. 77. Detroit: Gale, 1993. 253-57. Rpt. of “The Unspeakable Limits of Rape: Colonial Violence and Counter-Insurgency.” Genders 10 (1991): 25-46. Literature Criticism Online. Web. 4 Mar. 2011. .

Silver, Brenda R. “Periphrasis, Power, and Rape in ‘A Passage to India.’” NOVEL: A Forum on Fiction 22.1 (1988): 86-105. JSTOR. Web. 4 Mar. 2011. .

Walls, Elizabeth Macleod. "An Aristotelian Reading of the Feminine Voice-as-Revolution in E. M. Forster's A Passage To India." Papers on Language & Literature 35.1 (1999): 56. Literature Resource Center. Web. 25 Mar. 2011.

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