Forster often foreshadows future conflict in Part 1 of A Passage to India. For example, in Part 1, Chapter 1, the narrator describes the Marabar caves as "extraordinary" in order to hint at their importance later in the story:
Only in the south, where a group of fists and fingers are thrust up through the soil, is the endless expanse interrupted. These fists and fingers are the Marabar Hills, containing the extraordinary caves.
At the novel's beginning, the narrator provides no explanation of why the caves are extraordinary; this creates a sense of mystery that subtly reflects the ambiguity of events during the cave expedition when Aziz is accused of assaulting Adela. The human element (personification) of "fists and fingers" makes the caves seem like characters in themselves. And most importantly, the last phrase of the first chapter is "extraordinary caves," which encourages readers to approach the caves, as well as the rest of the story, with a sense of expectation and curiosity.
Later in the story, the caves become the setting of the narrative's climax. Aziz arranges a day trip to the caves for Fielding's social group. When Fielding and Godbole miss their train, Aziz must go with Adela and Mrs. Moore. Two points of conflict follow. Mrs. Moore begins to realize that life is meaningless, and Aziz gets accused of assault. Firstly, Mrs. Moore feels claustrophobic, "For not only did the crush and stench alarm her; there was also a terrifying echo." She later recalls her strange encounter at Marabar, which represented the beginning of an existential crisis about the true meaning of life. And secondly, when Adela and Aziz go off to explore on their own, Adela asks Aziz if he has more than one wife; offended, he ducks into a small cave, but when he emerges, Adela is gone. Later, a group of Englishmen accuse Aziz of violating Adela in the cave and arrest him. These two events—Mrs. Moore's revelation and Adela's accusation—both occur in the caves, whose importance Forster foreshadows in the very first chapter.
