The mood of A Passage to India is both contemplative and intriguing. On the whole, the novel inspires feelings of awe, mostly because of its interest in exploring some of India's most compelling elements. However, the last passage gives the novel's ending a melancholy mood. In Part 3, Chapter 37, the narrator describes the many obstacles standing between Aziz and Fielding becoming genuine friends:
But the horses didn’t want it—they swerved apart; the earth didn’t want it, sending up rocks through which riders must pass single file; the temples, the tank, the jail, the palace, the birds, the carrion, the Guest House, that came into view as they issued from the gap and saw Mau beneath: they didn’t want it, they said in their hundred voices, “No, not yet,” and the sky said, “No, not there.”
Every element of India seems to unite against the idea of friendship between the English and Indian people. The narrative emphasis on India's grandeur comes to a climax here, as every constituent part of the country unifies against the idea of friendship between Fielding and Aziz. Thus, the novel's mystical mood drifts into a more negative register, as the reader realizes that, until the Indians drive the English out of their country, there can be no hope of the two groups treating each other as equals or as friends.
