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Satire
Definition of Setting
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or it can be an imagined... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the city of New York, or... read full definition
Setting is where and when a story or scene takes place. The where can be a real place like the... read full definition
Key Examples in A Passage to India
Setting
Explanation and Analysis:
The main settings of A Passage to India are two Indian towns called Chandrapore and Mau. The narrator describes Chandrapore as "nothing extraordinary" beyond its mystical Marabar Caves—everything seems to be made of mud, and it contains a settlement of British expatriates. Mau is a Hindu region a few hundred miles from Chandrapore, and it becomes significant in the story because Aziz takes a job as the chief doctor to the Rajah of Mau. Beyond these two cities, Forster also writes of India as a whole, and the English often make generalizations about its character and qualities. When Fielding refers to it as a "muddle" in Chapter 7, he suggests that it is difficult to understand the country, saying, "A mystery is only a high-sounding term for a muddle [...]. Aziz and I know well that India’s a muddle."
Related Themes:
