Characterization of the maincharacters

Douglas:
- hard-working administrator
- Englishman
- conservative
- feels superior to the Indians
- dislike Indian customes
- like sati
- can speak and likes Urdu
- strict
- intelligent
- “Oxbridge” (means that he has got an education at a school in England
- cannot show emotions
- says what the Nawab has to do

Nawab:
- prince/ruler
- not hard-working; just do the things what a prince has to do
- sentimental when he spend time with Olivia
- emotional
- possesive
- egoistic
- dominant
- hypocrat
- Muslim
- against Hindu culture
- educated in India
- inferior to the Englishmen
- dislike the British
- envions

Harry:
- never has a girlfriend
- does everything what the Nawab says to him

Olivia:
- lonely, feels worthless
- unexperienced
- unpreparated to India
- attracted by the Indian Palace
- very young
- has an affair with the Nawab
- gets pregnant and abort the child

the narrator:
- interested in her past in India
- open to other cultures
- tolerant
- open-minded
- likes adventures
- young
- has an affair with Inder Lal
- gets pregnant and wants an abortion at first, but later she decides to get the child

“Heat and Dust” – “A Passage to India”

There are indeed some several parallels but also differences concerning the book “Heat and Dust” and the movie “A Passage to India”.

The first aspect that is significant mentioning is that both stories take place at the beginning of the 1920s in India. Like Olivia, Mrs. Quested and Mrs. Moore as well travel to India to explore the country and to get to know it, without knowing anything about the cultural and social situation. In order to this fact both arrivals led to several difficulties.

The first difference that is conspicuous is the separation from the Indians not tolerating them in British clubs as shown in the movie whereby the British presented in the book admittedly also live separated in their own British society but they still live in the same town like the Indians. In contrast to the film, the book “Heat and Dust” presents the willing of all the English women trying to get friends with the Nawab´s mother, the Begum, because the Nawab is esteemed very high. Such a relationship does not exist in the film.

The following part shows a quite interesting process. Olivia and the narrator visit the shrine meanwhile Mrs. Quested as well comments her wish to get to know the landscape so that a trip to the holes nearby the towns is planned.

While Mrs. Quested accuses Dr. Aziz that he followed her and caused an accident through this, in the book no one really gets in trouble like that because the distance between Indians and British is not that big.

 

Another parallel that should be mentioned is the fact that Dr. Aziz, the Nawab and also Inder Lal arrange some visits extremely extensively for awaking the interest of Mrs. Quested, Olivia or rather the narrator.

 

Eventually the end shows the absolute contradiction of the book in relation to the film. Adela returns to England while Richard marries the daughter of Mrs. Moore and Dr. Aziz has two children. In contrast, Olivia escapes with the Nawab and lives in a house in the mountains in India. Additionally, the narrator, who is pregnant goes there as well to bear her child.

What does the reader learn about the Nawab?

-prince/ ruler of Khatm, a state that only seemingly is independent

-he has a wife who is mentally ill, they live separately

-he is of Muslim faith

-he likes entertaining Europeans

-he is involved in crime, is in touch with “dacoits”(Räuber/Banditen)

-he is attracted when seeing Olivia and even invites her and her husband without Douglas´ superiors

-he lives with his mother in his palace, he exploits his people

-the relationship towards his mother  is very strong

-in his friendship with Harry he is the stronger part

-he hates the British authorities because of their condescending (herablassend) attitude

-does he want to take revenge on the British by seducing Olivia, the wife of a British officer?

(-childish because of playing games for children and living together with his mother who is domineering)

-does he want Harry to pay for the relationship towards the Begum that he is not strong enough to change?

Why does Olivia fall victime to the Nawab

-Douglas does not have time to entertain her, the Nawab is friendly, she is attracted to him and his position (palace, luxury, etc.)

-he represents Indian culture/ life of the class of rulers/princes

-she may long for a strong character

-she is guided by her feelings/emotions and does not see the consequence

-she wants to throw off a feeling of inertia

Situation of the couple

(Pages 100-112)

-Olivia has not got pregnant

-Douglas´ only argument is that it all is a question of time

-he talks about the weather

-for Olivia a child may be a basis for a better relationship

-she most probably would like Douglas to go to a doctor´s as well

Significance of the graveyard

(Pages 100-102)

-Douglas and Olivia always make a walk through the graveyard on Sundays ->ritual

-walk remembers Olivia that she did not became pregnant yet -> place of birth

-graveyard makes them talk about the deceit -> place of death and violence

-Olivia hopes that everything will be right when getting a baby -> place of hope, -> place of sadness

-Olivia is aghast of seeing so many graves of babies who died because of diseases at an early age => she fears that her hoped-for future child might die,too/ she has not got pregnant yet => a place of dread, fear, foreboding

-for Douglas it is a place that reminds him of the glorious past of soldiers who died during the Mutiny; he considers his position as that of an heir; for him this walk gives him a chance to spend some additional time with Olivia

 

Major Minnies

Is he a typical representative of the British community in Satipur? (pages 87-89)

pro:

-he talks about Indian rulers in the same way as all the others (-> greedy, reckless, he makes fun of them, they are immature for him)

-he cynicly talks about 6 victims -> he is not interested in the well-being of the individual

contra:

-he sees the negative consequences of those greedy rulers (the threat of famine)

-he acknowledges the Nawab´s good qualities

The significance of Heat & Dust

- p.16, ll.8-10: travelling by bus is unbearable because of the dust; broiling sky is a metaphor of “heat”

- p.19, ll.8f.: windows are shut to keep out the “heat and dust”

- p.22,ll.15f.: Olivia is locked up in the house, she dreads (fürchten) being alone

- p.23,l.4: “oasis”; Harry enjoys being a guest in Olivia´s house

- p.31,l.2: the furniture is dusty, too

- p.37,ll.7f: “oasis” again as comparison to Olivia´s house

- p.39,l.14: the room was “hot and close”

- p.39,l.19: Olivia hopes the coming night to be cool

- p.68,ll.7-10: everyone is exhausted by the weather –> no strong feelings

- p.68,ll.17-24: Olivia is not able to concentrate on things e.g. Schumann; reason: dust storm & worrying about Douglas

- p.70,ll.4-9: dust makes that you cannot look aroung outside; Olivia did not recognize Harry but she thought the Nawab is coming to visit her

- p.70,ll12-19: everything gets covered by the dust, which means that there is always a servant around Olivia and Harry to keep the house/ furniture etc. clean

Metaphorical meaning of “heat”

- “heat” can be compared with the tension between different religious groups

- the storminess of the weather corresponds to the storminess of the mind of the people fighting

Analysing the pages 67-76 (History 1923)

The Muslim´s attitude

- seem to be aggressive towards the Hindu because of the shrine which originally had been theirs => riots (p.70, ll.24 f.)

- they cannot accept that the shrine was taken over by some Hindu (p.68, ll. 2-4)

- riots are accepted to establish their own opinion

The role the English play

- they must interfere by arresting people to stop the riots

How does the Nawab behave?

- he does not decline the aggressive riots

- he treats Harry like a child

- he welcomes bigots as friends

- he is utterly calm

How do the English see his behaviour?

- they cannot understand him and want to say something about his way of governing but he is an independant ruler

- Olivia defends him

- Harry is confused and overstrained

Why does Olivia defend the Nawab?

- she thinks his motives are pure and honest => she does not want to accept that the Nawab couldn´t be that pure as she always thought

- he talked about the suttee like the English

- she does not suspect him of tolerating the riot

- she thinks that he detests violence

The narrator- a role model for everyone who travels?

Pro:

- she tries to adapt as well as possible to the Indian culture –> language, clothes, habits

- she does not expect the others to get in touch with her but the other way round she is open-minded

- she is interested in Indian sights

Contra:

- she is uncritical

- she should not wear Indian clothes

a.) Indians are not used to Europeans wearing these clothes –> it seems to look ridiculous

b.) she looks like a member of group Indians disrespect

c.) big contrast to the role Europeans played in the past which Indians are well informed about