A Passage to India Lesson Plan

Orientalism

Kind of Activity:

Classwide Discussion

Objective:

To understand critiques of the novel based on the perspective of its historical moment

Common Core Standards:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.1; CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.9-10.6

Structure:

A Passage to India was written in 1924. In it, Forster critiques the attitude of the British Raj toward its Indian subjects, but still draws on stereotypes of the East that were prevalent at the time of writing. In his seminal work of cultural criticism, Orientalism (1978), Edward Said criticized the way that Western writers depicted the Eastern countries that were under Imperial domination. He argues that their depiction of the...