1Interpretation of the “Echo” in E. M. Forsters A Passage to IndiaBy 1 IntroductionA famous English novelist, short story writer, and critic, Edward Morgan Forster is one of the most outstanding English writers of twentieth century. He is best known as a novelist, and his novels are widely read domestically and overseas. In 1905 he completed his first novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, a story partly set in Italy. His other main works include The Longest Journey (1907), set in Cambridge; A Room with a View (1908), again set in Italy; Howards End(1910), Which established Forster as a writer of importance; Aspects of novel(1927), one of the most influential collections of the authors critical theory; and A Passage to India (1924).“If Edward Morgan Forster would have written nothing besides A Passage to India, even then, perhaps, he would have occupied the same distinguished place in the history of English literature that he now enjoys” (Sarker 167). A Passage to India is generally regarded as the best novel among Forsters works. Its an Indian subject novel, set against the backdrop of the British Raj and the Indian independence movement in the 1920s. It reveals the contradiction and the gulf between the two countries by displaying the experiences or encounters of two English newcomers in India - Mrs. Moore and Miss Adela Quested. The novel is full of mysteries and wonders, such as what really happened to Adela when she was in the cave, why Mrs. Moore had so great change in her attitude towards people and the world, etc. Among all the wonders, the “echo” was supposed to be the one that needed putting more attention to.The “echo” was mentioned several times throughout the novel: the echo that is heard by Mrs. Moore in the cave, the echo that is heard by Adela in the cave, and the echo that is remarked by Fielding as a metaphor. More importantly, the echo made many effects on those who heard it. Since hearing the echo, Mrs. Moore has sunk in a 2state of apathy; when Adela hears the echo, she has the hallucination of being insulted in the cave by the Indian young man Dr. Aziz; in the sight of Fielding, the whole India seems to be effected by the echo. Each one of the echoes mentioned above is not merely a reflected common sound here but is endowed with some special meaning or a certain function.Through delving into the text and referring to the historical background and Indian matters in the period of Raj, the paper makes a detailed interpretation of the three kinds of echoes in three parts, with such various analytic aspects as religion, intellect, and national relation. Through detailed and comprehensive analysis of the echoes, the views of the thesis can be summed up as follows: the echo heard by Mrs. Moore changes her Christian Love into apathy, which indicates Mrs. Moores Christian-belief crisis, namely, the fate for the Christianity to be impacted; the echo heard by Adela disturbed her intellectual-sense, which indicates her intellectual-quest crisis, that is to say, the fate for the logical understanding of India to be frustrated; the echo as a metaphor is compared to a destructive power that causes the hostility and gulf between the British and the Indians, and it indicates the British-Indian connection crisis.2 “Echo” Indicating Mrs. Moores Christian-Belief CrisisIn the novel, at a tea party Mr. Aziz mentioned the famous Marabar Caves and invited Mrs. Moore and Adela to have a visit to them. When visiting the first cave, Mrs. Moore felt suffocated and faint caused by the bad smell and the close-touched crowds around her; what was worse, the echoes she heard in the cave frightened her greatly. Whatever the sound originally was, the echo of it replied the same monotonous noise “boum”, entirely devoid of distinction:The echo in a Marabar cave is entirely devoid of distinction. Whatever is said, the same monotonous noise replies. “Boum” is the sound as far as the human alphabet can express it, or “bou-oum,” or “ou-boum,” - utterly dull. Hope, politeness, the blowing of a nose, the squeak of a boot, all produce “boum” (Forster 63)3The echoes which sounded like the pronunciation of the word “boum” seemed to tell her that everything in the world was identical. Whether it was the highly wirds like “hope” and “politeness”, or the insignificant noise like “nose-blowing” and “boot-squeaking”, there existed no difference at all. The echo seemed to tell her that “nothing has value”. The same was true to the Christianity, she then realized, that “all its divine words from Let there be Light to It is finished only amounted to boum” (64). A despair to Christian God was creeping over her; she “didnt want to communicate with anyone, not even with God” (64).The echo she heard in the cave made a great impact on her. Since Mrs. Moore heard the echoes in the cave, she was sunk in a state of apathy. She lost all interest in human beings and their affaires and turned apathetic to anything and an