"Aziz was exquisitely dressed, from tie-pin to spats, but he had forgotten his back-collar stud, and there you have the Indian all over; inattention to detail, the fundamental slackness that reveals the race."
When Ronnie criticizes Aziz about his collar stud I find what he says to have a double meaning not intended by Ronnie, but by Forster. I think that when Ronnie says that "there you have the Indian," it is very true. There you have the Indian. Maybe by taking out his own collar stud could be the same as giving someone the clothes off your own back. Without knowing it Ronnie stated a true statement, there you have it, the Indians, a giving people.
National Gallery on Writing
16 years ago
You make a clever point I never even picked up on. Kudos to you. I think Forster pushes the giving aspect even further when Aziz decides not to exact money from Adela, despite the terrible ordeal of being falsely accused of assaulting her. In that case, he gives her mercy in addition to allowing her to keep her money.
ReplyDeleteThat is an interesting point. It seems that in inferring the the Indians are giving people (if he was aware of it) Ronnie would mean it as a negative. As if he gave his collar stud away to a British because he was below them and therefore had no other choice but to give him his own tie-pin.
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