A Passage to India Mrs. Turton Quotes

Mrs. Turton

Quote 1

"You're superior to them, anyway. Don't forget that. You're superior to everyone in India except one or two of the Ranis, and they're on an equality." (1.5.21)

Mrs. Turton's comment here exemplifies the extreme racism typical of Englishwomen in the novel. Here she attempts to convince the progressive-minded Adela that they are superior to Indians in every way, including the heads of state.

Mrs. Turton

Quote 2

"Exactly, and remember it afterwards, you men. You're weak, weak, weak. Why, they ought to crawl from here to the caves on their hands and knees whenever an Englishwoman's in sight, they oughtn't to be spoken to, they ought to be spat at, they ought to be ground into the dust, we've been far too kind with our Bridge Parties and the rest." (2.24.41)

Mrs. Turton reveals here a much nastier racism than her husband's. "Ground into the dust"? That sounds like genocide. Mrs. Turton's comment also happens to be a reference to the British reaction to the supposed attack on a white missionary woman in 1919, which led to the infamous Amritsar massacre, where hundreds of innocent Indians were killed. (See "Setting" for more on the Amritsar massacre.)