Shame and Trust in Male Friendships as Portrayed in E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India (1924) and Herman Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund (1930)

Abstract

The following thesis examines the friendships between the protagonist of E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India (1924) and Herman Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund (1930). Positioning itself within masculinity studies, the themes sham and trust are used to explore different facets of the friendship between Dr. Aziz and Dr. Fielding, and Narcissus and Goldmund. Both shame and trust are concerned with expectations and assumptions regarding the other persion. Applying both themes in an analysis of male friendships results in an extensive insight into the workings of the friendship. The analysis of both themes reveals a hierarchy within both friendships, although the circumstances from which the experience of a hierarchy occurs and the manner in which the characters deal with the hierarchy differ greatly. Further research would benefit from analyzing male friendships in fiction, specifically with attention to hierarchy, while staying close to the subjectivity of experiences of the characters portrayed.