in the first part of the novel, Adela develops feelings of confusion because of traveling to India, settling into a new culture, and having issues with her fiancé. The trip by ship to India was long and probably somewhat stressful; it's stressful enough traveling by plane, but in A Passage to India travelers must go by ship and it takes a lot longer. During the trip, Adela was first exposed to the other British colonists, many of whom were already accustomed to living in India. Their influence on Adela was negative and added to her confusion and stress.
Once in India, Adela finds the culture and the physical environment very different from what she is used to. She experiences severe culture shock, made worse by the other colonists' negativity towards the country and the Indian people, for example by not allowing them access to the Chandrapore club. Forster describes the frenetic atmosphere in Chandrapore, with a lot of emphasis on the heat and light of the sun, and on the sky and filth and the severe natural environment surrounding everyone.
Adela went to India because her future husband was there, but after spending some time together there, the two of them realize that they do not belong together. For Adela, this break-up would be a serious shock, and add a great deal to her stress. In the early 1900s, a woman was often defined by her husband and didn't have any career or possessions of her own. Adela traveled to a distant, foreign country expecting to marry and make a life there, but before the trip to the Malabar Caves with Aziz, her life plans are disintegrated, leaving her confused and stressed.
When she goes to the caves with Aziz, she is a very confused and stressed woman, close to a break down. As she explores the first cave, the close atmosphere, heat, darkness, and strange sound qualities affect her tremendously. Then she finds herself climbing the hill alone with Aziz, whereupon they discuss his marital status, a subject that a man and woman in that time should not discuss together unless they are married to one another. Specifically, Adela, who doesn't know very much about the local Muslims, asks Aziz if he has more than one wife. This question shocks Aziz. Adela also holds Aziz's hand as they climb, which is not really appropriate, and she thinks about how attractive she finds him. So Adela has her mind on marriage, relationships, and physical attractiveness when she enters the cave and becomes separated from Aziz. She thinks that Aziz comes in and rapes her, but later she realizes that this only happened in her crazed imagination.
Adela actually does not fall for the horrible racism among the other British colonists around her. She is, however, greatly influenced by Mrs. Moore and Fielding, the two British who are very open-minded and friends with Aziz. So at the trial, when she realizes she had been wrong, she knows it is the right thing to do to admit her mistake rather than send an innocent man to prison.
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