'who must become a man'

He did not mean to be impertinent to Mr. Heaslop, who had never done him harm, but here was an Anglo-Indian who must become a man before comfort could be regained.
A Passage to India by E. M. Forster
I do not understand 'who must become a man.'

Without further context, I assume it refers to someone who needs to grow up a bit. How old is the person being talked about?

emsr2d2 said:

Without further context, I assume it refers to someone who needs to grow up a bit. How old is the person being talked about?

Click to expand...

He is referred to as 'young'.

Then he is probably a boy.

In the story, Ronny Heaslop is a city magistrate in India, at the start of his diplomatic career. He's a graduate of the British public school system (a factor in the story), and has been in India for a few years, so he's probably in the 20-25 year range.

'Young' here seems to refer more to his maturity and life experience than his physical age. Part of the story hinges on his lack of character development and inability (or unwillingness) to think for himself.