Burmese Days
is one of the most popular novels ever written by George Orwell. It was
published in 1934, clearly that time Burma was a colony of the British. This
novel is staged against the colonial Burma, which was part of the Indian Empire
ruled by the British.
The story is
set in the last days of the British colonialism in Burma. The book rose into
fame because it highlighted that was something not liked by the British as an
Empire, it covers the negative side of their rule on Burma. The protagonist of
the book is John Flory, he finds himself in a very precarious situation. He is
a lone character and he seems to be trapped within a larger system that is
destroying the better side of human nature.
Orwell
describes the natives of that region as substandard people. The story examines
the corruption and imperial prejudice in the Burmese society. It is often said
that the novel is not inspired by the real-life events. The story is false,
lacking truthful insights; however some of the characters are based on real
life people. Since being an English writer, the book got published away, in
England. People there, in the form of readers could not relate the story with
the circumstances happening in Burma, thus they took it as a work of pure
fiction. And just one year after publication, the book was republished. Orwell
had shown that colonial rulers were harsh on the natives of Burma people in
terms of many ways, and possibly exploited the poor there for their benefits.
On the other hand, those who spent time in Burma as officers and ministers in
service expressed that this book was a let-down for them. Soon, Orwell wrote a
letter clarifying that some part of the book could be unfair, but not the
entire work, since the book is based on the events and reports he had been
through.
The story is
set against the imperial Burma of 1920s in a fictional district called
Kyauktada. The story opens with a corrupt magistrate Upo Kyn, he is a native
Burmese. He is jealous of the Indian Dr. Veraswami, who shares a good rapport
with John Flory, the main character of the novel. Dr. Veraswami wishes to join
the European club. But Upo Kyn does not want that to happen. He begins
slandering Veraswami’s name in the views of John Flory. Upo tries to pass the
information to John that Veraswami is disloyal to the Empire and holds
anti-government views. On the contrary, John Flory hates the Empire and is of
the opinion that they build empires to exploit people, to make money. He
doesn’t wish to go back to his native country England. He is a timber merchant,
though he has a Burmese mistress, but still he is looking for someone like him.
He loves the people of Burma and their culture.
One day, he
saves Elizabeth from a wild buffalo. From there on, they both become friends
and go close to an affair; they party together and hunt together. He wants to
gift her leopard’s skin as a trophy. But they did not get into marriage because
of many reasons. On the other hand, Elizabeth does not like local Burmese. She is
a racist. In fact all European people there hate the locals. Parallel to their
story, another story of Upo Kyn is going on. He is trying all the hacks to
become the member of the club. He goes to that extend that a revolt takes
place.
A lot many
personal stories are interconnected in this novel where the concurrent theme of
racism keeps their stories entwined. Through the character and struggle of John
Flory one point becomes clear that people with pure heart had to suffer during
colonialism. As a result, John Flory in the end commits suicide. Writing a
novel against one’s own empire was a matter of strict disciplinary action, but
still Orwell did that in his style. The book opens all the malign nitty-gritty
of racism and human jealousy that is something inherent.
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