Burmese Days by George Orwell

First published: 1934

Type of work: Political realism

Time of work: c. the 1920’s

Locale: Kyauktada, Burma

Principal Characters:

• U Po Kyin, the Subdivisional Magistrate of Kyauktada
• Mr. Macgregor, the Deputy District Commissioner
• Mr. Ellis, the manager of a timber company
• Mr. Westfield, the District Superintendent of Police
• John Flory, an official with the timber company
• Dr. Veraswami, a civil surgeon and the local medical practitioner
• Ma Hla May, Flory’s Burmese mistress
• Elizabeth Lackersteen, a young Englishwoman
• Lieutenant Verrall, a British cavalry officer

The Novel

Burmese Days brings together stories from colonial life in a narrative sequence that concludes with several violent deaths. U Po Kyin, the rotund and ruthless native judicial officer for the district, is plotting to turn nationalist agitation in a local newspaper against his rivals in a way that, he hopes, will ingratiate him with the imperial authorities. British functionaries gather at their exclusive club to discuss, among other matters, rumors of unrest among the local population. Passing conversation reveals the fears and prejudices they hold: Mr. Macgregor grimly murmurs, “In my young days, when one’s butler was disrespectful, one sent him along to the jail with a chit saying, ‘Please give the bearer fifteen lashes.’ . . . Those days are gone for ever, I am afraid.” When they hear a proposal, which had originated with the Commissioner, that their club consider accepting native members, Mr. Ellis snarls brusquely, “I don’t like niggers, to put it in one word.” Mr. Westfield solemnly maintains that excessive legalism and bureaucratic routine impede the real work of the imperial government in maintaining order and respect for authority. “British Raj is finished if you ask me,” he says.

John Flory, who works for a timber company, has spent most of his adult life in the Raj; he has grown weary of colonial ways but cannot extricate himself from his situation in Burma. More than the other British residents, he mixes freely with the natives. He is on friendly terms with Dr. Veraswami, an Indian physician; he becomes distinctly uncomfortable when some of his compatriots vent their disdain for Asians. Flory maintains a Burmese mistress, Ma Hla May, with whom he has a certain number of rather perfunctory assignations.

Lately, Flory has also taken an interest in Elizabeth Lackersteen, an orphan who has taken up residence in Burma with her aunt and uncle. He attempts to prove his mettle before her by introducing her to local pastimes in the wild. When they go shooting, he is impressed with her composure as he brings down a leopard. While polo-riding, however, he is deeply chagrined after he is thrown from his horse. Even worse, when Lieutenant Verrall, from the Military Police, arrives, Elizabeth is immediately attracted to him; they dance and ride together, to Flory’s intense discomfiture.

There are political tremors as well; at the club, Ellis calls for a formal vote on the admission of Flory’s friend, Dr. Veraswami, and then openly blackballs the Indian candidate. Native bearers bring in the body of Maxwell, a British forest ranger who was hacked to death after a shooting incident in which a Burmese was killed. Hordes of natives converge on the club. They are further incensed when Ellis strikes a native boy, apparently blinding him, and then dares the others to come forward. The insurgents are dispersed when U Po Kyin arrives with loyal forces under his command.

The magistrate also determines to humble his rival, Dr. Veraswami, by striking at Flory, his British ally. To do so, U Po Kyin makes use of what he has learned from the native women. Once Verrall has left for another assignment, Flory recommences his courtship of Elizabeth; while he is engaged in an earnest conversation with the Lackersteens, Ma Hla May appears and creates a spectacle by noisily demanding that Flory pay her. Elizabeth Lackersteen turns from him when he offers to explain, and Flory, in the utmost dejection, returns to his house, shoots his faithful dog, and then turns his pistol on himself.

The last chapter stands as an ironic afterword. U Po Kyin is duly admitted to the European Club, Ellis’ objections notwithstanding. He is also decorated by the Indian government for his part in quelling the local rebellion; soon thereafter, however, he dies of apoplexy. To the surprise of some, Macgregor proposes marriage to Elizabeth Lackersteen; she accepts, and they remain together in the Kyauktada district.

The Characters

The novel’s effect is derived in part from characters who, with few exceptions, are unsympathetic. They are also notable for their political and national standpoints, which obtrude at each turn. Although they are not archetypal and indeed seem to have few original ideas of their own, their attitudes and bearing are broadly evocative of colonial government in its most direct manifestations. Ellis, the most insular and overtly prejudiced of the British men, is tolerated and accepted by his compatriots. In varying or lesser degrees, the others also hold themselves above and apart from the natives; Macgregor is perhaps more resigned and philosophical than the rest in his outlook. Verrall, on the other hand, has little respect for any man who is not a skilled polo player or a ranking cavalry officer; his undisguised contempt for Asian troops once had brought him an official reprimand from his British superiors. The imperial officials seem to have little to do. While Verrall, during his appearances, occupies himself with horsemanship and romance, and Macgregor for some time follows an exercise regimen, during quiet periods the others move from club to home at a languid pace; attended by servants, they drink whiskey and bemoan the Empire’s fate.

The direct means of political control used by the British officials contrast with the cunning, oblique methods preferred by the natives. Dr. Veraswami, whose medical credentials at one point are called into question, must attempt his social entry indirectly, through his friend Flory. More than a match for any of them is U Po Kyin, whose obese, ponderous, and benevolent appearance belies his finely honed skill at manipulating the British as well as his own people. It may readily be inferred that he secretly encourages nationalist agitation and incites his fellow countrymen to riot before conspicuously bringing them to heel in the presence of the British authorities. His guile in using Ma Hla May to expose Flory and thus undermine the Indian doctor achieves its end, but he dies at the very moment when he begins construction of a pagoda to expiate his many sins. The narrator speculates that, according to Buddhist beliefs, he may have returned to this life in a particularly vile and lowly guise, but however repulsive, he remains fascinating as a subtle and intricate plotter.

When introduced, Flory is described as having a prominent birthmark across his face; in a society rigidly divided between British and Asians, he seems to be a pariah of sorts. A weak figure however well-meaning he may appear, he is corrupted by the social environment even as he chides against the excesses of colonial rule. This capitulation to local mores is underscored in his relations with native women. He has an elemental sense of decency but has seen the aspirations of his early days dwindle away. His control of his situation in life is most tenuous; this demonstrated by his humiliation and his eventual suicide.

In the end, Elizabeth Lackersteen proves to be hardheaded and resilient; she is able to adapt to her circumstances. Her marriage to Macgregor, the best of an otherwise undistinguished lot among the British functionaries, provides a curiously hopeful turn to events at the end of the novel.

Critical Context

This work was based upon Orwell’s experiences and observations during his service with the Burma Imperial Police from 1922 to 1927. Most of the writing took place in 1932 and 1933, when he was a schoolmaster in rural England. On the one hand, the standpoint set forth here clearly parts company with the outlook of Rudyard Kipling or other imperial bards; nevertheless, Orwell does not press home any specific political prescription. He does not call for the abandonment of the imperial ideal, explicitly or indirectly; rather, he suggests its shortcomings in areas where he was familiar with them. Indeed, the novel was composed during a period when nationalist movements in Burma and, particularly, in India had just begun to affect public opinion in Great Britain; actual dissolution of Great Britain’s colonial empire was not yet a matter of intense public concern.

As Orwell’s second full-length novel, this work shows some command of characterization, though it may be argued that major figures are not fully developed: Some of them stand somewhere between stereotypical conceptions and fully formed individuals. Orwell’s grasp of physical detail is in many places exemplary, suggesting as it does the prosaic features of the Burmese setting and landscape. Moreover, as his longest venture in colonial areas, this novel calls to mind the forthright, unvarnished tone of Orwell’s later political essays; he drew upon similar subject matter for the often anthologized pieces “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant.” Burmese Days should suggest that, even in the light of his later concerns with social justice and totalitarianism, Orwell was capable of informed and discerning critical commentary on the political realities of British imperialism.

Bibliography

Alldritt, Keith. The Making of George Orwell, 1969.

Gross, Miriam, ed. The World of George Orwell, 1972.

Hollis, Christopher. A Study of George Orwell: The Man and His Works, 1956.

Stansky, Peter, and William Abrahams. The Unknown Orwell, 1972.