Book Report on George Orwell's Burmese Days

Book Report on George Orwell's Burmese Days

The book “Burmese Days” was written by George Orwell and published first in 1934. Orwell took the inspiration for this first novel of his from the experiences he gained during his service as an imperial police officer in Burma in the late 1920s. There he was confronted with extreme forms of imperialism, causing racism and also chauvinism. These are also the main topics of the novel and although they are wrapped up in the story of a single man’s fate, John Flory’s, these topics caused some problems with the publishing of the book. For that reason the book was first published in America, the English version wasn’t published until some changes – mainly name changes – were made which was nearly a year later.

“Burmese Days” is set in 1920s Burma under British colonialism. It focuses on the imperialism of the British and its effects on the relationships between the British, the British and Indians, and between the Indians themselves. So negative is the portrayal by Orwell of imperialism that it can be seen as a novel without hope in terms of altering the imperialistic structure of the British rule in Burma. No character- British or Burmese- appears to be capable of escaping the destructive trap of imperialism. Orwell points out clearly his negative attitude on European politics at his times, for in his youth he was very much in favour of the Marxist ideology and so is the protagonist of the novel “Burmese Days”, John Flory. The novel concentrates on the town of Kyauktada in Upper Burma. Kyauktada is described as hot and sultry. It is a small town of about four thousand people. The overwhelming majority of the inhabitants are Burmese, but there are also a hundred Indians, two Eurasians, sixty Chinese, and Seven Europeans. Nevertheless, as in all imperialistic societies the small group of Europeans suppresses the great majority of the native people, who seem to accept perfectly the superiority of the white people. Orwell criticizes this feeling of inferiority the Europeans give the Burmans and especially the Eurasians, because for their existence the Europeans are even responsible. Although he seems very much in favour of the so-called inferior people, the novel gives a certain impression of the Asian character to the reader, which is not very likeable. The Asian people are described – and not only by the characters o...

... middle of paper ...

... to talk to her reasonably. When he asks her if she would ever marry him after what has happened, not now but after a while when the whole thing was forgotten, she answers that she never would. Having heard this, Flory goes hom and shoots his dog Flo and himself. Ko S’La calls for the doctor who comes immediately and manages to pretend that it wasn’t suicide but an accident. Not that anybody in the town would believe in this but still it is at least the official version.

After Flory has shot himself, everything changes again. Elizabeth, who appears to be the only one to be surprised by Flory’s suicide, marries Mr. McGregor after a while, who certainly for her is a better husband than Flory would have been, Dr. Veraswami, without a European protector, is easy to ruin for U Po Kyin now and has to leave Kyauktada, U Po Kyin becomes, as he had wished a member of the Club but dies too early to manage to build some pagodas or do anything to wash away the sins he had committed during his life, which makes his wife worry whether he will be reborn as an ugly animal. Ko S’La and Flory’s other servants try their luck on shop-keeping but fail and have to work as servants for another sahib.