Burmese Days

These books gives insight to George's early life in India and his home in London. Keep the Aspidistria Flying is actually funny at times! Such a different view of the author's dark side df 1984. Book is beautiful. Chronological insert and introduction well written.

I was interested in this book for a better picture of what Burma was about, and I guess, for that period, it was educational. It was written in kind of a plodding British style, which I felt I had to mentally slow myself down for, which made for kind of a tedious read. I could only read so much at a time, without having to return to "normal speed" of existence. The story it told unfolded in a proper manner, and the ending at first was a bit of a surprise in a way, though in retrospect, was actually a logical conclusion. I really felt sorry for the dog. Worth reading if you want to endure a depiction of British occupation and one man's existence in a land way back when, but not if you're expecting an action packed or humorous novel, or a sense of what is Burma is like at this point in time.

There are still a few remnants of the British past in Myanmar (Burma), such as the hill towns (e.g. Kalaw), old buildings in Yangon (Rangoon), and military cemeteries. This book is good background for learning about how the British thought about their subjects, and why so little remains preserved today of that past.

Wonderful descriptive writing while imparting so much information about Burma and the British colonization of the time.
I also like the narrative which was both sensitive and honest. It was a compelling read.

Although reflecting Orwell's fierce anti colonialism, the book provides a sympathetic look at colonial life in a climate that was physically harsh for Europeans and emotionally contradictory for those that lived it.

Good book, but the explanation of situations are a little too long. Don't know the author, but he might be British?
The subject is very interesting though and I enjoy reading it. Almost finished.

A very good book about the British Empire and its affects on the natives of India and the imperial agents of Britain. If you have read anything else by Orwell then you know what to expect, a great book.

On overview of British Imperialism as found in George Orwell's book Burmese days.

By: David C. Eberhart II

After the mutiny, India had a taste of freedom. But this freedom was not true freedom. Instead it was a lethargic British Empire that just gave up the ghost. This feeling of hopelessness and despair is quite evident and you can feel this winding down in the book Burmese Days by George Orwell. The book is bitter sweet and is told from the vantage of both the natives and the British rulers. In the end not only has a masterful story been told but you are given a unique taste for the feel of what Burma must have been like during this transitional period. You are also told in brilliant imagery the struggle that existed between these diametrically opposed cultures. That being western thought as scene by the British and Eastern superstition as scene by the Indians. This was a constant dynamic as scene in both the book and the real word and it was the failure to integrate these two cultures that caused both nations to loose out in the end.

The concept of Empire was a pillar of strength to the British Empire. Yet something was lost in Burma. It was as if the economic gain of the individual companies was stressed over the desire for any human need. The extraction of resources from Burma, although vital, is scene as an after thought in the novel. Perhaps this was done on purpose, after all problems of India tend to be scene as an after thought with the Empire. The same can be said of the businesses sent to work here. The British citizens sent to Burma are expected to do their job well and make money for the Empire. But we are given a peculiar look into the workings of this puzzle. The British citizens go into the jungles, work closely with the natives, and extract the materials necessary for the Empire to function. They prosper yet are miserable. They are unhappy to be here and feel that their "sacrifices" are in vain. Truly all they, the British citizens, want is nothing more than to head into town and forget about where they are. To forget about India, alcohol is consumed in great quantities. This is also done to keep the memories of India at bay. Perhaps this is an analogy to the British Empire. Having grown wealthy off of the labors of her colonies and drunk in her success the Empire just wants to forget about her colonies and remember her glorious past. Living in the present is too hard for both the vain glorious Empire and her transplanted citizens to do. To live in the past is solace, to live in the present hell. So both the Empire and her citizens drown their sorrows in Gin and refuse to understand where they are.

This is the cruelty that the Empire has placed on her own subjects. The Empire has forgotten her subjects and as a direct result of this action her subject then idealize what they were and what they might have been. You would think that these citizens of the Empire would have embraced the local culture, since their own had forgotten them. But instead this longing to belong to the Empire, something that they have been isolated from, has instead made them fiercely British. To accept anything that would be foreign would be a wrong doing and instead would make them non-British. They would then be tainted and as tainted subjects they would not be able to return home to the Empire. This idea of taint is present in Flory on his return trip from England. Page 74 of the text shows us that," This country which he had hated was now his native country, his home." When Flory embraced the culture he became tainted by it and a prisoner here in India.

The other British citizens in the story are trying to maintain the illusion that they are British Lord and Ladies. As such they hold the dangers of the barbarians at the jungles edge. To integrate with the locals would destroy everything that they, the true citizens of the Empire, have done and would make their sacrifices to the Empire worthless.

This is a said state of affairs. Instead of learning to live together the ideal of the Empire has placed a wedge between the British citizens of the Empire and the local Burmese. Three camps then come about to tell their part in this story. The strongest and most passionate plea comes from a devout racist called Ellis. As scene on page 24 of the text you are told that Ellis," hated them with a bitter restless loathing". It is proper to know that the character feels this way. After all Ellis becomes the speaker for the most vocal of these lost souls. That being those citizens of the Empire who do not care about these native people and instead would rather rule over them with an iron fist. It is after all the proper British way to rule these sub - human people. And sub human is how they are perceived by these citizens.

To view them as human and as equals to the British would ruin the dream that the cast offs of the Empire have. Perhaps this is one of the many reasons that British rule failed in India. That being an inability of the local British to see the locals as anything other than sub- human beasts. The irony being that by treating the locals as subhuman the British became sub human. This was a self inflicted horror that the Empire emplaced on a population that trusted them for guidance. If the Empire had actually treated both parties with respect at the beginning of the occupation. Instead of setting up two different factions things could have been different. But instead the Empire placed its white citizens in charge of a population that did not want to conform to British ideals and British ways. The end result became a self fulfilling prophecy. The locals are lazy, superstitious, and ignorant because the British said they were and treated them as such. This did not have to be so. In fact we are told threw the eyes of Flory that the locals had talents and abilities that the Empire could have used. However these abilities were lost to the empire when the Empire told the locals that they were like children. The British removed the locals' ability to be industrious so that they could exploit them in the short term. Never realizing that by working with them they could have created something greater than the sum of its parts.

Ellis's view point was not the only one shared in Burmese days. Flory, the minority, fell in love with the mystic of the orient. But as we see threw Flory's eyes falling in love with a culture is not the same as understanding a culture. This was a gilded cage that the Empire fell into in Burma. Thinking that they loved the country they thought they understood it. Instead those who believed as Flory did continued to underestimate the differences between the two cultures and over estimate the brotherhood between the two cultures. Flory was typical of the Briton who embraced the Orient. They fell in love with the mystic and the passion of it. Never once realizing that they needed to understand the culture that they had fallen in love with to heal the rift that had developed between the two countries. But to heal the rift would have been to understand the cultural differences that divided the countries. As such this would have ruined the mystic of the Orient. These brave fools then lived in a fools' paradise. Enjoying the fruits of their fantasies while at the same time watching as ruin set in. Wailing against the decay they were unable and unwilling to stop.

The final camp presented from the point of view from the British is that of Macgregor. Macgregor is the moderate of the group and although he wishes the locals no true ill will he doesn't want them taking up any false pretenses. The complexities of this are at odds with each other but this is perhaps another British way of dealing with the self imposed exile to the Orient. By standing on the middle road you do not commit yourself to either side. When things fall apart it is then not your fault and you can deny the disaster that has come about. This middle of the road is another reason why British rule failed here. The middle road was not production nor was it proactive. Instead this mind set kept the British in a state of false happiness. A happiness that had come about by viewing themselves as superior to the locals while at the same time easing their guilt by wishing the locals no ill will. All that required was time and everything would right itself in the end.

But too much damage had been done between the empire and the Orient to have any true reconciliation. This is shown again and again in the text. The educated local boys are no longer afraid of their British masters. As such they do not view themselves as equal to the British but as superior. This is the cruel fate that has befallen the Orient. No one wants to see each other as an equal instead you are either a master or a servant. The local Indians who succeed see themselves as superior to the British and instead of working with them they work against their British Lords. U Po Kyin's rebellion is an excellent example of this inability to work together. U Po Kyin, a local governor, decides that he will gain more power and prestige by funding a rebellion against the British lords. Whether or not this rebellion succeeds is irrelevant it is the ideal of the rebellion that will gain him power.

This quest for power has run amok in the Orient. Instead of working together time and time again the citizens of the British Empire and the locals of India work in directly opposite manners and ruin any type of gains that could have been made. The senselessness of this appears over and over again in the novel and in real life. The government of India became so corrupt, during the Rule of Briton, that it would not be until the mid 1990's that India would be able to pull herself free of the legacy of the red tape bureaucratic Raj. It is maddening and frustrating that all that these two cultures were able to learn from each other was how to be intolerant of each other. Instead of playing to each other's strengths the age old game of dominancy and control was set up. The prize being India and the game being one of absolute conquest.

The dominance of the Empire is a pale shadow as scene in Burmese days. No longer is the Empire scene as strong and absolute instead it is scene as weak and unable to keep control of India. All aspects of India have become corrupted and the Pax Britannia has been lost. The energy and drive that the British Empire was able to maintain for centuries had waned. Sadly this was due to Empire's inability to recognize her fellow man as brother. Instead a nation of servants was sought and a nation of servants is what India turned into. The games of prestige, the master servant relationships, the politicking, all stem from the Empire's desire to uplift a nation of inferiors.

What was left was then a nation of contradictions and it is best scene in the ending of Burmese days. Flory, who had fallen in love with India, ultimately takes his own life as a direct result of the scandal that the country of Burma has placed on him. With Flory gone those that relied upon him self destruct. It was as if Flory's presence was able to guide the natives and protect them from their own destructive natures. When Flory is gone his friend, the doctor, is dishonored and can no longer find work at his level of expertise. Flory's man servant, although well provided for in Flory's will, falls to ruin and his one time native lover ends up in a brothel. Even Flory's enemy is affected by the death of Flory. The philosophy of the Orient and the laws of Karma come about to lay waste U Po Kyin before he can atone for his sins. Condemning him to their version of hell.

The ending of the book is also an analogy between the final days of the stewardship of the British Empire and India. While the British Empire was not the best thing to happen to India the Empire was better than letting India alone to herself. Under the rule of the British Empire hospitals were built, an infrastructure was put in place to westernize the country of India, and most importantly western education was introduced to the nation. Ultimately the superstitions and ignorant population of India was replaced with an educated minority. A minority that was skilled in medicine, government, and western thought. These skilled citizens of the empire became the new rulers of India. But it would take some time for these people to come about. Instead while the rebellion to throw British rule out was wages the India and her people suffered. Lost to her own whims the country of India was unable to unify her people and rule effectively. It was as if the one legacy that the British left was an inability of the country to govern itself.

The same excuses the British had about India, the Indians would also use to justify their hardships in governing their own nation. India a country of vast resources, diverse people, and a vast geography would have to learn the one lesson that the British were unable to learn. That lesson being one in which you had to understand the entire culture that makes up India in order to rule it. A culture that is a vast and diverse as her multitude of her people and one that is wonderful in its richness and complexity. If the British could have understood this perhaps things would have been different. Perhaps this is the true legacy that is shown in Burmese days. That being the confusion and resistance brought about between the two cultures. After all, all the problems inherent in Burmese days are self inflicted. Like so many of the wounds made between the British Empire and India.

Biography:

Orwell, George. Burmese Days. Orlando: Harcourt, 1934.

With his very first novel, Orwell earned an honorable position on the crowded shelves of Raj Lit. It was a kind of self-liberation, so he could drop the subject henceforth.
He had spent 5 years in Burma as a police officer. Why had he done that? His family was of the shabby genteel class, and his father's pension from the imperial service in India was barely enough to carry him through school. So he skipped university and did what the people in his novel do: sign up for the colonies in the hope of reasonable wealth and career.
When he quit after 5 years, he had some explaining to do. He did it with this novel.
Most first novels are autobiographic to some extent, but Orwell did something different: he figured out what he himself would have become had he stayed. His 'hero' Flory is an alter ego under the hypothical assumption of having stayed for 15 years instead of quitting after 5.
Flory has a different job, but that doesn't matter much. He is a deeply lonely and frustrated man without prospects. He is disgusted with himself and with his social crowd, the sahiblog, who enforce conformism in the most primitive way. They are generally a disgusting group of people.
Flory meets a young woman who seems the answer to his loneliness problem. For her, he might be the solution to her problem, which is the expectation of spinsterhood in poverty. They misunderstand each other thouroughly and make a huge mess of it.
The personal tragedy of Flory is framed by stories of imperial intrigues, by local officials playing Machiavelli and by the sahibs sinking into delirium tremens.
I read it first when I was working and living in other parts of the by then former Raj. I think everything would have been different if the poorpeople, the sahiblog, had had airconditioning. They might have been able to use their brains more.

Orwell's deconstruction of the British colonial presence in Asia features some biting wit and brilliant descriptive language, but no characters who are particularly appealing.

The story centers on Flory, a timber company officer stationed at a remote town in Burma. He is friends with a Burmese doctor and finds himself caught up in the middle of a conflict between the doctor and a powerful Burmese magistrate whose fingers extend into every bit of bribery and corruption in the region.

Throw in a young woman newly arrived from Paris, a conflict in the European Club about the possibility of admitting its first Burmese member, and a possibly stirring rebellion, and it all careens toward a tragedy that feels more methodical than shocking.

Flory, who has some love for Burma and some sympathy and interest in the Burmese people, simply comes off as racist in a more subtle way than the other club members who shout their racism for all to hear.

Orwell, who spent significant time in Burma, does a brilliant job of bringing the setting to life, capturing tiny details and painting a vivid, if somewhat European-gaze, picture of life in the colony.

This is a well-written book, but the dislike I had for every character made it something of a slog to get through. The plot provides many twists but few real surprises, and Flory's visions of future happiness with Elizabeth are pretty obviously doomed from the start.

As an indictment of colonialism, this story definitely works well. And I found that aspect of it, along with the descriptive elements, more compelling than the story itself.

Here in the British Raj, Orwell begins to isolate factors that make 1984 so prescient and powerful. Burmese Days serves as a kind of warm-up exercise to his book with a title synonymous with totalitarian surrender. It is a brilliant novel, nearly perfect in its pacing and structure, and the dialog rings true every time.

Orwell saw enough inhumanity in the colonial bigotries, and petty struggles now preserved in this novel, he was able to contemplate the most dreadful realities of our civilization. How are the few elite so able to control many? What happens to people in isolation, and can this be a tool in controlling them? And so on.

This story is no picnic, but Orwell's writing is simply excellent.

Lots of reviewers' plot synopses are published here, so I will not dwell too much on the details, but in essence this is an engaging tragedy within brutal climates both mental and physical. The protagonist is one of the most original characters I've ever met in fiction. With his massive birthmark and appreciative interest in the Burmese people, James Flory is a brilliantly conceived character for drunkenly traipsing a no-man's land between the marginalized and the ruling elite. Well-observed is the villain U Po Kyin, who stops at nothing to forward his own base agenda. While we may never meet a precise James Flory (which makes him a good hero for a story), we have probably all run up against an U Po Kyin without ever detecting him/her at his work, laying traps for good people.

I took this along to my 20 days' Myanmar visit to draw for myself a dimension that might today be completely covered over. Indeed, now that the people are enjoying some level of democracy, now that the press is no longer censored, and people of all classes are finding economic means never before available, Burmese Days almost seemed to be placed in another country. But I did recognize aspects of other countries I've been to at various stages of political evolution. My take-away: suppression is not inevitable, history need not repeat itself, and, once individual freedoms are granted, hopes and dreams can flourish.

So in that way, Orwell's well-observed treatise of conformity and hatred winds down neatly enough for reader to want to seek greater human rights and freedoms.

Would make a good companion text to a visit to any developing or post-colonial country.

During the ‘20’s, as a young man, the literary giant George Orwell was stationed for a year or so in a remote Burmese backwater. This short novel was based on that experience and brings vividly to life the unbearable heat, the smells, the sounds, the spectacular exotic beauty, the boredom, the hubris, the stifling rules, the casual cruelty, and, ultimately, the vulnerability of the British ex-pats who live in such a place during the waning days of the Raj. The novel begins at a snail’s pace, carefully laying the groundwork against which a battle of wits will be played for a prize shocking in its irony. The cost of that prize cuts fearfully across all the ethnicities of the region: the Burmese peasants, the educated Indians, the white colonials. It is a world profoundly rotten to its core. The author so captivates the reader that there is no escape from its tentacles as we are dragged deeper into the morass. Unforgettable.