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The passion of Britain.
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>On overview of British Imperialism as found in George Orwell's book Burmese days. <
>By: David C. Eberhart II <
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> 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. <
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> Biography: <
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>Orwell, George. Burmese Days. Orlando: Harcourt, 1934. <
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