George Orwell's Burma

George Orwell's best-known novels, Animal Farm and 1984, are political at their core, and the same is true of Burmese Days, even though this 1934 novel is a tragic love story on its face.

Based on his experiences as a member of the Imperial Police in Burma in the 1920s, the novel shows the British Empire cracking under the pressure of native resentment of the racism practiced quite openly by the small, tightly-bound British community that regards the Burmese people as dirty inferiors fit only for service to them.

One exception to this attitude is John Flory, a lonely man in his mid-30s whose best friend, and perhaps only friend, is a capable Burmese doctor. In their conversations, Flory criticizes his countrymen, while Dr. Veraswami defends them. Flory has a disfiguring birthmark on one side of his face, but even without that he would have difficulty finding a wife way out in Burma, for there are no single British women. He settles for a troublesome Burmese mistress.

Then Elizabeth comes to live with her aunt and uncle after being orphaned. Her uncle thinks only of raping her, while her aunt thinks only of getting her married and out of the way. Flory may be her only option. Flory loves her from the start, never mind that her attitudes are totally opposite of his own. She is as racist as anyone in Burma and hates mixing with the natives. She also frowns on art and culture, while Flory longs for intelligent conversation. Yet twice Flory comes within an eyelash of winning a marriage commitment from Elizabeth, only to be thwarted at the last minute.

So controversial was Orwell's novel in England that it was published first in the United States. Even now it packs a wallop in its portrayal of blatant racism. But if the breaking of the British Empire moves us, it is nothing compared to the breaking of Flory's heart.