Crisis of Identity and Mimicry in Orwell's Burmese Days As
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND MIMICRY IN ORWELL’S BURMESE DAYS AS SEEN THROUGH THE CHARACTERIZATION OF A NATIVE CHARACTER U PO KYIN: A POSTCOLONIAL READING
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BONIFASIUS ENDO GAUH PERDANA Student Number: 124214123
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2016
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND MIMICRY IN ORWELL’S BURMESE DAYS AS SEEN THROUGH THE CHARACTERIZATION OF A NATIVE CHARACTER U PO KYIN: A POSTCOLONIAL READING
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By
BONIFASIUS ENDO GAUH PERDANA Student Number: 124214123
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY YOGYAKARTA 2016
ii PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.
Mark Twain
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For those who question their identities
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I have been talking too much about my thesis since last year. Yet, I finally finish my thesis after a bundle of supports from relatives and friends. I was being showered by endless blessings during the tiring, stressing, and doubtful process.
Therefore, I would like to express my very first gratitude to the God Almighty whom I owe prayers every night.
I would also like to deliver my gratitude to my thesis advisor, Elisa Dwi
Wardani, S.S., M.Hum whom I regularly met when I lost my way during the process. I could not imagine how I finish this thesis without her. I would also thank A. B. Sri Mulyani, Ph.D. As my thesis co-advisor, she gave some suggestions and helped me with the formatting of my thesis.
I consider my four years in English Letters Department of Sanata
University as a formation phase of my life. I learn many life lessons here in
Sanata Dharma University. Many ups and downs decorate my college life in the campus. Those moments bring me more joys but sometimes sorrows. Hence, I would like to thank the lectures and friends of my beloved department.
I dedicate my thesis to my parents who always lovingly care for me. Their encouragements, love and prayers keep me going until I finally reach the finish line. The smile on their faces are the happiness of my life.
Finally, I would like to thank my partner when working with this thesis, a lover, Amanda Alexandra Tanne. She always wants to hear the updates of my thesis and listens to my boastful complains. Those who are not mentioned, I would like to thank you all.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...... ii APPROVAL PAGE ...... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE...... iv LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK...... v STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ...... vi MOTTO PAGE ...... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... x ABSTRACT...... xi ABSTRAK...... xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...... 1 A. Background of the Study...... 1 B. Problem Formulation...... 3 C. Objectives of the Study ...... 4 D. Definition of Terms...... 5
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE...... 7 A. Review of Related Studies ...... 7 B. Review of Related Theories ...... 11 C. Review of Related Backgrounds ...... 18 D. Theoretical Framework ...... 22
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY...... 24 A. Object of the Study ...... 24 B. Approach of the Study...... 25 C. Method of the Study...... 27
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS...... 29 A. Crisis of Identity Suffered by U Po Kyin...... 29 B. Crisis of Identity leads to Mimicry of U Po Kyin ...... 45
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION...... 54 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 56
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ABSTRACT
BONIFASISUS ENDO GAUH PERDANA. CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND MIMICRY IN ORWELL’S BURMESE DAYS AS SEEN THROUGH THE CHARACTERIZATION OF A LOCAL NATIVE CHARACTER U PO KYIN: A POSTCOLONIAL READING. Yogyakarta: Departement of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2016
This study analyzes how crisis of identity and mimicry occurs in the postcolonial discourse. A local native character whose name is U Po Kyin is the focus of the study. As a native character, he holds a high ranking position for local in the British Raj in Burma. However, he is portrayed as a corrupt official as he accepts bribes and denounces his rival. His ambition to get the membership, an elite European Club, drives him infuriated to destroy his rival’s reputation because naturally it is him who would be elected as the first local member of the Club. At the end of the novel, Kyin finally secures his membership but he fails to atone his evil-doings by building pagodas as a Buddhist. Kyin’s attitude is seen as how he manages to deal with his inferiority towards the British. He is also observed to mimic the British as his strategy to erase the idea of being colonized. There are two problem formulations in this study. The first is to find out how U Po Kyin suffers from crisis of identity through his characterization in the novel. Then, the second objective is to understand how his crisis of identity leads him to mimic the British. This study is a library research. The primary source of this study is a novel by George Orwell entitled Burmese Days. Some books, journals and articles related to this study are also used. Postcolonial approach is used in this thesis. There are two steps of doing this study. First is arranging some theories and studies related to this study. The theories used in this study are theory of characterization and postcolonial theories. Theory of crisis of identity by Rutherford and also Ashcroft and mimicry by Bhabha are the main theories used in this study. Then, the second step is to answer the problem formulations by analyzing the novel using selected theories above. This study finds that U Po Kyin suffers from crisis of identity. He is oppressed conscious and unconsciously by the British. This causes his self-image to be eroded. Even though he is relatively wealthier than his fellow natives, he still craves for more as he realizes that there is something more than money. He wants to be detached from his inferiority. The elite European Club represents his ambition because it offers him status to be like the British. That is why he schemes to crush his rival. In his schemes, denigrating his rival means to mimic the British because he needs to differ himself from the natives. However, he is still powerless because the British still consider him as the subject of colonialization.
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ABSTRAK
BONIFASISUS ENDO GAUH PERDANA. CRISIS OF IDENTITY AND MIMICRY IN ORWELL’S BURMESE DAYS AS SEEN THROUGH THE CHARACTERIZATION OF A LOCAL NATIVE CHARACTER U PO KYIN: A POSTCOLONIAL READING. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2016.
Studi ini menganalisis terjadinya krisis identitas and mimikri dalam wacana poskonialisme. Fokus studi ini adalah seorang karakter lokal bernama U Po Kyin. Meskipun Kyin merupakan seorang karakter lokal, tetapi dia mempunyai jabatan yang tinggi dalam pemerintahan kolonial di Burma sebagai seorang hakim pengadilan rendah. Kyin digambarkan sebagai pejabat yang korup. Dia sangat berambisi untuk mendapatkan keanggotan the Club. The Club merupakan sebuah klub elit milik pemerintahan kolonial Inggris. Oleh karena itu, dia ingin menghancurkan reputasi seorang dokter untuk mendapatkan keanggotaan the Club. Pada akhir cerita dalam novel, Kyin akhirnya berhasil mendapatkan keanggotannya. Akan tetapi, dia gagal menebus dosa-dosanya dengan membangun pagoda sesuai dengan ajaran Buddha. Sikap Kyin tersebut menunjukan caranya untuk menghilangkan inferioritasnya terhadap Inggris. Kyin juga melakukan mimikri terhadap Inggris sebagai strateginya untuk menghilangkan status keterjajahannya. Ada dua rumusan masalah dalam studi ini. Yang pertama adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana Kyin menderita krisis identitas melalui karakterisasinya di dalam novel. Kemudian, yang kedua adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana krisis identitas memperngaruhinya untuk melakukan mimikri terhadap orang Inggris. Studi ini adalah studi pustaka. Sumber utama studi ini adalah novel George Orwell yang berjudul Burmese Days. Sumber terkait lainnya berupa buku, jurnal dan artikel juga digunakan. Ada dua langkah yang dilakukan untuk menyelesaikan studi ini. Yang pertama adalah mengumpulkan studi-studi dan teori terkait. Teori yang digunakan adalah teori karakterisasi dan teori poskolonialisme. Teori poskolonialisme yang digunakan adalah krisis identitas oleh Rutherford dan juga Ashcroft dan wacana mimikri oleh Bhabha. Langkah yang kedua adalah menjelaskan semua rumusan masalah dengan menganalisa novel dengan teori-teori di atas. Hasil dari studi ini adalah penjelasan bagaimana U Po Kyin menderita krisis identitas. Dia tertekan secara sadar dan tidak sadar oleh pemerintah kolonial Inggris. Hal ini menyebabkan citra dirinya tergerus. Walaupun dia cukup kaya di antara warga lokal lainnya, dia masih menginginkan hal yang lebih besar dari uang semata. Ambisinya tersebut direpresentasikan oleh the Club karena the Club dapat memberikannya status seperti orang Inggris. Jadi, sangat penting bagi Kyin untuk menghancurkan reputasi rivalnya. Upaya untuk menghancurkan reputasi rivalnya merupakan strategi mimikri Kyin untuk membedakan dirinya dari warga lokal lainnya. Akan tetapi, Inggris tetap menganggapnya sebagai subjek yang terjajah.
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The writer chooses George Orwell’s Burmese Days to study because it represents the situations of South East Asian nations as most of them were colonized. Colonized nations share certain characteristics in common as proposed by Loomba “Colonialism … reshapes, often violently, physical territories, social terrains as well as human identities” (Loomba, 2005:155). In
Southeast Asia, there were at least three colonial nations that gained control over nations in the region and made them into their colonies (Wiharyanto,
2005:113). They were British that ruled in Malaysia, Singapore and Myanmar,
French that ruled in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Spanish ruled in the
Philippines and Dutch ruled in Indonesia. Upon a series of agreement between the colonials, Thailand was left free politically but controlled economically.
Thus, almost all countries in Southeast Asia were colonized. It is presupposed that they share the same spirit to be free from imperialism. The novel is also believed to depict a complete situation where the colonial regime oppressed the native.
However, the colonial government, especially British colonial government in Burma, somewhat tries to provide the native more space in their elite community as they let natives hold lower rankings officials. In another view, sometimes natives admire the British colonial government as they take into account that imperialism brought enlightenment to the people. In the novel, an
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example can be seen from one of native characters, an Indian-born, Dr.
Veraswami who praises the English imperialism because he believes it is the
Englishmen who bring his people to be civilized and educated though they have always been treated as ‘the other’ (Orwell, 1934:40).
Another reason why the writer chooses Orwell’s piece to study is because he is known as a writer, essayist as well as journalist who explicitly addresses and expresses his political issues in his work s. In his opus magnum, 1984 and
Animal Farm, Orwell criticizes satirically a totalitarian government and its instruments. Homage to Catalonia was written after he had taken part in
Spanish Civil War (Lee, 1969:819). These show that his life experiences apparently influenced his works in many ways. Hence, he even utilized those experiences as backgrounds and argumentations for him to write a literary work including Burmese Days.
Orwell was a police officer in Burma who later resigned from Indian
Police (British Police force stationed in British Raj in India and Burma) in
1928(Rai, 1983:49). This can be seen as a sign of his rejection of imperialism.
He wrote Burmese Days afterwards but worried upon the publication, as it would disrupt British Office in India (Rai, 1983:49). He proclaimed himself as the one who concerned about Burmese people as he stated in one of his essays, Shooting an Elephant “Theoretically – and secretly, of course - I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British” (Orwell,
1936). Years after that, he finally published the novel in 1942. Orwell’s attitude implies on one of his characters in the novel, John Flory who spends
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most of his time in the colonized country, Burma. Flory is pictured as the friendliest and loved by the native as he respects their culture and traditions.
This can be taken as representation of Orwell’s personal statement towards
British imperialism in Burma which was unlike most of his colleagues.
The focus of this study is the identity issue. The image of self that is destroyed because of colonialization is a sign of cultural denigration.
Therefore, the colonized people see themselves as inferior than the colonizer.
This can be seen from the native characters who pursue their dreams to be
‘united’ or as if having close relationship with one of the Europeans (Orwell,
1950:15). The locals are longing for identity that would establish their status in the community as portrayed by U Po Kyin, a local magistrate who devises a plan to be the first local member in an expatriate community by all means.
The pursuit of being West, the British imperialism which most the Orient, those who were colonized, aim to have, according Bhabha, is “a dream of the deprived, the illusion of the powerless” (Bhabha, 2004: xi).
B. Problem Formulation
This study answers the following questions:
1. How does U Po Kyin suffer from identity crisis as seen through the
characterization in Orwell’s Burmese Days?
2. How does his crisis of identity lead to the process of mimicry in
Orwell’s Burmese Days?
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C. Objectives of the Study
This study discusses identity issue in Orwell’s Burmese Days that occurs in the native character U Po Kyin. U Po Kyin is portrayed as a corrupt official in this novel. As he pursues his ambition to be elected in the British Club in
Kyauktada, he continues to make plans to compete deceitfully with his fellow, an Indian-born native, Dr. Veraswami. Dr. Veraswami who is known to have a close relationship with the main character, a British, John Flory. Having the fact that Dr. Veraswami is more likely to be elected, U Po Kyin begins to destroy the doctor’s reputation by producing lies and evil plans. When he finally achieves his dream, he is not treated the same like the member of the club because other members, the British, do not want to be equal with local in any possible ways. He suffers from crisis of identity as he complains about his conditions. Even though, he is a local magistrate who has a better situation in terms of wealth and social status. Thus, this study has two objectives. The first objective is to identify his crisis of identity in the novel by examining characterization of Kyin. The second objective is to find how the identity crisis leads him to mimic the colonizer, the British. He seems to have the intention to be like the British in terms of wealth and respect but he himself fails to realize his inferiority in the British colonialism. He is still trapped in the wheel of colonialism because his status remains as the colonial subject. This is the result of his mimicry because mimicry is only a form of repetition not representation.
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D. Definitions of Terms
1. Crisis of Identity
Rutherford uses ‘desert’ as a metaphor for crisis of identity. Desert symbolizes otherness and sense of strangeness. It also symbolizes as a margin between habitable and inhabitable areas. He comments on Lawrence of Arabia who is a white man but has lived in Arab for years. Lawrence begins questioning himself that he has quitted his English self but yet to acquire a new identity as an Arab because in the West concept being an Arab is a complete uncanny (Rutherford, 1990:9).
Identities are formed between the relations of power. The distribution of power is seen from bipolarity of relation, black/white, masculine/feminine, colonializer/colonized and others (Rutherford, 1990:9). One is dominant and the other is subordinate. However, as illustrated earlier, desert symbolizes the margin, it also represents sex, race and culture. Therefore, when confronted in the margin, it is where someone starts to question his identity.
Ashcroft offers the term of place and displacement to picture crisis of identity. “The conscious or unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by a supposedly superior racial or cultural model”
(Ashcroft, 2002:9) causes the image of self to be eroded. This triggers them to experience alienation and crisis where he called it as a result of displacement.
Another sign to obverse crisis of identity is a tendency to seek and practice
‘Englishness’.
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2. Mimicry
Mimicry is a complex strategy of the Other who seek to reform. As a process, mimicry is a sign of disavowal because it does not represent power but only repetition (Bhabha, 2004:123). However, mimicry threats both of colonizer and colonized. For the colonizer, mimicry will disrupt its exercise of power because the ambivalence effect of mimicry. The result of mimicry is
‘almost the same, but not quite’ (Bhabha, 2004:123). Therefore, the ambivalence of mimicry is a sign of turbulence of colonial practice as many start to imitate their way of thinking. Thus, it would disrupt the colonial government because there are some local natives who are educated and ready to criticize them. For the colonized, mimicry is an attempt to denigrate the indigenous culture.
3. Native
According to Ashcroft, the term native is “the indigenous inhabitants of colonies has a long and chequered history.” (Ashcroft, 2007:142). The root of this term is associated with those who were born in the land. However, in the colonialization context, this term carries a meaning to indicate that native is
“regarded as inferior to the colonial settlers or the colonial administrators who ruled the colonies.” (Ashcroft, 2007:142).
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
Burmese Days is believed to be written based on life experience of George
Orwell stationed in Burma (Myanmar) as a British officer. Orwell is considered as a social critic rather than novelist as his works, including the most praised 1984 and Animal Farm, are presented in clarity of details. Thus, many said that his works are on the border of fiction and non-fiction (Lee,
1969:819). Orwell himself proclaims that he was more intended to write a novel that has unhappy endings but speaking details description and similes for the sake of their sounds (Orwell, 1946). He then categorized Burmese
Days as one of his works where he applied the technique. Orwell creates a space for simile or satire to exist to criticize British imperialism especially in
India Raj where spent 10 years as a police officer. Thus, it is assumed that his characters resembled the true characteristics of colonizer and colonized.
His major character in the novel is John Flory, European timber manager, who has spent fifteen years living in Kyauktada. He possesses intelligence and kinship to native. He tends to like the natives by supporting one of them to be first local natives’ member admitted to the European Club. As a result, “He is alienated from his countrymen not only by his superior intellect but his willingness to accept, enjoy and even, heretically, like the local natives” (Lee,
1969:820). These arguments build a solid background of identity shown by
Flory’s attitudes, contradicted from his fellow colonizer. Whereas, the local
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natives that is dominantly presented by U Po Kin, the highest native official in
British colonial government, is living the feeling of hegemony by eagerly desired to join the European Club. Since he was a child when he was looking at the British soldiers marched to Mandalay, he had been dreaming to be one of them, fighting for them instead of his nation (Orwell, 1934:6).
Postcolonial issues are addressed in a way that the novel takes British imperialism in Burma as a background. This creates an atmosphere where
Flory also speculates upon his condition:
What was at the center of all his thoughts now and what poisoned everything, was the ever bitterer hatred of the atmosphere of the imperialism in which he lived for as his brain developed – you cannot stop your brain developing, and it is one of the tragedies of half educated that they develop late, when they are already committed to some wrong way of life – he had grasped the truth about the English and their Empire (as quoted by Rai, 1983: 50)
This illustrates that Flory himself is aware that he is somewhat trapped in the wheel of colonialism. He then wishes to get away from such situation but it is too late. What Flory has in mind conforms the idea that all the characters in the novel are conjectured to colonialism. Thus, U Po Kyin is apparently included. However, he might response to imperialism differently compared to
Flory.
Another study from Poznar in Orwell and Little Brother, indicates that how U Po Kyin reacts to the state of colonialism. As pictured in the novel where Kyin really wants to get the membership of the Club, Poznar comments that Kyin’s ambition is a sign of inferiority while “all of the English in the novel share this exhilarating sense of superiority, the illusion of power”
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(Poznar, 1985:259). Poznar emphasizes his study on the English characters while this study will discuss the sense of inferiority through the native character.
The Club here also represents a symbol of the core of the colonial power.
Its centrality attracts those who are in the periphery to come nearer. Sinha as quoted in Gopinath’s research entitled An Oprhaned Manliness: The Pukka
Sahib and The End of Empire in “A Passage to India” and “Burmese Days” remarked about how essential the Club to the British Empire. She said that:
The narrative emphasizes the centrality of the Club, not just in Kyauktada but the British empire, when it points out that it is “the spiritual citadel, the real seat of British power, the Nirvana for which native officials and millionaires pine in vain (Gopinath, 2009:212)
Thus, it approves the idea why Kyin wants to get the membership of the club.
Given the fact that he is a native official who is a sub-divisional magistrate eases him to get into the club using his power. Gopinath’s study agrees with the idea that this study also remarks the importance of the Club in the stage of
Kyin’s crisis of identity and mimicry.
Another study then suggests that every character in the novel are imprisoned. Lee in Symbol and Structure in Burmese Days: A Revaluation explain how every character imprisons themselves with the things they encounter. He said that:
… the entire novel displays the captivity of all the characters: in their striving for English values, Burmese such as U Po Kyin and Veraswami incarcerate themselves; in the closed world of the Club, the English enslave their servants and each other in bigotry and solipsism; perhaps most significant of all, the jungles make captives of all inhabitants. (Lee, 1969:833)
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These sums up the idea that Burmese character in the novel are longing for
Englishness. As a result, their ambitions somehow ‘incarcerate themselves’ so that they are no longer aware of the subtle imprisonment they create themselves. This study signifies what the writer observes in this study that
Kyin suffered from crisis of identity as he wanted to get the membership of the Club. Imprisonment of Kyin is also observed in a form of his mimicry towards the British.
The studies the writer has reviewed in this part provide the writer with an idea how Burmese Days presents its characters’ responses towards the British imperialism. Every character in the novel possess their uniqueness in dealing with colonialism as seen through their characterization. Therefore, the writer draws this study closely on a Burmese character, U Po Kyin. This study explains how he suffers from crisis of identity as he admits of being inferior to the British. Then, the writer observes how he manages to response his crisis by employing mimicry to the British as he believes that entering the Club is the key.
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B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Characters and Characterization
Characters play a vital role in literary works as it is explained by
Abrams and Harpham:
Characters are the persons represented in a dramatic or narrative work, who are interpreted by the reader as possessing particular moral, intellectual, and emotional qualities by inferences from what the persons say and their distinctive ways of saying it—the dialogue—and from what they do—the action. (Abrams and Harpham, 2009:42)
The importance of character appears as a basic element of narrative work
because all the events that happen in the story consist of characters to be a
‘device’ to deliver the message to readers. Moreover, characters are
representation of human being in verbal terms narrative work having
thought, speech and behavior as it is shown in daily life (Roberts and
Jacobs, 1987:119). Some characteristics devices included speech and
actions are reflection of their temperament, desires and moral natures.
They are called ‘motivation’ by Abrams and Harpham (Abrams and
Harpham, 2009:42).
There are mainly two ways of characterization. The first is
showing. Showing tends to be more dramatic as the author introduces the
character explicitly and let the readers conclude the final assumption
towards the characters themselves. Then, the second is telling. Telling
means that the author decides to describe the qualities of a character as an
observer or a storyteller. Generally, most authors convey the information
about the characters by providing readers with certain habits, other
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characters’ comments, characters way of thinking, and description from
authors (Abrams and Harpham, 2009:43).
2. Theory of Identity Crisis
Rutherford provides an example where he uses the story of
Lawrence of Arabia as the background. He proposes the idea that when
Lawrence was stranded in the dessert, he faced the confusion of himself.
Dessert was metaphorically used as the border between the known and
unknown territories as Rutherford puts it “margin between the habitable
and the inhabitable” (Rutherford, 1990:9). Then, Lawrence suffers from
crisis of identity as stated by Rutherford:
For Lawrence the dessert left him neither Arab nor English: ‘I had dropped one form and not taken on another’. In a more contemporary setting Baudrillard has commented, ‘in the dessert one loses one’s identity’. (Rutherford, 1990:10)
Then, the dessert is assumed to the sign of difference as a line to separate
one to the other. The idea of the dichotomy of “white/black,
masculine/feminine, hetero/homosexual, where one term is always
dominant and the other is subordinate, that our identities are formed”
applies in the representation of the desert as a border (Rutherford,
1990:10).
In the context of Postcolonial, the concept of dichotomy offered by
Rutherford applies in colonializer/colonized. Colonializer is taken as
dominant whereas colonized is subordinate. This signifies the effect of
difference as perceived by the effect the existence of the other group.
When one’s identity experience changes, transformation and hybridity as
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all of those are the correlative effect of fears, anxieties, confusion and arguments, one would undergo the process of achieving identity
(Rutherford, 1990:10). By examining these changes, one’s movement from one society to the other can be observed as the critique of essentialism because it believes that identity is not fixed. Therefore, an indigenous identity is shifted through a process of arguments that one day he/she would achieve the sense of Englishness because English identity is believed to be more superior to theirs.
According to Rutherford, there must be an interrelationship between one identity (society) with another where power embodied as an important aspect. This means that the relationship between identity to another identity is based on assumption of power and authority.
Rutherford discusses the failure of categorization of the Communist Party to promote the erasure of the oppression of sexuality, race and gender. The system successfully recognizes the power every dichotomy of sexuality, race and gender but it fails to eliminate “the element of practical politics: choice, doubt, strategy, planning, error and transformation.” (Rutherford,
1990:17). As a result, the form of oppression exists because everyone falls into polarities like white-black, working class-ruling class and no exception of colonial and colonized. Then, the colonial government happens to claim to be superior as they believe they possess more power than the ‘Other’. They commence to initiate the oppression against the inferior, the local natives.
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Ashcroft offers the term ‘Place and Displacement’ to elaborate the crisis of identity in the postcolonial discourse. He insists that it is when
the special post-colonial crisis of identity comes into being; the concern with the development or recovery of an effective identifying relationship between self and place (Ashcroft, 2002:8)
Thus, it is important to notice the relationship between the image of postcolonial subject, the colonized in certain aspect of location. Location here means how he is positioned in social structure of colonial life.
One of the main causes this phenomenon to happen is cultural denigration. Ashcroft indicates that there is always be a form of oppression. He explains that:
A valid and active sense of self may have been eroded by dislocation, … it may have been destroyed by cultural denigration, the conscious and unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by a supposedly superior racial or cultural model. (Ashcroft, 2002:9)
The oppression exists because there is a claim from the ‘supposedly superior racial’ over the inferior. This practice destroys the self-image of the indigenous people. Though, sometimes, the devastation is highly manipulated in form of their slogan of enlightening people and support for the longevity of colonial prosperity.
The result of displacement is alienation (Ashcroft, 2002:9). As the image of self is eroded or destroyed, the crisis of self-image starts to appear. Ashcroft provides some results of displacement. He said:
the possession and practice of ‘Englishness’, also show clear signs of alienation even within the first generation of settlement, and manifest a tendency to seek an alternative, differentiated identity? (Ashcroft, 2002:9)
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It is when the colonized begin to be alienated among their native society. It
is also clear to observe that those who tend to get acquainted of the
Englishness suffer from crisis of identity.
3. Theory of Mimicry
As it has been introduced in the realm of literary devices by the
famous Plato’s term mimesis, mimicry here would occupy the same
qualities. Bhabha explains that mimicry in postcolonial is “the desire for a
reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of difference that is almost the
same but not quite” (Bhabha, 2004:122). It refers to the determination of
the Other to signify themselves as the colonizer. They may acquire certain
qualities but they will never be ‘them’. Bhabha formulates that:
Mimicry is, thus the sign of a double articulation; a complex strategy of reform, regulation, and discipline, which ‘appropriates’ the Other as it visualizes power (Bhabha, 2004: 123)
However, mimicry also affects both sides, colonized and colonizer.
The ambivalence of mimicry lies on the ‘partial’ part of the colonial
subject. Colonizer is dependent upon the relation between the authoritative
power of colonialism and the success of implying the power to the Other,
the indigenous people. Partiality is seen from the position of mimicry as a
strategic plan as well as menace (Bhabha, 2004: 123). This means that
when mimicry is employed into practices there would be some menace
effect which would disturb the stability of the colonial government. For
example, when the British introduced proper education to certain class of
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people in India, the British were afraid that the intellectuals they produce would one day turn against them. Therefore, the colonized people are affected in a way that there is a group of local people who are enlightened as they receive the British education as well as they mimic the culture of the British. On the other hand, the British as the colonizer are not affected culturally. They would never consider the colonized as equal even though some of them are educated like them but still the British would be less concerned with the idea of equality. The British would consider more about how their empire is endangered as now there were some local intellectuals who were ready to criticize the British.
Bhabha also comments on the mimicry as a means of repetition rather than representation because the colonizer is put in the discourse of the failure of the colonial system itself. He said “… the effect of flawed colonial mimesis, in which to be Anglicized is emphatically not to be
English” (Bhabha, 2004: 125). Therefore, it is justified that colonized repeatedly practice the signification of colonial as if they (the Other) utilize the practice the power of being colonial or imperial. The identity associated with the English values as they have been dreaming of would never be achieved because they are only given selected knowledge and false and also limited authority under strict control of the British.
Rutherford has also remarked that identity is determined based on the politics of different. He agreed with Gramsci upon the idea of collective identity. Gramsci believed that politics is the new of the
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formation of new collective identity as shown in the strike of minority’s leftist such as gay and lesbian groups. These groups are obvious fall into, if categorization is applied, left movements along with communist and feminist and other leftist. However, the strike triggers the revolutionary politics of culture resulting that “… the politically negotiable and incomplete character of identity and social formations” (Rutherford,
1990:19). Thus, identification of political identity as in colonial system where oppression was severe and attached to the system of colonial itself is never be nor singular neither predictable.
The ambivalence of mimicry appears because identity cannot be reduced into single concept because “identity marks the conjuncture of our past with the social, cultural and economic relations we live within.”
(Rutherford, 1990:19). This means that an identity someone or society claim to be is consist of many layers which emphasized on the past and its relation to the present. This concept also argues any forms of fixity and essentialism because “social, political and class formation do not exist a priori, they are a product of articulation.” (Rutherford, 1990: 20). As a result, there is no point when everything (class, gender, and race) just happen without any correlation with the past events.
What drives someone who is already attached to one identity move to another identity is human intention itself. Human intention as in form of wish cannot be separated from the past events. According to Freud as quoted by Rutherford; “You will see from such an example how the wish
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employs some event in the present to plan a future on the pattern of the
past.” (Rutherford, 1990:21). This recognizes any events that happened in
the past as determining factors to produce wishes. In the postcolonial
discourse, the wish to get out of a society or identity can be seen from the
oppression so that someone would wish to be oppressed no more by trying
to be like the oppressor.
C. Review of Related Background
1. Burma Under British Imperialism
A. The Historical Background
British annexed Burma in 1885 when they captured the royal capital of
last Burma kingdom, Mandalay. Then, British exiled King Thibaw and
Queen Supalayat to India where the couple spent rest of their lives. The
palace which was located in Mandalay, were turned into military based. It
became the center of colonial life equipped with luxury facilities such as a
polo field, a golf course and tennis courts and also a chapel found within
the complex of the palace since the British took it under control (Larkin,
2004:29).
British also had redecorated many rooms in the palace. They placed a
billiard table in one of sacred rooms that was used to pay homage for
Queen Supalayat. This provides a picturesque description about the typical
interior of the Club in Burmese Days. The Club refers to the elite club,
whose members are all European, where they spent most their times
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gathering together to enjoy home-like atmosphere by drinking gin or playing bridge and else. The Club was a citadel as well as fortress to the
British (Larkin, 2004:29).
In 1923, the British introduced a new rule which allow a small number of Burmese politicians attend the parliament meeting. This rule also applied to British clubs across the country. They were forced to accept a local member. However, the segregation remained strong. Larkin gave an example where:
… the Burmese official who was appointed acting governor in place of the British governor who was away on sick leave was denied access to the Rangoon clubs. (Larkin, 2004:188)
This evidence shows that how strong the segregation was between the
British and Burmese. Thus, the fulfilment of the new regulation was merely to obey the rule for its sake not to accommodate the Burmese of their rights.
B. Burmese Officials in the British Raj
When the British annexed Burma, they exiled the king and queen of last Burmese dynasty and began to employ a new form of government.
Burma became the part of British India or British Raj. In doing so, the
British government “… had removed the respected headmen and replaced them with its own bureaucratic counterparts.” (Larkin, 2004:67). Thus, many magistrates and other local officials were corrupt because as long as they performed the duty as told by the British, they secured their position the government. They practiced corruption mainly by taking bribery.
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C. Racism of the British towards Burmese
Orwell believed that racism in the key element of British colonial
system. As he became an eyewitness of colonial in Burma where he
worked as police officer, he concluded an example of racism practice done
by British every day.
Burma was known for the extreme weather in the summer when
intolerably hot sun stung one’s head like a bee. The British always wore
Topi whenever they went out to avoid the sun. However, the Burmese
never wore one. Consequently, the British believed that the Burmese were
biologically different as they did not need any protection from the sun.
This illustration sums up his idea that:
You can only rule over a subject race, especially when you are in a small minority, if you honestly believe yourself to be racially superior, and it helps towards this if you can believe that the subject race is biologically different. (Larkin, 2004:160).
The British believed that such practices would differ them from the local
natives. They would feel superior as they thought because human needs
protection from the heat of the sun whereas the Burmese were only
‘savage’ to them.
2. Pagoda as The Center of Religious Identity
Most of Burmese were Buddhist when the British came to the country.
Today, Myanmar is a country that take Buddhist as their national religion.
Pagoda is a quintessential for Burmese as an individual as well as for the
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country. Larkin on her trip to Burma to trace Orwell back years ago comments that:
Pagoda are the center of Burmese spiritual life, and every town and village has one. People visit the pagoda daily or weekly to pay respect to the Buddha relics which are often enshrined there, to meditate, to give alms, or to attend the festivals held on religious holidays. (Larkin, 2004:77)
Pagoda is the symbol of Buddhism where Buddhist people practice the religion there. For Burmese people, pagoda has immersed in their hearts as they always put the pagoda as center of everything they do, especially in religious affairs. Thus, pagoda is inseparable from Burmese culture because it plays vital role to Burmese society since hundreds years ago.
They strongly believe in reincarnation and karma. How the karma works is typical where one has to perform duty as a devoted Buddhist and also they must outweigh their sin by doing good deeds. For those who are rich enough, they will donate sum of money to build pagodas. Their sins would also be redeemed by the number of pagoda they build. According to Larkin when she was tracing Orwell back in Burma in early 2000, she found out the practice of the general who donate his money to build pagodas. On a newspaper, she read that a high ranking official, General Khin Nyunt, gave 900,000 kyats (equal to
900 US Dollars) donation for a pagoda (Larkin, 2004:79).
The idea of donating money for pagoda is supposed to be a religious affair to many Buddhist in Burma. They would do so if they have enough money.
The practice was also performed by kings of Burma, ‘the royal patrons of the
Buddhist religion’ dated years ago (Larkin, 2004:78). However, Burma was under junta military government for more than two decades. During this time
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the people were severely suffered as the army led the country nowhere but towards poverty. The army also tortured the people, jail those who oppose the government, and abusing young women (Larkin, 2004:78). Thus, General
Khin Nyunt who pretend himself as a good Buddhist try to outweigh his ‘sins’ by donating the pagoda.
D. Theoretical Framework
The writer uses some related studies, theories and background to answer the research question. The four related studies provide the writer some analysis of characters in the novel based on postcolonial theories. The first study points out the colonial background presented in the novel. Then, the second study offers an analysis on how inferiority and superiority among characters exist. The third study emphasizes that the Club is essential in the
British colonialism. The fourth study mentions about how every character are somehow imprisoned by what they encounter in their surroundings.
The writer utilizes some related theories in order to answer the research question. As this thesis tries to identify the crisis of identity and mimicry of a colonial subject, a local official in the colonial government, some of postcolonial theories are used. However, before observing the main problem of this research, the writer uses an intrinsic theory of literature. The theory that is used the theory of character and characterization. It gives a clear understanding on how the character presented in the novel. It is important to identify the qualities of the native character in order to provide basic
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arguments before determining the crisis of identity in the first research question.
After that, in first and second research question, the writer uses postcolonial theories. Postcolonial theories detect the impact of colonialization on the character when he suffers from the crisis of identity. It also shows dichotomy of power distribution on how the character perceive himself as an inferior. Postcolonial theories also explain how the crisis of identity occurs in the colonization era. Then, the theory of mimicry observes why and how the character mimics the colonizer.
The historical backgrounds contribute to this thesis by conforming the historical accounts which are related to this thesis. Then, the writer observes the influence of past events to the analysis of the research questions. There are some aspects of colonial life in Burma that the writer highlights. They are the time when the British annexed Burma, the life of local officials in the colonial government and pagoda as the center Buddhism in Burma. They invoke the idea why the character’s response in specific manner during his life.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object this study is a novel by George Orwell whose real name is Eric
Arthur Blair. The novel is called Burmese Days published by Harcourt Inc. in
1934. Then, the copyright is renewed in 1962 but the version remains the same as published in 1934. The title is believed as a summary of Orwell’s life in Burma as a British Police Officer. The novel portrays colonial life in Burma under British Imperialism. In Larkin memoir of Orwell’s life in Burma, she found out that Orwell first publisher was hesitate to publish the book because
Orwell describe the town setting too realistic and fear that his characters might be based on real people too (Larkin, 2004: 182).
Recently, in 2013, the novel that has been translated into Burmese by a
Burmese writer, Maung Myint Kywe, received an award of Burma National
Literature award from Burmese Ministry of Infomation. The award is the highest literary award given to 16 categories. Burmese Days is the winner of
Informative Literature (translation) category (Phyo Tha, 2013:1)
B. Approach of the Study
This study is intended to be a reading of a literary work from postcolonial perspective. Postcolonial literature as defined by Ashcroft is “… all the culture affected by the imperial process from the moment of colonialization to the present day” (Ashcroft, 2002:2). Therefore, all the literature that emerges from
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their experience of imperial power especially colonization is considered as postcolonial literatures. In this case, Orwell’s Burmese Days can be seen as a postcolonial literature because it provides the relationship between the British as the colonizer and Burmese as the colonized.
This study also generates the idea of crisis of identity in postcolonial studies. Ashcroft uses the term ‘Place and Displacement’ to picture the idea of crisis of identity occurs in postcolonial literature. He added that this happen because of ‘a valid and active sense of self may have been eroded by dislocation’ (Ashcroft, 2002:9). This occurs because culture or self are disturbed by colonialization. He then also categorized how a culture is denigrated by ‘the conscious and unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by supposedly superior racial or cultural model’
(Ashcroft, 2002:9). The writer observes that the indigenous character in the object of the study also suffers from such crisis of identity.
While focusing in the identity issue, the writer also points out the main ideas in postcolonial discourse as proposed by Bhabha, a prominent figure in postcolonial studies, mimicry and ambivalence in mimicry. Mimicry generates the fact that “…colonized people address their oppressor, adopting their language, clothes, religion, etc.,” but in their mimicry Bhabha describes their ambivalence; their performance alienates the colonizer from their essence, thus destabilizing colonialism.
Mimicry is considered as a strategy of those who are oppressed to adapt way of life of their oppressor. This is seen as a sign of their resistance towards
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pre-given image that is associated with them by the oppressor. Although, mimicry creates ambivalence because the result of mimicry is “to be
Anglicized is emphatically not to be English” (Bhabha, 2004: 125). Therefore, the oppressed will never be the same like the oppressor.
Post-colonialism is in general taken into account as historical phases that undergone by Third World countries after the decline of colonialism (Guerin and Labor, 2011: 361). Hence in a larger context, post-colonialism provides insights to see ‘Alienated’ world that refers to ‘the Other’ by western society.
As represented through language, English Literature is not ‘free’ from colonialism influenced. Said’s Orientalism postulates:
…’Orientalism’ as an enormous system or inter-textual network of rules and procedures which regulate anything that may be thought, written or imagined about the Orient.
This emphasizes that colonialism as a whole construct of western society towards Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to address nationality, ethnicity and politics issues of identity.
This study addresses identity issue by applying those theories into practices. The aims of this study are to identify the crisis of identity and the strategy of mimicry employed by the Burmese character, U Po Kyin. As identity is fluid that means rejecting tainted pre-given identity created by colonizer (Barry, 2009:189), the result of this study is a discussion on how crisis of identity occurs and mimicry employed in the characterization of the
Burmese character.
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C. Method of the Study
Library research is applied in this study as a method as well as a tool to perform the analysis. Bulk of readings on postcolonial especially topics related to the novel are obligatory to be read. Additionally, this study contains a handful citation from expert in postcolonial discourse. Most of the citations are also cited in many works and researches in postcolonial studies in recent years.
The main source of this study is Orwell’s Burmese Days, which was originally published in 1934. By the time this study is conducted, the writer uses an edition of the novel published by Harcourt, Inc. with renewed copyright in 1962. However, this version is the same with the original version published in 1934. The secondary sources are various books and articles related to this study. Most citations come from Rutherford’s Identity,
Community, Culture, Difference, Ashcroft’s The Empire Writes Back,
Bhabha’s The Location of Culture, and Larkin’s Finding Orwell in Burma.
Some steps were taken methodically to complete this thesis. Those were: firstly, the writer arranged some related sources to find out some related studies that were relevant to the topic of the study. Secondly, upon arranging some related studies, the writer began to scrutinize the studies based on the research question. Thirdly, the writer decided which theories to be used. In order to answer the first research question about crisis of identity, first, the writer employed intrinsic literary theory to identify how the character presented in the novel. The writer used the theory of characterization.
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Fourthly, postcolonial theories were used to answer research questions based on order. The theory of crisis of identity was utilized in this step. In this part, the writer elaborated how the character suffers from crisis of identity in the
British colonialization in Burma. Fifthly, the second research question was answered by employing theory of mimicry. The writer highlighted how the character mimics the oppressor, the British. All of these steps were performed thoroughly in order to provide eloquent discussion of the research questions.
Finally, the writer articulated the ideas of crisis of identity suffered by the character and how the character employed mimicry as a strategy of resistance.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
This chapter provides analysis on crisis of identity and mimicry of U Po
Kyin. The writer explains how U Po Kyin, a Burmese character in the novel suffers from criris of identity. Then, he later chose to mimic out of his crisis.
Though, he seems to achieve everything he desired, he is seen as a result of mimicry in the postcolonial discourse. He is powerful among Burmese yet he is paradoxically powerless compared to the British.
The writer explains how U Po Kyin suffers from crisis of identity because he has been dreaming to fight besides the British since they marched into the city of Mandalay. The writer employs crisis of identity theory by Rutherford and Ashcroft and mimicry theory by Bhabha to analyze the changing in U Po
Kyin. Contextually, Burmese Days gives complete events in U Po Kyin’s life while providing a plot to identify how Kyin suffers from crisis of identity and how he manages to mimic the British. Even though on the surface, he seems to achieve all of him dreams.
A. Crisis of Identity suffered by U Po Kyin
1. Characterization of U Po Kyin in the Novel
Kyin is characterized in a way of showing. The author of Burmese Days provides vast details in comments of Kyin actions rather than his own voice.
However, some of Kyin’s manners and qualities are observed from his conversation with another character such as his wife. Most of the times, the
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narrator reveals Kyin’s thought directly to the readers. Kyin’ desires, temperaments and moral natures are observed through the description of the character by the narrator. Therefore, it is noticed that Kyin’s ambition remain stable and unchanged throughout the novel.
From the beginning of the novel the readers are presented with the description of Kyin. The narrator begins with “U Po Kyin, Subdivisional
Magistrate of Kyauktada, in Upper Burma, was sitting in his veranda”
(Orwell, 1934:5). After that, the narrator goes on with the description of the time and situation of the moment Kyin is sitting in his veranda. Kyin’s appearance is also narrated in details as seen in:
Unblinking, rather like a great porcelain idol, U Po Kyin gazed out into the fierce sunlight. He was a man of fifty, so fat that for years he had not risen from his chair without help, and yet shapely and even beautiful in his grossness; for the Burmese do not sag and bulge like white men, but grow fat symmetrically, like fruits swelling. His face was vast, yellow and quite unwrinkled, and his eyes were tawny. (Orwell, 1934:5)
That is why, most of Kyin’s manners, attitudes and qualities are observed through telling way characterization.
U Po Kyin’s admiration of British Empire began when he was a little boy.
One day he saw an army of British Empire marching in Mandalay streets.
According to history, this was the day when the British finally captured the capital city of Burmese Kingdom. After that, last king and queen of Burma dynasty, Thibaw and Supalayat were exiled to India. Since then, Kyin has been living his life by believing that someday he would acquire the
Englishness.
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Kyin is considered as a sly man. This can be observed from how he manages to excel in his career. He keeps being promoted not because of his good works but his cunning practices. When he works at the bazaar as a clerk for a rice merchant, he also sometimes steals. The way he gets his job at the government is by bribing with money he has from blackmailing someone. As stated in:
Then when he was twenty a lucky stroke of blackmail put him in possession of four hundred rupees, and he went at once to Rangoon and bought his way into a Government clerkship (Orwell, 1934:6)
It is when the author narrates that Kyin starts his career in an untrustworthy way. He does not get work because he has the ability to perform the job but he
‘buys’ the position.
When he seizes another chance to be promoted, he does not need any second thought to get the position. He thinks that his salary of being a clerk does not enough. He also earns more income by “misappropriating
Government stores” (Orwell, 1934:6). That is why he wants to be promoted in order to get bigger salary and chance of blackmailing as he usually does. The way he makes his way to get the higher position is also far from he deserves.
This illustrates his doing:
One day he discovered that the Government, being short of minor officials, were going to make some appointments from among the clerks. The news would have become public in another week, but it was one of Po Kyin’s qualities that his information was always a week ahead of everyone else’s. He saw his chance and denounced all his confederates before they could take alarm. Most of them were sent to prison, and Po Kyin was made an Assistant Township Officer of his honesty. (Orwell, 1934:6)
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Therefore, he has been still dreaming of being promoted even further. He also thought that he would have Englishman as his equals or even subordinates.
He keeps being promoted until he reaches a position of magistrate. Under his jurisdiction, there are some villages which he must look after to settle disputes among the villagers. However, he does not perform his duty honestly.
This can be seen from the description of Kyin when he makes the decision to solve problems. It is said:
As a magistrate his methods were simple. Even for the vastest bribe he would never sell the decision of a case, because he knew that a magistrate who gives wrong judgements is caught sooner or later. His practice, a much safer one, was to take bribes from both sides and then decide the case on strictly legal ground. (Orwell, 1934:6)
Kyin ignores the idea of justice when making the decision as a magistrate. He indeed makes the decision of the disputes based on facts in order to maintain his reputation. However, he also still receives bribes to profit himself as well.
His cunning practices are far beyond mention. Surprisingly, he has never been put in trial. His tactics are so subtle and shrewd in order to avoid some accusations. He “… simply discredited it with strings of suborned witnesses, following this up by counter-accusations which left him in a stronger position than ever” (Orwell, 1934:7). As a result of this, Kyin easily get credits of his seemingly good works. He never fails to carry out his responsibility to settle any problems. Thus, he is going to promoted even further.
The narrator continues to build a character on Kyin to have devilish thought and ambition. When there is an article on a bilingual patriotic newspaper called “Burmese Patriot”, exposing and blaming an English Deputy
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Commissioner named Macgregor, Kyin seizes the chance to put an Indian- born doctor, Verasvami, to be blamed. He says:
Now, let us go into this affair from the beginning. We are going to make a concerted attack on Dr. Veraswami, who is the Civil Surgeon and Superintendent of the jail. We are going to slander him, destroy his reputation and finally ruin him forever. It will be a delicate operation. (Orwell, 1934:11)
He produces an anonymous letter to be sent to Macgregor in order to convince him that it is Dr. Verasvami who writes the article. The narrator successfully delivers the image of Kyin as a corrupt official.
In the beginning, Kyin’s intention is only to destroy the doctor’s reputation. However, when he knows the news that every European Club in the British Empire has to accept a new membership for a local, he shifts his plans into a bigger result. When he has a discussion with his wife he says:
You were asking just now what is my real object in this affair. You think, I suppose, that I am ruining Veraswami merely because I dislike him and his ideas about bribes as a nuisance. It is not only that. There is something else that is far more important, and it concerns you as well as me. (Orwell, 1934: 141)
Therefore, it is clear that he wants more than denouncing the doctor. His discussion with his wife continues when he mentions what his real intention is. He says that:
It is this. I happen to know that in a month’s time the Europeans are going to elect one native member to their Club. They do not want to do it, but they will have orders from the Commissioner, and they will obey. Naturally, they would elect Veraswami, who is the highest native official in the district. But I have disgraced Veraswami. And so----- (Orwell, 1934: 143).
The European Club is an elite club where atmosphere of British is reproduced daily by placing bar and bridges card-game in the room. The members of the
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club are obviously all British and other Europeans. When the regulation to elect a local native member is spread out, many rejections come from most members of Kyauktada’s Club. Kyin definitely wants to get the membership as he believes by being the member of the club, his status in the society would be raised.
More complexities in the characterization are added when the narrator creates more intrigues to the story. Kyin’s plan of anonymous letters continues but does not necessarily succeed. He, then, creates a false rebellion issue in the town. This can be seen as an effort to destroy the doctor’s reputation as Kyin himself said:
This rebellion is the very thing to get rid of him. Of course we shall never prove that he is responsible for it; but what does that matter? All the Europeans will take it for granted that he is mixed up in it somehow. That is how their minds work. He will be ruined for life. And his fall is my rise. (Orwell, 1934: 140)
The tense is increased as the British consider the rebellion as a disturbance of the colonial system in the district of Kyauktada. The British decides to send more army to the town. Kyin who is the real actor behind this issue has prepared everything quite smoothly. He pays all the rebels who are actually small in number which the harmful effect is subtle almost nothing compared to the British army stationed in the town. The false rebellion is again an effort to disgrace the doctor reputation so that his chance to get elected to the Club decreased.
The narrator provides the readers with a surprising outcome when rebellion do not produce positive effect for Kyin. It is pictured in “the whole
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miserable rebellion was so obviously at an end that the Europeans were not considered in any danger… “(Orwell, 1934: 225). However, suddenly, Kyin is in favorable situation again when one European is murdered and cut into pieces by locals whose relatives are shot by the European. This certainly creates a high tension among Europeans in Kyauktada as they raise their suspicion and alert towards natives. Kyin takes advantages upon this situation because he plans a finale of his evil plans to destroy the doctor’s reputation and get elected to the Club.
Before launching his final plan, the tension brake out when the Club is surrounded by angry crowd of natives. The crowds shout for a European who previously blinds one school boy because they tease him. Kyin detects this situation as an advantageous moment for him. He tries to calm down the crowd. By the time the crowd is under control, Kyin catches the opportunity to take credit of settling down the crowd. It is illustrated in:
He came towards them with a martial air, carrying a huge stick, and with a revolver thrust into his belt. His dress was a studios negligée-singlet and Shan trousers- to give the impression that he had rushed out his house post-haste. He had been lying low until the danger should be over, and was now hurrying forth to grab a share of any credit that might going. (Orwell, 1934:254)
Nevertheless, the riot is not part of Kyin’s plan to crush Dr. Veraswami. He realizes that the situation does not necessarily support him. However, Kyin learns the friendship between the doctor and one European is quite special.
He comes into conclusion that in order to completely ruin the doctor’s image, he has to smash the image of that European man also. Kyin is aware that the European man falls in love with a European woman. However, the
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European man previously keeps a Burmese mistress at his house. Kyin knows the dismissal of the mistress from his home. He also knows that the Burmese girl still hopes that the European man would still give her money. One day, when the man is at the church planning to propose his lover after the mass,
Kyin gets the Burmese mistress come into the church and shouts crazily for the European man. It is narrated that:
Like the crocodile, U Po Kyin had struck at the weakest spot. For, needless to say, this scene was U Po Kyin’s doing. He had seen his chance, as usual, and tutored Ma Hla May for her part with considerable care. (Orwell, 1934: 274)
This is the time when the doctor receives support no more because his
European friend had been ashamed because of the scene in the church. He then shoots himself to death. By this time a final false accusation Kyin throws at Dr. Verasvami results in a catastrophe. The European could no longer see
Dr. Verasvami as a doctor with a good reputation anymore. Kyin finally gets the membership of the club though rejections of many European members are still around. He comes to the club rarely. When he comes, he is there mainly for drinking and playing bridge. Most of the times, the rest of the members do not consider his presence at all.
At the end of his career, he keeps being promoted after taking many credits from the riot at Kyautada. He is Deputy Commissioner before he retires. He is also awarded a medal to recognize his service to the British
Empire. He is still greedy as before but richer by taking a huge amount of bribery alone. As he is afraid of Karma he would get after making many
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evildoings through his life, he decides to redeem his sins by making pagodas.
Unfortunately, he is dead before he could do so.
2. Crisis of Identity of U Po Kyin
U Po Kyin has been admiring British since he was a little boy. He seems to ignore the fact that the coming of British to Burma as a triumphant because they finally annex the last kingdom in Burma and exile its king and queen.
However, U Po Kyin comprehends the moment differently that:
U Po Kyin’s earliest memory, back in the ‘eighties, was of standing, a naked pot-bellied child, watching the British troops march victorious into Mandalay. … He had taken to his heels after watching them for a few minutes. In his childish way he had grasped that his own people were no match for this race of giants. (Orwell, 1934: 5)
Even though, he is an innocent child, he cultivates the admiration of British
Army. He has not happened to realize the effect of British annexation yet but his feelings have clouded his mind until he is adult. This becomes clear when in the next line the narrator states that “to fight on the side of the British, to become parasite upon them, had been his ruling ambition, even as a child.”
(Orwell: 1934: 5).
The marching of the British soldiers in the street of Mandalay symbolizes the intervention of the colonial in the Burmese culture. The young Kyin as a
Burmese does not realize the oppression because the form of oppression is unconscious to Kyin. Ashcroft named this situation as cultural denigration that happens because “the conscious and unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by a supposedly superior racial or cultural model”
(Aschroft, 2002:9). Burmese culture is now denigrated as the British takes
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control in every aspect of life in Burma. This also means that Kyin’s self- image of being Burmese is challenged.
There are some evidences that picture Kyin’s childhood who was a fan of
British since then. As explained in the characterization of the character, Kyin holds a high position the British Colonial government system in Burma. He is the Subdivisional Magistrate of Kyakutada in the beginning in the novel. He kept being a corrupt official by taking bribe and terrorizing the locals. He then realized that there was a chance to be promoted to high level as states:
Now, at fifty-six, he was a Sub-div isional Magistrate, and he would probably be promoted and made an acting Deputy Commissioner, with Englishmen as his equals and even his subordinates. (Orwell, 1934:6)
This shows his burning ambition to take his chance and make his childhood dream comes true. Thus, it is not a surprise when he deploys many kinds of evil plans to clear his career path in order to foster his desire to be like English man.
The desire to attain the status of Englishmen is a sign of Kyin’s alienation within his Burmese society. He puts a lot effort to identify his self with an alternative identity because he feels he does not want to belong to Burmese as colonial subject. Ashcroft notes this as the result of displacement. He said:
the possession and practice of ‘Englishness’, also show clear signs of alienation even within the first generation of settlement, and manifest a tendency to seek an alternative, differentiated identity? (Ashcroft, 2002:9)
Therefore, Kyin chooses the option to pursue his dream to ‘fight fot the British side” as he has been dreaming of since he was a child.
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As his calumnies again Dr. Verasvami, his rival, do not necessarily succeed altogether, his wife also knows this and curses his doings.
Surprisingly, when he reveals to his wife what his core intention is, he acquires support from his wife. In the beginning his wife is afraid that Kyin’s evil doing would not be able to redeem, as Buddhist Burmese believed it, so that Kyin would turn into animal from like frog or rat. She said that:
Consider what happens to those who have lived wickedly. There is such a thing, for instance, as being turned into a rat or a frog. There is even hell. I remember what a priest said to me once about hell, something that he had translated from Pali scriptures, and it was very terrible. He said ‘Once in a thousand centuries two red-hot spears will meet in your heart, and you will say to yourself, ‘Another thousand centuries of my torment are ended, and there is as much to come as there has been before.’ (Orwell, 1934:141)
Kin Kin, U Po Kyin’s wife, believed those who have done evildoings in his life would be condemned. In doing so, she defines his husband slender against
Dr. Verasvami was evil. She is obviously aware his husband is taking bribery.
The picturesque of how Kyin wife explain the concept of hell in Buddhism to Kyin indicates that Kyin’s wife is a devoted Burmese Buddhist. This shows
Kyin’s place in the society that he is a Burmese. However, by the intervention of the British into their culture alter their idea of life offered by Buddhism and displaced by the image of the English values (Ashcroft, 2002:9). They may or may not aware of the oppression as Kyin also holds a position of a high ranking official in the British colonial government in Burma. However, this still causes their Buddhism image that crafted in their hearts scattered. They are replaced with the image of being English. They then reproduce the idea of karma in Buddhism into their favor to pursue the English self.
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At the beginning of the novel Burmese belief of reincarnation is also mentioned. After the narrator describes how corrupt Kyin is, he then talks about how Kyin would redeem his evil doings in his life.
He would devote his closing years to good works, which would pile up enough merit to outweigh the rest of his life. Probably his good works would take the form of building pagodas. Four pagodas, five, six, seven - the priests would tell him how many-… And he would return to the earth in male human shape - … (Orwell, 1934:7)
Pagoda is an essential aspect of Burmese religious life in Myanmar until now.
Larkin confirms this concept when she visited Burma in early 2000. She says:
Pagoda are the center of Burmese spiritual life, and every town and village has one. People visit the pagoda daily or weekly to pay respect to the Buddha relics which are often enshrined there, to meditate, to give alms, or to attend the festivals held on religious holidays. (Larkin, 2004:77)
This shows that Kyin is aware of the result of his action from the beginning. In doing so, he is also prepared for redeeming the sins of his. His act of destroying Dr. Verasvami is not an exception of his nature of being a corrupt official from the beginning. Kyin’s acts are similar to the practices of general that Larkin observes. She summarizes:
Like today’s generals, U Po Kyin, the corrupt Burmese magistrate in Orwell’s Burmese Days, considered himself a good Buddhist. He believed that all the evil he had done in this life – cheating people for money … He therefore planned to devote the later years of his life to doing good works, to counteract out the bad things he had done and balance the scales of karmic justice. (Larkin, 2004:78)
This idea of the centralistic of Buddhism and the idea of karma are not necessarily to be judged on morality basis but on cultural aspect. It means that how Kyin basically is used to have a strong connection with his self-image as
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a good Buddhist. However, now, he has to manipulate the idea of being good
Buddhist to suit his ambition to acquire Englishness.
Kyin is annoyed with his life even though he is in a better situation compared with most Burmese. He seems not to care about his wrong doings, and he even still craves for more. This is also a characteristic of core intention of Kyin which is not to be grateful. He grows more furiously to obtain his desire. He says that:
I am tired of eating with my fingers and associating only with Burmans −poor, inferior people− and living, as you might say, like to feel like a miserable Township Officer. Money is not enough; I should like to feel that I have risen in world as well. (Orwell, 1934: 142)
Kyin wants more than just money he clearly states in the novel. He is eager to gain more than establishments. He begins to reconsider his social status in then society as he thinks that being rich was not enough. It is Kyin’s self- imaged that is oppressed and then eroded not his economic condition.
Therefore, he believes that there are many chances and ways to accomplish his dream to attain Englishness.
It is clear that Kyin is ashamed of being Burmese. He acknowledges that being Burmese associates him with inferiority. Ashcroft comments that “a valid and active sense of self may have been eroded” (Ashcroft, 2002:8). This idea approves that Kyin as a Burmese self is eroded because he feels inferior.
He also notices that money is not enough for him because his identity is not necessarily formed with money but culture. That is why when his Burmese culture is eroded, he begins to feel inferior and questions his identity.
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When Kyin expresses his view on his current life, he unconsciously admitted that he is in the part of inferior society. Rutherford believes that one’s identity is achieved through the polarities of characteristics. He comments that:
It is within their polarities of white/black, masculine/feminine, hetero/homosexual, where one term is always dominant and the other subordinate, that our identities are formed. (Rutherford, 1990:10)
This situation occurs in Kyin when he says that his ambition to crush Dr.
Verasvami by all means because he has been dreaming the ultimate dream. He believes that his dream to be a member of the European Club is “the very highest honor an Oriental can attain to.” (Orwell, 1934: 142). Oriental term that is used here is equally the same with colonized people. Therefore, he refers himself as an Oriental who possibly reaches the noblest dream to be like the European. The polarity appears that the Oriental is inferior to the West because an Oriental could only achieve the greatest achievement given by the
West.
The desire of being the member of the club does not only strike U Po Kyin but also his rival, Dr. Verasvami. Upon knowing Kyin’s plans to destroy his reputation, he also begins to develop a desire of the Club. The doctor believes that the only way to avoid of being accused as a proprietor to the Colonial government is elected to the Club. He then indeed mentions his ambition several times to Flory, his British friend, when they have a conversation. He describes the Club as “a fortress impregnable”. He is going to use his membership as a shield against any accusation thrown at him. There are at
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least three times he mentioned his desire to be the member to Flory in only just one conversation. The situation which Kyin has undergone is interrelated with the reading of Bhabha’s mimicry concept. Bhabha postulates that “the desire for a reformed, recognizable Other, as a subject of diference that is almost the same but not quite” (Bhabha, 2004:122). As discussed earlier, the ruling ambition of U Po Kyin is ‘to be the same but not quite’ grows since he is ‘a naked pot-bellied’ boy. This drives him to advance his career path by launching his dirty campaign towards his challenger, Dr. Verasvami.
More plausible explanation of their condition is stated by Kin, the wife of
U Po Kyin. Ma Kin is an ordinary girl before married to U Po Kyin. In beginning when her husband purposes the idea of entering the Club, Kin argues that her life now is far better. She thinks that there is no more to be achieved. However, her husband idea strikes her mind when he starts to imagine the life of the member of the Club would be. Ma Kin could no longer resist the corrupt plans of his husband. She lets down any walls that defense her feeling whenever she disapproves her husband wicked ideas. Her husband deeds of taking bribery and terrorizing the villagers blind her with the desire of being the wife of the member of the Club.
It is not only Kyin but also his wife who is perplexed with the idea that
Kyin is going to be a member of the European Club. They see the Club as
“…that mysterious temple, that holy of hollies far harder of entry than nirvana!” (Orwell, 1934:143). Both of them symbolize the Club as a
‘mysterious temple’ which would offer them more than they could think of.
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Hence, Kyin’s family social status would not only entangle by wealth but also respect that he gains through the membership of the Club.
In order to support the idea that the U Po Kyin is in the state of feeling inferiority, it can be seen through Dr. Verasvami, Kyin’s rival, when he is talking to Flory, white man, and he says he knows that Kyin launches evil campaign to destroy his reputation in front of the Europeans. When, Flory tries to calm the doctor down, he says that:
All depends upon one’s standing with the Europeans. If my standing iss good, they will not believe it of me; if bad, they will believe it. Prestige iss all. (Orwell, 1934:149)
Corresponding to this statement, Flory delivers no argumentation but agreement. The Europeans who always have the sentiment towards local, as discussed earlier in the context of Rutherford’s idea of identity, that locals are always bad and wrong. Those who could gain their respect are only local natives who have good reputation.
U Po Kyin mentions the word of inferiority or things associate to it. It is true that he holds a high ranking official the local can attain to in the British
Raj system, but he cannot detach himself from the society that is denigrated.
Ashcroft pictures this as “cultural denigration, the conscious and unconscious oppression of the indigenous personality and culture by a supposedly superior racial or cultural model.” (Ashcroft, 2002:9) The affirmation of their inferiority status is uttered by another member of the same society, fellow colonized, Dr. Verasvami. He has remarked that “’Hanging together’, ass you call it. It iss the secret of your superiority to we Orientals” (Orwell, 1934:147).
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This statement contains the idea of dependency as well as the acknowledgment of the colonizer power and superiority. In that statement, the doctor needs Flory as a white man to maintain and gain more status in order to elevate their position among the society.
B. Crisis of Identity leads to Mimicry of U Po Kyin
Kyin begins his life as a beggar who later climbs the ladder of success until he has a position of a Sub-divisional magistrate in the British colonial government. This shows that he is placed at the margin of the colonized society. When he holds the position such as a Sub-divisional magistrate he will always pursue a higher position as a Deputy Commissioner. Ashcroft uses Edward Said’s terms “a process of conscious affiliation proceeding from a desire not only to be accepted but to be adopted and absorbed” (Ashcroft,
2002:4). Ashcroft comments that those who are at the periphery of colonization society are going to unite and abandon their origins. Kyin is undergoing this process since he dreams and decides to work for the British when he was a little boy. He then keeps the intention growing by plotting his way to get the merits of his work.
Kyin’s effort to mimic the colonizer, the British, is seen according to
Bhabha as “desire of the reformed” (Bhabha, 2004:122). Kyin rejects as well as accepts the idea of being colonized who is placed at the periphery of colonialization. He and other Burmese are the subjects of colonialization who are excessively abused by the power of the British. However, he is benefited
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by having the position of a Sub-divisional magistrate. This gives him a better opportunity to launch another dream to be like the British socially. Entering the Club is a perfect ambition to him.
1. Mimicry of U Po Kyin
The initial moment of the process of mimicry is when U Po Kyin
delivers the idea of being the member of the European Club to his wife.
After she hears her husband delivers the idea, she begins to imagine what
will happen if she is the wife of the member of the Club. She comments
that “talking to English ladies in Hindustani about baby-linen” would
amaze for any women in her community. This amplifies that the motive of
being chosen as a member in the club for Kyin’s family is not only to get
respected by local natives. This also articulates the idea of being the
European alike.
Historically, when the British issued a diarchy rule in 1923, only a
small number of the Burmese politicians were allowed to attend the
parliament’s session. This rule also affects any British Clubs all over the
country. Most British bitterly accept the present of Burmese in their clubs.
However, many reject the Burmese to come to the Clubs. In Burmese
Days, one of typical reason was represented by Ellis. He says:
It’s all very well, but I stick to what I said. No natives in this Club! It’s constantly giving way over small things like that that we’ve ruined the Empire. This country’s only rotten with sedition because we’ve been too soft with them. The only possible policy is to treat ‘em like dirt they are. This is a critical moment, and we want every bit of prestige we can get. We’ve got to hang together and say, ‘We are the masters and you beggars-‘“ Ellis pressed his small thumb
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down as though flattening a grub-“you beggars keep your place!’ (Orwell, 1934:32)
This can be seen as the evidence on how the diarchy policy that issued by
British Raj in Burma is not well accepted in most British societies in
Burma as pictured by Orwell in the novel.
Larkin has a rare opportunity to interview a Burmese whose father was a district magistrate during the British colonial government in 1920’s in Burma. The Burmese named Htin Aung talked to her that his father is invited to join the local club. He mentions that his father is forced to accept the membership (Larkin, 2011:189). His father does not enjoy the privilege of being the member of the club as he only visits the clubs several times on social duty not leisure time.
On the other hand, this fact is apparently reversed by Orwell as he characterizes Kyin as a magistrate who is willing to blackmail and scheme his way to obtain the membership of the Club. Orwell’s intention can be seen as an attempt to provide the space for Kyin to possess power as well as the ability to mimic the British by choice not by force as the policy said.
Kyin is described as a corrupt man since the beginning of the novel. The way he reaches his positon as a Magistrate is not ‘innocent’ from the start. Thus, he managed to secure his positon as he always employs clever tricks such as receives the bribes. He also makes a private taxation system for villagers in order get more money. Those who refute would be terrorized by “gangs of dacoits attacked the village, leading
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villagers were arrested on false charge, and so forth” (Orwell, 1934:7).
These terrors are motorized by Kyin.
In postcolonial discourse, the act of Kyin terrorizing his own fellow (other Burmese) is seen as an attempt to mimic the colonizer. The nature of colonizer, indeed, always includes power relation as the based on every interaction. This can be seen from the bipolarity of superior and inferior represented by the British and Burmese. Kyin rejects his Burmese identity because Burmese is the subject of the British colonialization. This corresponds to Bhabha’s concept of mimicry. He says mimicry is “the desire for reform, the recognizable other”. In this case, Kyin wants to
‘differ’ himself from the Other, the subject of colonization.
Kyin does not only blatantly mimic the British but he also realizes that colonization is strongly emphasized on the element of racism. As explained in the earlier part of this study, the British see Burmese as inferior race. For instance, under the ferocious heat of Burma sun, the
British have to wear protection for their head as they are not used to such extreme heat. However, Burmese were seen off not wearing any protection. The British conclude that Burmese have thick skull. The fact that the British differ themselves biologically from Burmese established racist relation because they notice Burmese are ‘savage’ and less human as they had no problem with the heat.
Kyin benefits himself from this situation by conducting corrupt practices. Taking bribery is only one of his methods of gaining more
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money illegally. When there is a case under his jurisdiction, he decided the disputed sincerely on valid legal conditions but under the table he demanded certain amount of money from both sides. He was so clever to exploit the racism of the British because “no British officer will ever believe anything against his own men” (Orwell, 1934:7). Kyin is counted as a British officer in that sense because he is a Sub-divisional magistrate under the colonial government.
There is a riot outside the Club because the crowd inquiries one of the European to be condemned. This particular European shoots one of the local natives during a chaos. Ac he unnecessarily shot a local who would not harm him in any ways. The riot itself is not the part of Kyin’s grand plan of devastating the good name of Dr. Verasvami. However, Kyin seizes the opportunity to take the credits to suppress the angry crowd.
Orwell narrates that: “He had been lying low until the danger should be over, and now was hurrying forth to grab a share of any credit that might be going.” (Orwell, 1934:254). This signifies Kyin effort to mimic the
Colonizer as he denies the fact that he is the member of the local society.
This reaction is seen as an attempt to differ himself from the local natives.
Another event amplifies Kyin’s effort to be European like. The doctor receives support no more from Flory as Flory has committed suicide. Kyin finally launches his final accusation to obtain his objective to get membership of the club. Dr. Verasvami indeed is destroyed. The
Europeans think that he is a scoundrel even though they have no specific
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reason why they should believe so. The doctor also has been labelled as the “shok de”; a Burmese phrase, whose meaning equals to untrustworthy no to be exact. When a native is labeled by this, it means “there is an end of him” (Orwell, 1934:283). Unlike the doctor, Kyin is profited otherwise.
This shows that Kyin successfully differs himself from Dr. Verasvami.
The doctor symbolizes the local society while Kyin is now left off to be
European like because of the membership.
2. The Result of Mimicry
The result of mimicry is ambivalence. Mimicry emphasizes its process rather than the result. The result of mimicry will not be able to produce new characteristics. In the postcolonial discourse, mimicry will affect the local natives because they will transform into the British described as
‘almost the same but not quite’. Those who try to mimic the British will not get the same status as them. Kyin is trapped in the illusion he has been dreaming about. In the beginning of the novel, Kyin is described as a Sub- divisional magistrate, a high ranking official for a local people (Orwell,
1934:5). His jurisdiction includes some villages in the discrict of
Kyauktada. To him, his position offered power and authority among his people.
This is true since he arranges private taxation scheme to benefit him himself while he also receives bribes from both sides but he solves the dispute honestly. Because he solves any disputes fairly, it profits him with
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respect as a loyal and skilled official to the British. However, the British will not care about his corrupt practice for Kyin was one of the British officials. Kyin is aware of this that he keeps continuing his corrupt practices since he believes the British would not believe the accusation thrown against his own men (Orwell, 1934:7). He will pile up dozen witnesses if any accusation or trial of his practices. He will always get away with it.
Macaulay’s example of a group translator in India provides clear picture of how the ambivalence of mimicry occurs. He comments on class structure in India under the British colonialization. They are the colonizer, the British, mimic man, and millions whom the British govern, the common people (Bhabha, 1994:87). What he means by mimic man is a group of Indian who receives colonial education to be translators. The translator group is no longer included in the group with millions others but they form a new social class. However, having received the colonial education job as translators, they remain powerless. Their status as colonial subject is not lifted altogether.
In this case, Kyin is considered in the group of mimic man in India.
His position offers him a lot of privileges as a Sub-divisional magistrate.
The British will not look up upon him neither as a respected Burmese nor as a noble man since the British was understand of the nature of Kyin very well. He will remain as a colonial subject. According to the history, when the British annex Burma, they replace truthful of head villagers with a
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handful of corrupt Burmese officials (Larkin, 2011:67). They believe corrupt Burmese officials are easy to be controlled as they let them to continue terrorizing villagers instead of protecting them. They are also trapped in the ambivalence of mimicry discourse because Kyin is
‘translator’ whose power is a little compare to the British officials.
Kyin’s membership of the Club does not change how the British members of the Club judge Burmese people. Although, naturally, they will elect Dr. Verasvami, they are thankful when they finally choose Kyin instead. Their attitude is pictured in:
In the end the other Europeans came to be rather glad that they had elected him, for he was bearable addition to the Club. He did not come too often, was ingratiating in his manner, stood drinks freely, and developed almost at once into a brilliant bridge-player. (Orwell, 1934:285)
They are glad because Kyin is almost unnoticed to them because he does not come too often. So, his presence in the Club is not considered as important. On the other hand, this symbolizes that Kyin is successfully mimic the British because he is now able to socialize with the rest of the member by acquiring a skill to be a brilliant bridge-player. His significance to the Club is only his privilege of entering the Club. He does not represent any Burmese politically and he has no power in Club to express his opinion.
When Kyin has achieved everything more than he has been dreaming about, he fails to redeem his sins by building pagodas. This is an ambivalence result of mimicry because he still considers himself as a
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devoted Burmese. It is the moment for him to atone for his sins as stated in
“U Po Kyin had done all that mortal man could do. It was time now to be making ready for the next world - in short, to begin building pagodas.”
(Orwell, 1934:286). In the earlier part of this study, when Kyin begins to blackmail and scheme Dr. Verasvami, he was warned that one day he has to redeem his evildoings by building pagodas. Unfortunately, it is not long after he is granted an award by the British governor, he is stricken by apoplexy. He is dead several days afterwards.
Pagodas are the center of Burmese people as devoted Buddhist. The idea of Kyin remembers his atonement of building pagoda show that he is still attached to Burmese culture. Like Macaulay’s example, the translators group in India who he considers them to be powerless because of selective knowledge they acquire from the British, Kyin is also powerless. He could not fulfill his duty as a Buddhist. This is also a sign of difference and the lack of authority for Kyin. He is different than the British although he has the highest position for the local natives can get in the government of
British colonial. He still has to perform his duty as a Burmese and
Buddhist. On the other hand, Kyin can be seen as an example for other
Burmese. Kyin is a signification for Burmese because they can reach such a high position in the British colonial government.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
This chapter sums the ideas discussed in the analysis. In the first research question the writer point out how U Po Kyin suffers from identity crisis. By analyzing the characterization of Kyin, the writer would be able to start to set a distance from the plot as a whole. He is characterized a corrupt official. He is also portrayed as an evil character as he always finds a way to denigrate his rival in order to get the membership of the Club. Kyin nurtures his admiration towards the
British since he was little. This shows how Kyin begins to content with the idea of fighting for the British instead of Burmese. Although, this happens when he is child, the idea does not disappear but grow. This happens because Kyin self- image of being burmese is denigrated by the presence of the British. When he finally holds a quite high ranking local official as a Sub-divisional magistrate with several villages under him jurisdiction, his ambition to fight for the British transforms into entering ‘the Club’.
The Club represents a new signifier for Kyin’s ambition to fight for the
British. Now, his ambition to fight for the British is replaced but the idea is still the same. The Club also represents Kyin’s condition as he suffers from crisis of identity. He realizes the importance of the Club. In order to elevate his social status among the local natives, the Club offers him with a lot of privileges. He believes those privileges will erase his inferiority status in front of the British.
In the second problem formulation, it is when Kyin begins to launch his devilish plan in order to crumble Dr. Verasvami, he starts to mimic the British.
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Dr. Veraswami represents the local society. That is why it is important for Kyin to destroy the image of Dr. Verasvami. This also corresponds with the idea of mimicry as a repetition. In this case, he represents what the British have done to his society. Abusing Dr. Veraswami repeats the action of the British abusing the local natives.
Even though Kyin is warned by his wife that he has to atone for sins by building pagodas, Kyin makes his way to get the membership. His blackmails and scheme successfully destroy the good image of Dr. Verasvami. His presence at the
Club is occasional. When he is at the Club, he has found a way to socialize with the British by being a good bridge-player. Other impact of his presence is almost none because he does not represent any Burmese to voice his opinion in the Club.
He takes the Club a place to spend some leisure time. This again corresponds to the idea that mimicry is not a representation.
The result of mimicry is ambivalence. His failure of building pagodas to gain merits to atone his evildoings signifies that he still lacks of authority. He is indeed promoted even further so that he achieves a medal of honor from the
British Governor. He is also wealthier than ever as he keeps doing his corrupt practices by taking bribes. However, these all do not provide him enough power to perform his duty as a devoted Buddhist and Burmese. He is still a postcolonial subject because he cannot fully attach himself from the Buddhist and Burmese tradition. On the other hand, the British also consider him just the same like other
Burmese as the colonial subject.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Abrams, M.H. and Geoffrey G. Harpham. Glossary of Literary Terms, 9th Edition. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2009.
Aschroft, Bill and Gareth Griffiths and Hellen Tiffin. The Empire Writes Back. New York: Routledge, 2002.
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory, 3rd Edition. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 2009.
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