CHAPTER 2

"BURMESE DAYS** - (1934)

"Imperialism never unifies but always separates man from man" - Dayid Kubal - "Outside the Whale" -57-

Imperialism is the logical extension of colonialism on the political front as Capitalism is on the economic front. Eterpetuation of capitalism on the socio-economic scene of the colonies was the strategy of European and Pacific-Rim Colonial nations. The Channel and the Navy made the life of the English slvimbered and somnolent in their colonies - the off-shoots of which turned out to be Victorian snobbery and Edwardian jingoism. The application of Adam Smithian economics on the non-vibrant economic fronts in South Asian and South East Asian countries made the colonialists self-complacent. Hong.jQoqg, on the way to **one nation two economies" strategy of the Chinese by 1999, is the last bastion of Smithian economics in a British colony. Burma, where Ne-Win ruled with iron hand for a quari:er century paving the way for the 1988 turmoil, was a British colony till 1946. Burma was part of British India till 1936. Orwell's journey to the Bxiddhist - hallowed soil of Burma, to become perpetuator of Britain's imperialism, , turned out counter­ productive. This journey became a journey of repentance on a spiritual plane, betv;ixfcand between the joumies of rebellion and redemption to Paris and SpainyrespKOCtively.

Orwell's experiences in Burma lingered in his psyche even after two decades of his adieu to the Burmese soil. In a review, dated F^ruary 1946, of the "Story of Burma" by Tennyson Jesse Orwell brings out the tenor of her book as'benevolent imperial ism'post-dating Kipling. O^'^^Hare view -58- focusses the economic exploitation of Burma by the English and their social misbehaviour. The author of "Burmese Days** introduces his own book to her and says :-

•*I dare say it is unfair in some ways and inaccurate in some details but much of it is simply reporting of what I have seen.** (Collected Essays - Journalism and Letters - Vol: IV - P.142I.

The exceptional "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth** orientation of Orwell comes in when he rubs the fur of his own cat backwards*. Bernard Crick compares Orwell to a loyal and vociferous football sympathizer who hurls complaints, sarcasm and abuse at his own long-suffering team to better thei1^performance. His own grand-mother *s social exclusiveness in Burma is limelighted as typical of the British attitude. He says:

**My granctaother lived 40 years in Buirma and at the end could not speak a word of Burmese - typical of the ordinary Englishwomtan's attitude." (Ibid).

Orwell*s critical acumen, the singular national personality trait of the Germans, comes out in f loun^xtig coloures in the treatment of friends and foes alike• Orwell was very heavy on Hitler and Stalin,*the evil blot and blip in human history'^respectively- He was equally dead against the hijmiliations meted out to the Axis war prisoners. In his matured political wisdom he cautioned the Allies

...A -59-

against the symbolic Berlin Wall in ffi^e^ uncritically labelled last testament^ "Nineteen Eighty^Four*^ when he had caricatured then prevalent tendency of the super powers in dividing the world into zones of influence. Orwell's departed restless soul might be getting the peace that pa^seth understanding with the historical demolition of Berlin Wall, and the stamping out of Stalinist Communism from the Eastern Block countries. Orwell subscribed to the historically borne out fact that the humiliation hurled upon the Germans in 1919 had given rise to Hitler. In the essay entitled "Revenge is Sour", the spiritual insight and depth of conceptual clarity of Orwell come, obt '-^tt in the making of 'democratic Socialism ** Oh'^''^'writes:-

"But what this scene, and miach else that I saw in Germany, brought home to me was that the whole idea of revenge and punishment is a childish day-dream. Properly speaking, there is no such thing as revenge." Revenge is an act which you went to cotrmit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of iit^sotence is removed, the desire evaporates also."(pEJLi Vol: IV P:21 .Pen: 84).

The philosophy adumbrated in "Revenge is Sour" is the ethical framework of the political idea of 'democratic Socialism*. According to Alan Sandison, Orwell's hatred of imperialism is rooted in the belief that "the true

../- -60- corruption of imperialism, in fact, is that it denies the possibility of reliance on one *3 own good faith", The isolation that comes from moral cowardice as in the case of John Flory, aristocratic arrogance rooted in native hunting as shown by Verral, obsequious official existence of Dr. Verraswami and l^o-Kyn getting rid of professional enemies with Machi#vellUin finesse.become the natural adjuncts of colonial culture,

Orwell's journies through the malaria Infested alluvial plains of Burma is the silhouette of ?Ru£wtase Days** The extensive paddy fields on either side of the river Irravady and the mighty teeks like the glorious oaks of German forest assume the proportions of literary personfications, The technique of pathetic fallacy is exploited to its full in his first naturalistic novel. Incidentally, the teak trees of Burmese forests which are being grounded and the wilting glorious oak trees of German forests are more than environmental concerns,

"Burmese Days*,as a novel^is of the period of the literary apprenticeship of Orvell. It is a naturalistic novel as per the literary blue print of Orwell, Orwell was to recount later:-

••I wanted to write enormous naturalistic novels with unhappy endings, full of detailed descriptions and arresting similies, and also full of purple

...A -61-

passages in which words were used partly for the sake of their sound. And in fact ray first completed novel,"Burmese Days",which I wrote when I was 30, but projected much earlier is rather that kind of book". ('Why I Write* - Collected Essays Letters and Journalism. P:.25 Vol. 1).

The metaphors of apocalyptic destruction recurrent in Orwell make their first appearance in "Burmese Days" as Alan Sandison points out. In evolving the concept of 'democratic Socialism* which eschews manipulatory tactics in personal lives and propounds cultural assimilation on the social front, "Burmese Days* is Ort

"Bunnese Days", *a darkly pessimifitiVnovel' as David Kdbal christens it, is relieved of its pessimism by the balming touch of nature. Picturesque description of nature is the forte of Orwell, His early writings are littered with the purple passages of descriptions. Dorothy Hare merges in the ripe hop fields of Kent and exudes the aura of Hardy's tragic heroines, especially of Tess. Gordon and Rosemary seek nature for their amorous explorations from the conroercialism of London. Her pregnancy which turns out to be instrunnental for Gordon's decision to keep his own asphidistra, is a legacy of nature. Bowling's return to Lower Binfield is indicative of Orwell's

...A -62- espousal of the philosophy of Pantheism, The in­ corruptible nature and man's capacity to pollute it is the back drop of "Animal Farm". Nature provides the escape route to Winston and Julia from the terror, cruelties and pessimism. Winston and Juliajgoing out^ to their open 'hide-out* from the stiffling and brutalised loveless cellars of the Ministry of Love^ is as efficacious as the instrument of •comic relief* in a Shakespearean tragedy. The voice of the thrush when Winston and Julia make love to each other, its flappy disappearance when Winston fails in his first attempt of love and Julians encouraging pat, 'Nevdr mind dear, the whole afternoon is there are Edwardian nature slots. Throughout his writings^George Orwell emphasises the cathartic effect of nature upon man.

According to Alan Sandison^ *the law of operating inside nature * is a fundamental percept for Orwell; the one on which is dependent his whole notion of the free personality. The nature of Orwell is similar to that of the Ere-Romantics. Combining both mind and sense he lookes upon nature as the theatre of empirical observation and a place where the divinity of scripture and the individual self operate. Nature is a sort of moral gold standard where the spiritual life of man and the currency of 'personal self* are tested. The ramifications of 'natxiire * concept in Orwell is brought out by Sandison by clubbing together Wigan, the slums of London and Paris and the revolutionary Bordello -63- in Barcelona. As Sandison concludes,"operating within nature is the means whereby the individual achieves the realisation and fulfillment of personal self".

Orwell's literary effort of driving out the land­ scapes of Burma from his consciousness which had assximed the proportions of a nightmare because of long mental associationj^was a Biblical Jonah like act. Jonah,the Prophet, slept in the cushioned incubator of the whale only for three days. Orwell carried the haunting imagery of Burma first read in Kipling for nearly five years (1922-27) like his emotional Mth Charles Dickens who tcb imaginatively heard the disturbing sounds of David Copperfield and Uriah Heep in his London wanderings. Literary creation is similar to the Biblical \j|iale's act of swallowing and vomiting out. The 'prophet', Orwell uses the religious associations of Jonah and *lhale in a secular context to write of an artist's aesthetic distance from political currents and social undercurrents with special reference to Henry Miller in the title-piece, ••Inside the Whale". David Rubal's meaningofully titled critical book^'*Outside the Whale|^ is about the political ^^stance of Orvell. Orwell and Jonah were mistaken as prophets of doom: both went inside the Itiale for some time without being consumed. The Glory of Jehovah did not consume Moses though the surrounding bxish got burnt. Holy Mary carried the Spirit

.../- >64-

of God without being consumed. It is another spiritual parallel of metaphysical proportions. Jonah,the prophet of doom^came out of the darkness of the %iiale's belly after three days^. . Jesus, the prophet of Hope^was given up by the Cross oi^t^ ttiljcd d«y. The message •^(f Oc^iii^ll and joat o£ total despair. d'orMttr t»«|^. The parallels of Moses and Holy Mary are out­ lined in Stephen Jay Gould's tftle/ »Bver Sicce Darwin*.

The exclusive British Club was the hiab of all colonial activities. In an expansive mood of opening up the 'right of admission reserved* British institutions to the natives, club membership/ hitherto restricted to agents who carry the white man's burden only, had also been opened up to natives on a selective basis. Verraswamy, a Subject South-Indian doctor, working in Burma, was an aspirant. Upo Kyn, the native Burman Sub-divisional Magistrate, thought of the club membership as his birth right. The European members resented the move to induct the natives into the club inspite of the persuasive strategy of Mac Gregor, the Deputy Cottttnissioner. John Flory's failure to get his friend Dr. Verraswamy nominated for the lone native membership of the club and in the process getting his finger of honour burnt out in the open assault in the church,master minded by Upo-Kyn through Ma La Ma y, his putative mistress, is the high point of the novel. Elisabeth Lackersteen, Flory's love

...A —65- going in search of greener pastures and getting engaged to Mac Gregor ^ Flory, the anti-hero haunted by a birthmark and pangs of Elizabeth's ditching* committing suicide are the main threadsof the story. Dr. Veeraswamy, having got stumped, yielded to Upo-I^n.

Pessimism as a literary trait and apocalypsitan doom as the inevitable destiny of mankind,if certain conditions are not observed, are built-in-trade marks of Orwell's writings since ••Bxirmese Days'*. Orwell's Omnibus philosophical reflection, 'every life viewed from inside is a failure'^ and his personal haunting feeling of 'I am doomed to failure'^ lingered in his psyche till he was in late thirties,

The fictionalised John Plory is based on the factual Eric Blair« Critics trace the uncut \jnnbilical chord between the two. Flory's incapacity to formulate his own confused feelings into an explicit position or to validate his sense of impotent complicity with what he hates, his frustrated raging at his compatriots and cynicism are traceable to Orwell. The small spark of courage needed to say 'no' lacked in him. The congenital birthmark of Plory, like a 'leitmotif % haunts him through out making him feel inferior. After giving due place to John AtkinA* conments on Flory-Oirwell emotional link, one is tend to ask whether the birthmark is indicative of

...A scwne pronounced physiological and psychological deficiency in Orwell. The answer is in the negative. The physical birthmark, according to one critical school,corresponds to the stigma of poverty, cowardice, guilt and failure. Rejection and failure are two dominant streaks of the novel - failure to make dent into the imperialistic culture of Raj and Orwell's final rejection of it. The two elements (birthmark and ideological conflict) are inter-related in Plory's history. Flory's view is moire or less same as Orwell's that,political stances are merely temperamental rationalisations - The autobiographical streak of'surmese Days" according to David Kubal is^''Flory therefore might be seen as what Orwell feared he would have become if he had not left the service",

On the literary front, Flory is a tragic character with the 'tragic flaws' of Aristotle. Flory of lower middle class, is a moral effet e like Orwell. Terry Eagleton in his critical essay entitled "Exiles and Emigr^es", brings out the literary trend of eulogising the lower middle class heroes: a trend commenced with H.G. Wells.To quote Terry Eagleton:-

••Orwell is seen as part of the complicated development of a tendency in English culture traceable to the

time of H.G- Vfells, the concept of lower middle clas s

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hero, a paradoxical, contradicoty figxire whose basic feelings «nd ideas can be related to Orwell's own position in the history of his time* ("Otwell and the Middle Class Novel*- Critical Essays - Prentice Hall- Chapter 1) Orwell*s ironic treatment of Flory and identification with him poses critical problems. At times Orwell seems to align himself with Flory's self-pity and unthinking platitudes on imperialism. The suicide of Flory, whether it is the last resort of a morally exhausted man or the heroic act of defiance,defies conclusive comment. "Burmese Days",as a novel of the Raj, like Kiplingfe 'Kim*, E.M. Forster*s "A Passage to India",is equi-distant from either. The present day Raj writings like 'Far Pavilions* and "Jewel in the Crown" belong to a different 'genre'. Jeffrey Mayerg brings out the anti Kiplingesque elements of "Burmese Days* by- contrasting it with Kipling's novels and companng it with "A Passage to India", He says:-

'•The themes of lack of understanding and the difficulties of friendship between the English and natives, the physical deterioration and spiritual corruption of the white man in the tropics are sounded by Forster and echo through Orwell's novels ... "Burmese Days" more pessimistic than " <» Passage to India" because official failures are not redeaned by successful personal relations. ..; "Burmese

.... /^ -68->

Days" is a study of hxjman factor in the British Raj^ (George Orwell - ••The Critical Heritage* Je ffrey Mayers-Rcut Ledge and Kegal Paul - London. 1975-P-8).

••Burmese Days" is out and out an indictment of imperialism. The detestation of imperialism got deeply ingrained in Orwell during his sojourn in Burma, nay, even earlier^ during his journey on board of the ship that took him to Rangoon. The treatment meted out to the Sri Lankan labouxrer en board of the ship gave him the inkling of what to expect in Burma, The emotion that touched Orwell's sensibilities in the Sri Lankan coast subsequently changed the course of a man's life in 1914 when he attempted to travel in first class railway ccxnpartment - a change which transformed the destiny of a nation throogh oaixthljl^s piloting of Indian independence struggle. Pacifi«. ,sm and humanist ethics were other emotional lin)« between Orwell and Gandhi* Orwell's compliment, 'Gandhi's teaching cannot be squared with his belief ', is equally applicable to him. also*

J.R. Hammond comments upon the deep conceptual clarity and structural synchroneity of "Burmese Days^* and says:-

"The novel* occupies an important place in the canon of his work ... but as the first statement of themes

...A -69-

which were exclusively to dominate his imagination, The conflict between the independent spirit and the rule of orthodoxy; the urge to renounce conventional values and opt out of society; the contrast between the man of ideas the the aesthete; the attempt to sublimate loneliness through emotional relationship; the rebel as a social outcast - these were to be his Continuing concerns in the years ahead and the predominant topics of his fiction and essays alike. (George Orwell Companion: PP 97-98),

David Kubal brings out the deeper implications of •Burmese Days* as in:-

"A close scrutiny of the novel reveals that Orwell was certainly doing more than writing a satire or an attack on British imperialism. Imperialism is the subject matter, but the author is primarily concerned with the psychological and ethical effects of the system both on the English and on the Burmese ,., CDutside the Whale** P: 70).

Orwell brings out the real nature of imperialism in •Shooting an Elephant**^ by making the wielder of tyrannical power a slave like the victim. The hunt in the novel is one of the high points in Orwell's art and provides a profound insight into the effects of the tyrant mentality on hxanan irelationships. In the words of David Kubal "tfere, like Christopher Isher>*ood In ...A -70-

Berlin stories/ he dramatises the perversion of sexual instinct in a totalitarian atmosphere*. The limitations of human relationship under imperialism is the theme of ••Burmese Days'* as the same has been treated by Foateec in an accomplished way in "A Passage to India", David Kubal concludes his analysis on "Burmese Days" by saying, "a political situation is treated as a social problem; even 'Nineteen Eighty-Four*, for all its terror does not communicate the indignation of 'Burmese Days*. Mark 3chorer,anticipating David Kubal,says:- 'Nineteen- Eighty-Four* is an expression of Orv/ell's moral and intellectual indignation before the concept of totaiitarinism in the inferno atmosphere. Orwell's orientation to interpret political experience in hianan ^.tiMu toH»c*vculminated in 'Nineteen Eighty-«Fo^ir', started with 'Buirme se Days ' •

The corrupting influence of deajpo^lsnii and the insidious effect of undemocratic regimes which result in de-personalisation,as J«R. Hammond explains, is the clinching theme of the novel. Hammond says:-

"The stifling of free speech inherent in such regime, the impossibility of honest statement,the unquestioned sacrosanctity of the official code, the necessity to seek releases in private un-spoken thoughts - the central theme to get developed in its menancing proportion

...A -71-

in "Nineteen Eighty^Pour* foreshadowed in 'Burmese Days'. It was a face of despotism he was to encounter again in Spain and one not impossibly removed from Thought Police. (Orwell Corapanian, P-93),

The thematic verisimilitudesbetween 'Burmese Days' and 'Nineteen. Eighty—Pour', with naturalistic descriptions shorn off in the latter, though the former outweighs the latter in strxactural coherence, give credence to the critical observation that Orwell like George Eliot wrote the same novel again and again. Both Colooialism and Comminism are alike ^ihan they operate thxxsugh the officials Who simply bark oat orders and esqpect them to be oioeyed* As a contrast, the Lenin Barrak in Barcelona* stood for comradeship; where command was not an administrative fiat txxt a regulating arrangement and coordinating mechanism among equals* The militia corrmander was the 'first among equals* like the Prime minister in a democracy* Mhen Mikhail Gorbachev speaks of *barrack socialism** he does not mean what Orwell speaks of the egali­ tarian Socialism ^at existed in the Lenin Berrecks of Barcelona during the Spanish Civil war* The haunting spectre of Big Brother of Conmunlsm and the distant off-shore colonial governments are synonymous with big govemroents gone mad ^h lust for power* Both Colonialism and ConiQunism create complex and depersonalised societies* similar to the one of 'Nineteen Blghty-Foxir• which Orwell abhorred*

./- -72-

The omnib-us socio-political mode, colonialism, when disaggregated^breaks itself into racism, imperialism, capitalism and slavery in its extreme form. The Imperial Parliamant of the early 20th C, legalised racismi the historical Shockwaves of which get reverberated in South Africa even today. Racism as a psychological condition might continue; but its political form has been on the retreat. Imperialism as the condition of geo-politic relationship among nation-states has been vrearing off since the Second World W^^^r. The colonial nations like, the Dutch, Portugese,France and Britain have dumped the overburden of the colonies through the historical process: Neo-colonialism is still a political and economic reality. Independence"'of Algiers in 1962, retreat of France frcxn Indo China and the exit of t.he United States from Vietnam hastened the de-colonisation process set in motion in the aftermath of the Second World Vv'ar. Colonialism is on its last leg in Hong Kong and South Africa, Apartheid and racism are political offen ;ces according to United Nations Charter. Capitalism of feudal period has been refined through the historical process of Calvinism, Puritanism, global trade and marl^et economies. Slavery as a social blip was abolished through the aegeis of Lincoln and William Wilberforce. In short the accretions of Colonialism like the outgrowths of totalitar'ianfsw had been caged: the monster might break ' the cage open. ...A -r- .73-

Orwell's aversion of "Colonialism was owing to the exploitation explicit in the doloniaUafc-Colonist relationship. To David v/ykes, "For him (Orwell) the motive of empire was simply gre-ei" • Egalitarian relationship was impossible in the colonial political framework. The colonial mind-set of looking upon the colonists fs the camp of labourers for the use of the Empire and market place for the finished products of colonial nations was to the dislike of Orwell. The democratic lapses of colonialism remain the highlights of the polemical assays of Orwell.

'Burmes Days' focusses on the social alienatioa of the colonists and the disgusting social behaviour of the colonialists. Brutalisation of the labour class, Similar to the bestial degradation of the lower classes are the social fallouts of colonialism. A colonial power is similar to the Big Brother of Correnunism. The common streak of 'better than thou* ruling class attitude Connet lm]^rialism and totaTitaricui 'Isms' like Fasc'ism and Nazism, New-colonial nations are blessed v;ith abundant rav; material, strong military bases, market economy, high technology and universelist ideology. They practice protectionism and trade barriers like the mercantiles of the late 19th C. The Colonial nations flexed political muscles while the neo-colonial ones showoff' economic might* Trade barriers of developing econoades are not naant to be structural laqpediments, but extra precautionary steps against economic colonlaUtsm* HONever^ they act as econonic developooent depressants. ...A -74-

In 'Animal Fairm', Communism gets arraigned when Sncball and Napolean reserve apples and milk exclusively for the pigs on the pretext of the intellectual work and the supportive requireinent of nutritional food. Capitalism's gray area in the negation of democracy and egalitarnism come out when diminishing marginal utility is taken as the intellectual basis for 'more equality* and less egalitarianism. A,C, Pigou, following Alfred Marshall argues that 'people*bearing high responsibility and using their brains much, need, to keep them efficient, more house room, more quiet, more easily digested food, more change of scene, th«ji unskilled workers*; Both Capitalism and Cotrmunism are incapable of Egalitarianism. According to the American Constitution all men are equal; The colonial culture looks upon the colonists as hacks incapable of rising to the full human heights; half men who cannot be given equal rights without threatening the modern civilisation. When the British parliament is on the way to redraft the 'ill-designed scheme of the Imperial parliament of 1909, which gave a racist constitution for South Africa, Orwell's demand for de-colonisation is met out of historical compulsion. Orwell's dual attackas, of^ Colonialism and Socialism as systems through which humaqfindulged in self inflicting harm upon themselves, are as rigorous as mathematics. Moderns have studied through the arduous path that what cold war CucKtconflict fail

...•/— -4- -75-

to achieve is being realised through cooperation by nation— .0tate$which ara on the way of the commonwealth of free nations. Orwell's vignettes of colonialism must have provided intellectual setting power to the decolonialisation process, wi^iters influence social and political events: rather they get shaped outrfthe efforts of conscientious writers. liamlJdi^-got^lts-ijadBpendeoctt in^arch* 1989; western Sahara Is 6a thtt^hlF-Tlst'now. Freedcm unltast bolbnial rule dt-m^f^'