British Colonialism And British Imperialism In George Orwell's Burmese Times

Clarissa’s party seems to do what she set out to do which was to break down the walls of Imperialism. Meanwhile, Hickman addresses the loss of two characters of Smith and an old lady. Then Clarissa imagines what Smith and the old lady went through. Never worries about the Indian women. Hickman then discusses Peter and the “caricature” of Imperialism he simply is for the book. Peter only misses being in India because they follow the traditions of Imperialism. Hickman explains that no other mention of Indians is offered by Woolf. Hickman uses a two other author’s interpretation of the total disregard Woolf has for transnational feminists. Even going far as using Jane Marcus to mock A Room of One’s Own “failure to adequately give voice to the black woman” (Hickman 60). Including some material from Coolies by Mulk Raj Anand. Hickman changes tactics with the explanation that it is possible for transnational feminists rights can be heard in fiction. Then contradicting herself, she states that there is no real representation of transnational women in a text. Gayatri Spivak’s point on that “subaltern” women are always spoken for by others whether or not they are part of the British Empire. “Subaltern” women can become transnational feminist but they require to gain a voice before the healing can begin. Hickman includes the use of an example where an Imperialist wants to give voice to “subaltern” woman. The “subaltern”

The first portion of Orwell’s piece is filled with his hatred for imperialism and the “evil-spirited little beasts” (para. 2) that torment him. Orwell hated the imperialism in Burma and “those who tried to make [his] job impossible” (para. 2). You can see his true anger and hatred when he uses diction like “petty”, “sneering”, “wretched”, “intolerable”, and “rage” (para. 1,2) when he’s describing some of his encounters in Burma. Most of all, Orwell just wanted to be liked and respected. He is tired of being punished for the actions of the British empire. He states that like “every white man,.. in the East” (para. 7) he was just living “one long struggle [to] not be laughed at” (para. 7). Orwell’s change in tone forces a change in the reader’s perception of the situation. When he shifts from enraged hatred and hostility towards the eastern world to a desperate want to be liked by the burmans, the reader also has a shift. They go from not only despising imperialism but

The washer woman is an insignificant character in the plot of nineteen eighty four, although ironically a ‘small’ character, disregarding her body size, she represents the whole of the proletarian world. This minute view from Orwell of the paroles is typical of the conceited analysis of women Orwell gives.

The British colonization of Burma created a racial boundary that had the Burmese dealing with white European supremacy since day one. It is evident throughout George Orwell’s novel, Burmese Days, that the main theme is the superiority of the white Europeans over the non-white Burmese. The white Europeans are extremely racist, sexist, and self centered. The social class system in this novel seems to be a two-tier system. The top tier being the white European elite, while the bottom tier seems to be the rest. The non-white Burmese people constituted the rest. These non-whites are considered second nature to the Europeans and hold such titles and jobs as peasants and servants. Elizabeth often refers them to as “beastly”. She is an

Orwell portrays the vengeful feelings of the Burmese people, the colonized, towards British People, the conqueror. As he has worked as a British officer in Burma, he knows how the natives feel about the British. Of course, it was obvious that the Burmese did not welcome any kind of British presence, including Orwell himself. The Occidentals were extremely mistreated, such as being jeered, and the narrator understood that anti-European feeling was very “bitter” (Orwell, 313). He needed to deal adequately with the native society, even though he was a target of bullying. For instance, he used to get ripped up on the football field, ignored by the referee and mocked by the crowd (Orwell, 313). Hence, he is a victim of the natives’ behavior. Not only is he the target of the native’s behavior, but he is also the victim of the imperial system.

Once caught, Orwell writes that Winston must undergo a form of drastic mental “treatment.” “You are mentally deranged. You suffer form a defective memory…fortunately it’s curable”(Part 3, Chapter 2). O’Brien describes Winston’s mind as the same way Freud would diagnose a patient with a disorder. Winston in fact goes under a similar process that closely relates to the psychoanalytic treatment. “We gather in detail what the peculiarities of the Unconscious are, and we may hope to learn still more about them by a profounder instigation of the processes…”(Freud 324). According to O’Brien, Winston seems to have developed a mental disease that causes him to have delusions. Winston’s dreams, which Freud considers “a highly valuable aid into psycho-analysis technique” and an “insight into the unconscious,” are put under inspection and further investigated by O’Brien to study and gain knowledge of how to “cure” Winston’s mind. It is then when Winston’s nightmares of rats gives O’Brien the key component to understand how he will strengthen Winston’s ego and superego according to the views of the Party.

However, any power given to him through the imperialistic setting is lost, because Orwell exists as a part of a minority in Burma. With this dilemma, Orwell notices the difficulties that come with an authoritative figure in a foreign country as, “[Orwell] was hated by a large number of people- the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.” (144) Due to this hatred, Orwell finds his job to impose order futile because the Burmese people seem to have a tighter grasp on Orwell than Orwell himself. The Burmans appear to be enforcing their power over Orwell through their majority and he experiences this when, “A nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way.” (144) These acts that the Burmans commit show that power appears to exist in the hands of the Burmese majority rather than Orwell. By placing a colonist within a colony, the writer establishes the feeling that power should lie in the hand of the colonist. However, this concept is shattered because Orwell possesses no power though the colonial setting because of the fact that the Burmese appear to be in control. The lack of power present in the surroundings further enforces the fact that true power cannot come from one’s conquest or authority but only from within.

One of Winston Smith’s notable traits was his varicose ulcer, which causes him pain. But in reality, Winston’s ulcer symbolized his repressed sexual desire. In Oceania, the government strived to completely diminish the orgasm, as it was a form of happiness that was not related to Big Brother or The Party. Winston, a party member, was a victim of this. For example, early on in the book, Winston’s ulcer throbbed and caused him great discomfort. At the same time, Winston had not had intercourse in a long time. This meant that Winston’s ulcer represented how much he needed to have intercourse. Furthermore, his ulcer also throbbed when he thought of Parsons’ wife, Ms. Parsons, which implied he desired her. Another example of Winston’s ulcer representing

This study will focus on three aspects of life. As Marxists critics suggested the historical and cultural context of the novel must be taken into consideration. Orwell’s childhood and early life affected his attitudes and values. Ivett Csaszar emphasized on Orwell’s lack of experiences with women which complicated, in her opinion, his concern towards women. The English society was a conservative one. Women had not significant roles in politics or economy. However during the 20th century women inverted roles and entered to the government. This event was highly rejected by Orwell. He believed that women are intellectually incapable to manage political problems and opposed them by writing several essays. Orwell described the prole women just as the working class. They are natural, stable, unconscious and uncorrupted. For that reason they cannot

George Orwell was born in 1903 in India, during the time of the British colonial rule. He was brought to England at a young age by his mother and educated there. Orwell moved to Burma in 1922, where he served as an assistant superintendent of police for five years before he resigned because of his growing dislike for British Imperialism or colonialism. He became a writer in 1927 and wrote one of his essays, “A Hanging”, in 1931, which is a prime example of an essay where he demonstrates his feelings

Through the essay, with the use of particular emotional words and sentences, the audience can perceive Orwell’s feelings and emotions, by the memorable amount of pathos over his essay. Orwell goes on describing the cruel reality the Burmese people lived in by describing, with the use of dramatic and lively words, the terrible situations, and consequences of Imperialism. Giving more reasons for his logos, Orwell at the same time uses pathos to emotionally involve

I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool." So ends George Orwell's poignant reminiscence of an incident representing the imperialist British in Burma. Unlike Soyinka, who wrote about colonialism from the African's point of view, Orwell, like Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness, presents the moral dilemmas of the imperialist. Orwell served with the Imperialist Police in Burma while it was still part of the British Commonwealth and Empire. His service from 1922 to 1927 burdened himwith a sense of guilt about British colonialism as well a need to make some personal expiation for it (Norton 2259). "Shooting an Elephant" chronicles an incident in which

Nineteenth century industrialization brought new riches and power to Western Europe, driving the expansion of opportunities and the building of empires in undeveloped territories. Although the developed countries brought many modern technologies to under-developed nations, they also brought fierce racism and European arrogance. Burmese Days by George Orwell was written in 1834 as a satirical view of English imperial life in Burma. Orwell provides a realistic observation of the arrogance the English demonstrated towards the natives and how they justified their actions.

He compares men and women to animals and wishes for human relationships to be that simple and straightforward. What he would like to have from women is only lustful satisfaction and hold no responsibility in case of pregnancy, just as animals that are not obliged to do so. Such choice of words leads the reader to believe that Orwell is in fact a misogynist, or he goes to such lengths only for the purpose of portraying his characters as accurately as possible. He has been criticized for his language in Keep the Aspidistra Flying, and the reason is clearly evident. Even in cases where women are not being referred to directly, Orwell uses metaphorical language related to their physicality and sexuality. In this passage, Gordon uses women as a tool to construct a metaphor for books, where femininity functions as an agent of comparison. Unravished brides, deflowering, widows, virgin and spinster are the terms Orwell uses to describe the books on the shelves. He compares newly published novels to young sexually inexperienced women, where ‘unravished’ supposedly means untouched or not yet read, but are soon to be ‘deflowered’. Review copies are described as young widows, already read and ‘used’. Finally, the so-called remainders, books that are no longer useful to anyone, are compared to spinsters ‘guarding their virginity’. Such strong and sharp use of language

The book “Burmese Days” was written by George Orwell and published first in 1934. Orwell took the inspiration for this first novel of his from the experiences he gained during his service as an imperial police officer in Burma in the late 1920s. There he was confronted with extreme forms of imperialism, causing racism and also chauvinism. These are also the main topics of the novel and although they are wrapped up in the story of a single man’s fate, John Flory’s, these topics caused some problems with the publishing of the book. For that reason the book was first published in America, the English version wasn’t published until some changes – mainly name changes – were made which was nearly a