Burmese Days

The same morning, Flory leaves his house with his dog, Flo. Flory’s most distinguishing feature is a massive dark blue birthmark that runs in a “ragged crescent down his left cheek, from [his] eye to the corner of [his] mouth” (12). He is self-conscious about what he considers his hideous birthmark and keeps it from the sight of others. Flory walks to the European Club, which is “the spiritual citadel, the real seat of the British power” (12), and one of the few in Burma that have never allowed a native membership.

Westfield, District Superintendent of the local police, greets Flory when he enters the club. Inside are Lackersteen, the alcoholic manager of a timber firm; Ellis, the virulently racist manager of another timber company; and Maxwell, a forestry officer. Westfield mocks Lackersteen’s hangover, and reminds him that his niece is coming that night to stay with him. Ellis reads out a notice posted by Macgregor, the club’s secretary, which suggests that they consider admitting a native into the club, as the other clubs in the country have done. This suggestion appalls Ellis, who wants to keep the club white. While Ellis launches into a stream of racist invectives against “Orientals,” Flory keeps quiet instead and reflecting that Ellis is “one of those Englishmen—common, unfortunately—who should never be allowed to set foot in the East” (17).

Macgregor arrives with Mrs. Lackersteen, who complains about the laziness of her native servants and how the British have lost control of the locals. She declares that the natives are as now bad as the lower classes back in England and reminisces about the good old days when they were nice and respectful while working for low wages. Westfield says, to everyone’s agreement, that the Raj is finished and that the English should clear out. Ellis confronts Macgregor about his plan to admit a non-white member to the club, insisting that they put the matter to a vote. While the plan is not actually Macgregor’s, but the Commissioner’s, Macgregor dislikes making excuses and agrees to put the matter to a vote at their next meeting.

As they drink, Ellis complains again about the prospect of a native member, arguing that by constantly giving small concessions they have ruined the empire. Westfield agrees that the Burmese need to be put in their place but complains that his hands are tied by red tape and that the natives now know the law better than the English do. Westfield believes that too much law and order is ruining the empire, and nothing save martial law will save it from decay. Mrs. Lackersteen argues that they should leave the natives to their own rule, so that they will fail and learn their lesson. Flory privately fills with rage as they talk, having heard this exact same conversation every week for years, and excuses himself.

After Flory leaves, the other men discuss his progressive beliefs, but agree that he is a good fellow. They then return to their old, never-changing subjects: “the insolence of the natives, the supineness of the Government, the dear dead days when the British Raj WAS the British Raj” (27).

After leaving the club, Flory heads to Dr. Veraswami’s home, who delightedly invites him inside for a drink and “cultured conversation” (30). The two men engage in their long-running private joke about the British Empire as an aged female patient of the doctor’s. Flory tells Veraswami that he is glad to be with him, complaining about the racism and empire fetishism of the club members. Veraswami is appalled, telling Flory that he should not “say such things of honourable English gentlemen” (30), but Flory continues. Veraswami grows agitated, as he always does whenever Flory criticizes other Europeans and the British Empire. The doctor praises the empire and the great white men who have made India what it is, arguing that the English have great qualities that Orientals like himself lack. Flory mocks this, saying that only alcohol holds the English together, since they pretend to be friends even though they hate each other. Flory doesn’t want the English to be kicked out of Burma since he is there to make money just like everyone else, but what he hates is the “slimy white man’s burden humbug” (32). He wishes that people would stop believing that they are here to “uplift our poor black brothers instead of to rob them” (32).

This conversation is a frequent argument: Flory is bitterly anti-English, while Veraswami is a Europhile despite their constant snubs of him. Veraswami believes that he belongs to an inferior race and has unfailing faith in Empire and British justice. Meanwhile, Flory argues that the Empire is simply a vehicle for theft—his own firm would have never have gotten its timber contracts if the country weren’t ruled by the Empire. Veraswami praises how the English have developed the country both economically and culturally, but Flory laments that soon Burmese culture will be gone, replaced by a cheap imitation of British culture. Flory is too much of a coward to share these thoughts with anyone but Veraswami—his rants are a safety-valve for his frustration.

Veraswami tells Flory that U Po Kyin is plotting to ruin his character and career. However, if Veraswami were a member of the club, his prestige would be secure. If Flory were brave enough to fight with Ellis, he could probably get Veraswami admitted to the club. However, the doctor would never ask for help directly and Flory is too cowardly to engage in a fight. Flory mentions that Veraswami might be elected, but that the prospect is unlikely due to everyone’s opposition.

That afternoon, Flory attempts to sleep through the heat while his servant, Ko S’la, or Maung San Hla, prepares tea. Ko S’la is loyal and devoted to Flory, but considers him a child although they are only a month apart in age—Flory is still a bachelor while Ko S’la has two wives and several children. Ko S’la also pities Flory, for his birthmark and for being naive and easily deceived. Ko S’la wakes Flory and prepares two teacups since Flory’s mistress Ma Hla May is coming.

Ma Hla May enters, kicking off her sandals. She is permitted to come to tea with Flory, but not to any other meals and is not permitted to wear sandals around him. May does not much care for Flory, but loves the idle concubine’s life and boasting of her status to the other villagers. She has convinced everyone including herself that she is a bo-kadaw—a white man’s legal wife.

May clings to Flory, but he pushes her away, complaining that it is too hot to make love. She pouts, complaining that he no longer makes love to her or buys her presents, but Flory points out that she only likes him because he is a white man with money and that she has also taken a Burmese lover. They have sex and afterwards Flory turns away, ashamed, covering his birthmark with his hand and ordering her to leave. May refuses, believing that by constantly embracing him she strengthens her spell over him. Flory eventually has to push her out of the room by her shoulders, throwing her sandals after her, which is how most of their encounters end. 

Flory considers going to the club for tennis, but that would mean shaving and he cannot bring himself to look at his face in the mirror. He eventually takes his dog out for a walk, heading to a nearby stream that always cheers him up. He follows the stream to a pool and goes for a swim. A small, beautiful, green pigeon flies down, and Flory feels intensely lonely, having nobody to share the beauty.

Flory returns home where Ko S’la has laid out clothes for him as a hint that Flory should shave and head to the club. S’la disapproves of how Flory often spends his evenings with a book, since it is different from how the other white men behave. After dinner, Flory goes back to the club “to play bridge and get three parts drunk, as he did most evenings when he was in Kyauktada” (51).

That night, after drinking in the club, Flory has trouble sleeping as dogs howl at the moon all night. He grabs his gun and considers shooting one who has taken up residence just outside his house, but cannot bring himself to fire. Flory walks up and down his garden path, smoking cigarettes and calling himself cowardly and self-pitying while he reflects on what had happened that evening at the Club.

When Flory arrived, only Ellis and Maxwell were there, as the Lackersteens had gone in Macgregor’s car to meet their niece at the train station. When Westfield brought in an issue of the Burmese Patriot, which contained the article attacking Macgregor, Ellis and Westfield were apoplectic, but Flory “had the greatest difficulty in pretending to be angry enough to satisfy them” (52). Ellis decided that Veraswami was responsible for the article and wrote a memo saying that, given the article, it was not the right time to elect a native member. Everyone, including Flory, signed it. Ellis was delighted to put Veraswami in his place.

In the present, Flory is ashamed at having signed a public insult to his only friend in order to avoid conflict. Flory reflects that he did it “for the same reason as he had done a thousand such things in his life; because he lacked the small spark of courage that was needed to refuse” (53).

Flory believes that his cowardice stems from his socio-economic status at birth and from his birthmark. At primary school, he was bullied mercilessly, but, because he was good at lying and football, he eventually joined the bullies. After that, he went to a poor-quality secondary school and learned almost nothing. At 19, his loving parents paid a bribe they couldn’t afford to get him a job in Burma. Instead of learning the business, he and his roommates debauched themselves in Rangoon. When due to take his first trip home to England at 24, World War I broke out. Flory dodged military service. He justified himself by saying that “sticking by one’s job… was the truest patriotism” (56), but in reality he had become too accustomed to Burma. Over time, Flory gave up his boyish pleasures of whisky and women and began reading more.

When he turned 27, Flory was hospitalized with mud-sores that took two years to disappear. When they finally did, he felt much older. Since then, “each year had been lonelier and more bitter than the last” (56). He now bitterly hated the Empire and the English, having grasped the truth that the Empire is simply thieving despotism. He resented other Englishmen in the East, though they lead unenviable lives. Because there is no need for them to do their jobs well, few work hard or intelligently. Instead, native subordinates, who are kept in line by the army, do the real work. Flory resents the Empire’s censorship, the colonists’ lack of free thought, and finds that “friendship can hardly exist when every white man is a cog in the wheels of despotism” (57).

Flory never went back to England despite pining for it because he left a promising young man and then turned into a middle-aged drunk. However, he wanted to return for a year in order to find a wife to bring back to Burma. But just after he left, his firm informed him that three of its employees had died and that he needed to be back in Burma immediately.

Flory realizes that Burma, a country he thought he hated, is actually his true home. He never again applies to return to England. His parents die and he loses touch with his sisters, whom he never liked. Flory decides that to return to England would be no remedy for his loneliness and feels that his only way out of his despair is to find someone to spend his life with “who would love Burma as he loved it and hate it as he hated it” (60).

Finishing his self-reflection, Flory returns to his veranda and shoots at the stray dog. He misses, bruising his shoulder. The dog runs a short distance away before resuming its howling.