John Flory feels an affinity for the local people and their culture, the very reason why he is scorned by the white community. Perhaps, this was to establish Flory, a foreigner as a more likeable character in comparison to a ‘native’. But the protagonist of the story is John Flory, the 35-year-old British timber merchant with a hideous crescent-shaped birthmark on his left cheek, posted in Kyauktada. We are introduced to U Po Kyin, a corrupt and conniving Burmese Sub-Divisional magistrate who is hell-bent on destroying the reputation of Dr.Veraswami, an Indian doctor and jail superintendent. There aren’t metaphors or allegories so it just brings you closer to Orwell, as a person. ‘Burmese Days’, being Orwell’s first book, published in 1934 follows an autobiographical approach. Secondly, this book is so different from Orwell’s more popular works – Animal Farm and Nineteen-Eighty Four ( which ofcourse, came later). I genuinely loved reading ‘Burmese Days’ for two reasons – the book gives an honest caricature on the British officials living in Burma and the local population during the British rule. Katha on the west side of the Irrawaddy River was one of the places where Orwell had been posted and he created ‘Kyauktada’, the fictional place in ‘Burmese Days’ based on this experience. Orwell could draw a lot from the five-years he spent as a police officer in the Indian Imperial Police force in Burma. ‘ Burmese Days’ by George Orwell is a window into the lives of the British Officials serving in Burma under the British occupation of the Indian sub-continent.
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