At the rise of the 20th century, about 25% of the map of the world fell under British rule, spreading across all six continents. At the advent of the second half of the 20th century, Britain would be on the verge of losing almost all of it overseas territories. The Indian sub-continent was almost entirely under British rule and is among the territories that the British lost. George Orwell in his book Burmese Days uses fiction to present the relationship and interaction between the Burmese locals and their English colonizers. Based on the book, the British colonizers seemed predominantly interested only in the profits they could derive from the locals and not the impact their presence or rule had on the local community. To the British, the Burmese were but a mere means to an end. The locals, on the other hand, disdained the British whom they held in very low esteem. However, there were a few exceptions to the general rule of mutual displeasure between the British and the locals. Based on the manner in which the British government managed their colonies, the eventual fall of the British Empire was inevitable.
The interaction between Europeans and the Colonized
George Orwell in his book presents a variety both among the Europeans and the colonized thus, forming different kinds of interactions between the locals and the Europeans with unpleasantness being the general motif. John Flory represents some of the better European settlers as he is nice to the natives with whom he sides with and defends from time to time. For this, Flory is chided and to some extent hated by his fellow Europeans because of taking the side of the locals (Orwell p.6). Flory’s closest friend is a local doctor of Indian descent named Dr. Veraswami. In spite of his apparent niceness to the local community, Flory keeps a mistress, Ma Hla May whom he has no intention of ever marrying purely because of her race. It can be said that Flory is using May as a spare until he can find a white woman to marry. On the extreme end of the divide from Flory is Ellis, a timber manager who is extremely violent, cruel and uncouth in his treatment of the local community. Ellis believes that Europeans are superior to the Burmese in all ways and ruling over the Burmese is like doing them a favor since they cannot be able to rule themselves (Orwell p.13). Based on the foregoing, the Europeans are at best unkind and racist or at worst ruthless and cruel to the locals. They all consider themselves a superior race to the locals and the British Empire as all-powerful.
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The local community also varies in the way it relates with the colonist, with the relationship varying between sycophancy and hatred. Dr. Veraswami, Ma Hla May and U Po Kyin are good examples of the sycophants. Dr. Veraswami is an Indian doctor who works for the colonial government (Orwell p.27). He looks down on his own people and believes in the superiority of the Europeans with whom he desires to associate with. May is the mistress of Flory, a position she is very proud of and which causes her to be disdainful against her Burmese compatriots. U Po Kyin is a local corrupt magistrate and a yes-man for the colonists. He is willing to do anything, including sabotage his own people to gain favor with the white people. On the other hand, there are locals who have no ill-will for the Europeans but do not admire them either. Ko S'la is Flory’s servant and age-mate who pities Flory because of his vanities and lifestyle. Ko S'la tries to advise Flory on how to improve on his life (Orwell p.40). The majority of the locals, however, hate the European settler and are willing to harm or hurt them whenever an opportunity to do so arises. The mutilation of Maxwell is one such example of the locals expressing their anger towards the white.
What the British Characters Believe They Are Supposed to be doing in Burma
Base on the characters in Burmese days, the British told themselves that they had come to civilize and rule the Burmese while deep in their hearts they knew that they had only come for profit and personal gain. The predominant majority of the European characters in the book believed in the superiority of the culture, their empire, and their way of life. On the other hand, they looked down on the Burmese whom they thought incapable of making rational decisions, having a poor culture, and incapable of governing themselves. The Europeans, therefore, believed that they had come to civilize the Burmese and also improve their lives by ruling over them. Among the exceptions to this general rule was Flory who appreciated Burmese culture and to some extent preferred the local culture and way of doing things over his own European culture (Orwell p.17). However, Flory was still racist and would never marry a local girl, though he hoped to find a European girl who shared his love for the local culture and people. However, the character of a majority of the British settlers revealed that their only interest in Burma was profit. They only wanted to make money and enjoy life through the blatant and reprehensible exploitation of the locals. A good example is Mr. Lackersteen, a local timber manager who would get himself drunk and have sex with several local girls at the same time (Orwell p.14).
The Cost of Imperialism
Imperialism had many adverse ramifications on the local population as individuals and the local society as a unit, based on the character of the settlers and the nature of governance employed by the imperialists. From a leadership perspective, the kind of local leader preferred by the imperialists was U Po Kyin. Kyin was corrupt, unfair and cruel, making him capable of enforcing the will of his masters at any cost. Many nations that were under colonial rule in the early 1900s would have rulers like Kyin during colonialism and even after getting their independence (Andrea and Overfield 178 and 372). In many parts of Africa, South America and Asia, the likes of Kyin continue to exploit the populace. The policy approaches of the imperialist involved robbing the locals to aid the imperialists thus impoverishing the locals. Poverty, disease, and starvation were among the outcomes of local resources getting robbed so they can aid the imperialists. From a personal level, imperialism left death and destruction leading to personal losses by many who interacted with the Europeans on a personal level. Being treated as an inferior being had adverse effects from a psychological perspective. A good example is Ma Hla May who gets dumped by Flory to pave way for a white wife, causing her to end up working in a brothel ( Orwell 94 ). Imperialism thus wreaked havoc on the local populations on a societal and local level.
Reflection: The Inevitability of the Collapse of the British and Other Empires
A government can only hold on to power if it is powerful enough to rule with an iron fist, cunning enough to rule through propaganda or loved enough to rule with the support of the people. The Overseas British Empire and other European overseas empires were none of the above thus, their falls were inevitable. The British and other European powers ruled based on a belief in their own superiority and the manifest weakness of their subjects. In the beginning, their subjects also believed in the superiority and invisibility of the imperialists thus taking the approach of rule through propaganda. However, in the 20th century, through the First and Second World War, the imperialists fought against one another and revealed their weaknesses to the ruled (Andrea and Overfield p.378 and 408). From then on, the only way to hold on to power was either, through earning the love and support of the locals or having the military power to rule by force. The empires were too big and the imperialist too weak to attain this hence the fall of colonialism was inevitable after the Second World War.
