Imperial Orwell

Abstract

George Orwell’s three accounts of British colonial rule in Burma have been said, not least by the author, to express his revulsion at that regime. While the image given of the British authorities does not offer wholehearted endorsement, many aspects in fact sustain ideas which had been central to pro-colonial literature, and go even further, through the portrayal of characters in accordance with racialist and social Darwinist theories. To some extent the causes of this outlook are open to speculation, but certainly a lingering embitterment to his experiences as a policeman in Burma is evident in his writing, and, above all, a close and honest reading of the texts reveals a side to Orwell that many critics have shown a distinct reluctance to acknowledge. From each of his Burmese stories, although the British are depicted as morally lacking, the indigenous people, including those of mixed race, are resolutely inferior beings: timid, puerile and comical, with a couple of villainous exceptions.

Keywords: colonialism, racial discourse, Burma, policeman, empirical