Racism in George Orwell's Burmese Days

Shihada, Isam M. Racism in George Orwell's Burmese Days. The IUP Journal of English Studies, 9 (3). pp. 80-99.

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Abstract

Thie paper examines the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized and the disastrous impact of British colonialism on both of them in George Orwell’s Burmese Days. The paper focuses on how the British colonialism of Burma fostered racism, racial boundaries and ethnic divisions. It tries to show how racism was used as a tool by British colonialists to keep the colonizer’s identity, sense of superiority over the colonized, maintain racial boundaries and instill feelings of inferiority in order to control the colonized natives. It also highlights the role of the European Club in maintaining racial superiority of the colonizers and serving as a social and psychological refuge for the colonizers in the declining days of the British Empire. The study concludes that Orwell’s Burmese Days renders a sharp critique of the British colonialism, its tools of oppression, exploitation and racism and deconstructs the so-called civilizing mission by British colonialists in Burma by exposing its hypocrisy. Postcolonial theory forms the basis of this analysis.

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