Ending

We talked in class about how Flory had to die. Not only did he have no other options, but he had to be destroyed in order to show the corruptive system of colonialism. This made me consider how some of the other characters end up, and how they connect to Orwell’s themes.

First is Veraswami, who seems to show how the non-whites’ passivity and racism against themselves perpetuate their inferior status. Veraswami is “ruined” when he loses the prestige of being a white man’s friend. He is also demoted and sent to Mandalay where he joins a mixed-race club with one drunken white man. Orwell writes, “The doctor, who will never believe that a white man can be a fool, tries almost every night to engage him in what he still calls ‘cultured conversation’; but the results are very unsatisfying.” Veraswami still idolizes white men and accepts his inferior position just like he accepts his inferior post in Mandalay.

U Po Kyin is different in that he expected to be elevated to the same status as white men by joining the European Club. He is a “bearable addition” but is soon transferred therefore excluding him once again. Although U Po Kyin’s scheming seems to have worked, Orwell offers a bit of karma for the “bad character” by having him die before he can build his pagodas and be redeemed.

Ko S’la and Ma Hla May are grouped together in one paragraph basically saying how both characters squander the money Flory leaves them and end up loving rather horribly. I thought that this showed how the English made the natives become dependent on them. By colonizing and taking over, they stunted the development of the natives and ensured their dependency on the British. Earlier in the novel, Flory comments on how they use to be self-sufficient producers but now are only trained to be clerks so they must rely on British companies.

The novel ends with Elizabeth and Macgregor having a “very happy” marriage. Macgregor becomes “more human and likable” while Elizabeth becomes what “Nature had designed her from the first, that of the burra memsahib.” This could then be connected to Jayasena’s theory of the white woman’s burden since Elizabeth seems to better Macgregor and establish more English values.