Burmese Days Essay Research Paper Throughout the

Burmese Days Essay, Research Paper

Throughout the course of history, the acquisition and retention of both power and wealth

have been the greatest priorities of mankind, that which has been surpassed by no other.

However unwarranted or immoral it may seem, the power of the greatest nations of the

world has always been drawn from the rape, pillage, and plunder of foreign lands deemed

to be weaker and thus obsolete. Without the procurement of the wealth of others, some

of history.s greatest nations would have ceased to exist. Every nation which exists today

was built upon the blood and sweat of those conquered. To those who wish to retain

their wealth and power, the use of murder and injustice are of no consequence. It is a

simple yet horrifying fact that there are those who simply love power and who will go to

any lengths to assert it and to continue asserting it. The Egyptians conquered the

Hebrews and forced them to build the pyramids of the pharaohs as slaves. The Romans

decimated Greece and their wealth and labor were assimilated to aid in the creation of

the Roman Empire. Throughout history, the same tale unfolds time and time again: a

great nation arises, and then an even greater one brings about the downfall of the first,

only to later fall itself, by an outside force or internally through the mutiny of its own

people or of the people it has oppressed. Thus, it is also evident that when one society

attempts to press its beliefs upon another, a certain amount of resentment is to be

expected from those being oppressed. When two societies meld together the outcome is

always the same: the oppressing society builds up a certain amount of racism and cultural

rejection against the oppressed, the oppressed society builds an equal amount of

rejections towards the oppressors, and ultimately the oppressed build up resentment and

rejection towards their own people as they are forced to take sides. It appears that no

nation has ever been excluded from this trend, least of all Great Britain.

Over a period of hundreds of years, England was able to slowly, yet forcefully,

take complete control of Scotland, Ireland, and Upper Wails, ultimately forming Great

Britain. Over the following centuries, the British Empire was spread the world over,

inhabiting portions of such rustic, untamed lands as North America, Central America,

South America, Europe, Australia, and small parts of Asia, including India.

The British presence in India began in the times of Elizabeth I in the sixteenth

century with a few trading centers at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta. As the years

progressed however, India became a much more important fixture in the British Empire.

As the nineteenth century drew forward towards the twentieth century, India became the

jewel of the British Empire, which had dwindled to a fraction of its former size and

power. During the mid-eighteenth century, the French decided to challenge the

pre-eminence of the British East India Company, and incited some of the states of the

Mogul Empire to attack the British. At this time, India was the place where many of the

second sons of titled families went as Army officers and officials to make their fortunes.

One such officer was a man by the name of George Orwell.

George Orwell began his career as a member of the Burmese Imperial Police in

1922 and later went on to become one of the most renowned English authors of all time.

During his time as an Imperial Police Officer in India, Orwell became saturated with the

country.s history and customs. It is indeed no wonder that when Orwell returned to

England in 1927 he began work on his first novel, Burmese Days. Published in 1934,

Burmese Days has been characterized by Edmund Wilson as .certainly one of the few

first-hand and really excellent pieces of fiction that have been written about India since

Kipling… The author, who was born in Bengal and served in the Burmese police, is

saturated with his subject… Distinguished as a work of literature.. Although not quite so

famous as some of Orwell.s other novels, such as 1984 and Animal Farm, Burmese Days

is an instant classic written by a truly gifted author whom is an authority on the subject.

The novel presents a bitter and satirical picture of the white man.s rule in Upper Burma.

One thread of the story is a corrupt native politician.s attempt to win membership in the

white man.s club, and the other is an Englishman.s courtship of Elizabeth, a girl from

England. Although satirical, many of the events which take place in the novel are drawn

from Orwell.s personal experiences while stationed in India and may be taken as a matter

of historical fact.

At the beginning of British rein in India, the British were more or less welcome in

their newly acquired land. However, by the time Orwell began his service in the Imperial

Police in 1922, the relations between the British and the Indians had dwindled to a mere <

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