Burmese Days

Elizabeth lies on a sofa reading a book while everyone else in the household sleeps. She is 22 and an orphan. Her father was a tea merchant who was too optimistic to save money before his fortunes fluctuated. Her mother was a weak-willed, self-pitying dilettante who eventually settled on painting, since it “is the only art that can be practiced without either talent or hard work” (76). In the final year of WWI, Elizabeth’s father made a great deal of money, moving the family into a large home and sending Elizabeth to a very expensive boarding school for two terms. Rubbing elbows with the wealthy children of privilege, Elizabeth solidified a lifelong belief that the expensive, elegant, and aristocratic were “Lovely” while the cheap, low, shabby, and laborious were “Beastly.” However, her father’s money eventually ran out, so Elizabeth continued her education in cheap schools until her father died from the flu when she was 20.

Elizabeth’s mother was unable to live on the income left to her and so moved with Elizabeth Paris, a cheaper city where she imagined she would dedicate herself to painting. In Paris, Elizabeth’s mother quickly gave up on this dream and spent her days idling. Elizabeth found a job teaching English to the children of a French bank manager who sexually harassed her.

Elizabeth quickly came to hate her mother’s self-described artistic and Bohemian sensibilities, associating art or intellect with the “Beastly.” Her deepest hatred was for men who chose to be starving artists rather than “sell [themselves] to a bank or an insurance company” (80). Elizabeth decided she would rather be a spinster than marry such a man. Elizabeth had no friends and her only solace was going to the American library to look at illustrated magazines. Inside, she would occasionally see old schoolmates and covet their life.

Two years after moving to Paris, Elizabeth’s mother died of food poisoning. Her aunt and uncle, the Lackersteens, cabled from Burma inviting her to stay with them. Elizabeth immediately accepted and spent her remaining money on clothes. On the ship to Burma, Elizabeth affected an upper-class lifestyle with the other wealthy passengers, enjoying the attention of many young men. She formed a romanticized picture of the Orient, and decided she would love it there.

When she meets the Lackersteens for the first time in Kyauktada, Mr. Lackersteen kisses her “more warmly that he need have done” (83). Mrs. Lackersteen praises Elizabeth’s beauty, but not so subtly insinuates that she needs to find a husband quickly. Mrs. Lackersteen hints to Elizabeth that if she is too choosy and can’t find a husband quickly, they will send her back to England to work as a servant.

Flory has Ko S’la summon the barber and lay out his best clothes for the evening. Ko S’la realizes that Flory is dressing up in the hopes of meeting Elizabeth, and disapproves. At the club, Flory invites Elizabeth for a walk with him; she agrees “with a readiness that surprised him” (85). As they walk, Flory hears drums in the distance and remembers that there is a pwe in front of U Po Kyin’s house. He invites her to go watch, sure that she will love it as much as he does, and she hesitantly agrees to come.

Once they arrive, the large audience watching the pwe blocks the whole road. Elizabeth is dazed by the bright lights and the din of the orchestra, as well as startled that everyone simply sitting in the middle of the road. The entire crowd turns around to stare at the two whites, and the music stops. Ba Taik comes through the crowd and says that U Po Kyin has invited them to sit with him. Elizabeth does not feel safe being “among that smelly native crowd” (87), but trusts Flory and follows him. Flory tells Elizabeth that the natives are “bringing out their best dancer in their honor” (89), when a girl comes out to perform an erotic dance. Elizabeth watches “with a mixture of amazement, boredom, and something approaching horror” (89). Flory whispers into her ear that he knew she would love it, as she can appreciate art and culture unlike other Europeans. He speaks fondly of the dance, which evokes centuries of Burmese culture. Elizabeth is horrified at hearing “the hated word Art more than once” (89), and feels uncomfortable being among natives instead of the other whites at the club.

The second part of the pwe girl’s dance begins—the crowd chants in unison while the girl wiggles her buttocks. Elizabeth stands up and declares to Flory that it is time to go back. Flory encourages her to stay until the end of the dance, since the girl is there in their honor, but Elizabeth moves away through the crowd. Flory awkwardly follows her, knowing that they are offending the Burmese. He attempts to apologize to Elizabeth, but she insists there is nothing wrong. Seeing that he is only making things worse, but not knowing why she is angry with him, Flory walks in silence.

Elizabeth is disgusted by the idea that Flory would want to rub shoulders with natives, feeling that this is not how a white man should act. She is also horrified by his speech about art, because she thought he was a “manly man” (91). However, she recalls how he saved her that morning and by the time they reach the club, she has forgiven him.

The conflict between U Po Kyin and Veraswami is in full swing, with every native having taken a side, “ready for perjury when the time came” (95), though the doctor’s side is much smaller. Meanwhile, the editor of the Patriot is arrested, provoking a small riot. In Kyauktada, there are rumors of an impending native uprising in the village of Thongwa, near where Maxwell works. Although Macgregor doesn’t heed the rumors, he asks for a greater presence of Military Police, so a company of Indian infantry led by a British officer is dispatched. Before heading to Thongwa, Westfield complains that these rebellions always peter out before they start and laments that he’s never had a chance to kill a man.

Meanwhile, the weather has grown even more oppressively hot. Flory has thrown Ma Hla May out of his house on the pretext that she stole and pawned his gold cigarette case. In reality, as the servants know, Flory is getting rid of May because of his infatuation with Elizabeth. Ko S’la, though he has long wished for Flory to get rid of May, regrets that it has happened. Ko S’la is even less happy that Flory has started attending church for the first time in ten years. He tells the other servants that he is worried about Flory’s rapidly changing habits: Flory has cut down on his smoking, has stopped drinking gin before breakfast, shaves every day, and has ordered new silk shirts. Ko S’la is certain that this means that Flory will marry Elizabeth, who will spend her life tormenting them. The servants know that Englishwomen are so awful that “an Englishman’s marriage is usually the signal for the flight of every servant in his house” (99).

The servants’ alarm proves to be premature since, after ten days, Flory is no closer to Elizabeth than when they first met. Flory has avoided returning to the work site in the jungle under the pretext of fever, and receives letters every day from the incompetent overseer telling him of various disasters. However, he is unable to pull himself away from Elizabeth and seeks desperately to recapture the magic of their first meeting. Although he plays tennis with her every evening, and sits with her and the Lackersteens in the club, they only talk about trivial matters because “with Elizabeth serious talk seemed impossible” (99). Flory is still very lonely, and feels distant from Elizabeth—she does not want to talk about anything except of importance. Flory also finds her book preferences disagreeable but tells himself that she is young and can change.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth has started to become irritated with Flory, who is acting as her guide to Burma. She is additionally dismayed that Flory always praises Burmese customs and culture and compares them favorably to those of the English. Flory wants Elizabeth to love Burma as he loves it, but “he had forgotten that most people can be at ease in a foreign country only when they are disparaging the inhabitants” (100). Flory is too eager in his attempts to interest her in the local culture. Elizabeth considers the natives inferior, and this leads to disagreements and tensions between them.

This comes to a head one night at the club during the visit of Mr. Francis and Mr. Samuel, two Eurasian missionaries who have white fathers and native mothers. Francis eagerly recounts his history to Flory when Elizabeth arrives and they warmly greet her. However, Elizabeth ignores them, signaling to Flory that it is time to play tennis. Flory follows her reluctantly “for he did not like snubbing the wretched Francis, bore though he was” (103). Flory explains that these missionaries would starve if it weren’t for the charity of the Burmese. Elizabeth is aghast that white men would live in poverty among and receive charity from natives. Flory sympathizes with the plight of the Eurasians who are cut off from both the world of the whites and the Burmese, but Elizabeth calls them degenerate and dishonest.

After tennis, Flory tells Elizabeth that the other Europeans refuse to have anything to do with the Eurasians, but that he tries to break the rules of being a pukka sahib and talks to them every once in a while. This finally clarifies their difference to Elizabeth and she gives Flory an almost hostile look, though he does still not understand why she is angry with him. On the surface however, they remain friends and plan to go shooting together, one of the few activities that Flory likes that Elizabeth also finds compelling.