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Chapter 2
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Burmese Days, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Imperialism and Hypocrisy
Status and Racism
Class, Gender, and Sex
Freedom of Speech, Self-Expression, and Loneliness
Friendship and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
Flory walks to Dr. Veraswami’s bungalow, where Veraswami, a “small, plump” man with glasses, excitedly invites Flory up and offers him a drink. The two men settle on the veranda. When Flory tells Veraswami what a relief his company is after the “bloody Club” and its “white man’s burden,” Veraswami, reproaching him, praises famous past administrators of the British Empire and British “loyalty.” Flory says the British can only stand each other when drunk and watch each other’s backs from “tradition.” The real problem, according to Flory, is hypocrisy: the British pretend they colonized Burma to uplift the native people when in fact they want to economically exploit them.
“The White Man’s Burden” (1899) is a poem by English writer Rudyard Kipling (1865–1936) encouraging the United States to annex the Philippines. In racist and jingoistic fashion, the poem argues that uplifting less “civilized” non-white people is the “white man’s burden” that Americans ought to take up. Here Flory mocks the idea of the “white man’s burden” and of racial uplift, arguing explicitly that the British are hypocrites who only claim to want to help colonized people while actually exploiting them. Oddly, Dr. Veraswami, a colonized person himself, praises British culture and British “loyalty”—though Flory himself has just displayed a lack of loyalty to Dr. Veraswami by failing to defend his friend against racist Ellis.
Themes
Ironically, Veraswami vehemently defends the British and criticizes the colonized for “our apathy and superstition,” which he claims prevent progress. Flory argues that the British don’t bring progress, only a horrific conformity. Veraswami argues that if Flory believed what he was saying, he would bravely proclaim it to the world. Flory denies it, saying that he prefers sinful laziness—and that he only ever speaks honestly to Veraswami himself.
Dr. Veraswami seems to have internalized racist attitudes about himself and other colonized peoples: he believes British colonizers’ claims that non-white people’s supposed “apathy and superstition” justifies the colonizers’ violent domination for purposes of “uplifting” and “civilizing” non-white peoples. Meanwhile, Flory’s claims that British culture is horrifically conformist and that Dr. Veraswami is the only person to whom he can speak honestly hints that imperialist culture represses freedom of speech—and that Flory has befriended Dr. Veraswami because they can be honest with each other in a way that Flory can’t be honest with anyone else because he knows Dr. Veraswami won’t betray him.
Themes
When Flory asks whether Veraswami has any personal news, Veraswami gravely reveals that Subdivisional Magistrate U Po Kyin is plotting against him to destroy his reputation and career. Flory wants to ask whether he can help, but it’s an unspoken rule that the British don’t get involved in disputes between native people. Instead, he prompts Veraswami to keep going. Slowly, Veraswami suggests that if he were inducted into the European Club, U Po Kyin would not be able to destroy him because of the “prestige” that contact with Europeans would bring him.
When Dr. Veraswami reveals that the “prestige” of belonging to the European Club could protect him against U Po Kyin, it emphasizes that social status in British Burma has a strong racial element: proximity to white power can protect non-white individuals from slander and demotion, for instance. Flory’s unwillingness to get involved with Dr. Veraswami’s problems, meanwhile, shows how the racist culture of British Burma prevents him from being a true, loyal friend to Dr. Veraswami.
Themes
Uncomfortable at the reminder of the club’s whites-only status, Flory suggests that perhaps Veraswami could be elected at the next meeting. Veraswami says he wasn’t asking Flory to propose him—he was just thinking out loud. Flory, even more uncomfortable, thinks that he probably could get Veraswami into the club if he tried hard, but he just can’t face the fight with Ellis. He tells Veraswami that Macgregor has suggested inducting a non-white member and promises to vote for Veraswami if it comes up—but claims he can’t do anything more. As Flory leaves, Veraswami warns him to be cautious of U Po Kyin, too—U Po Kyin might attack Flory for being Veraswami’s friend. Flory doesn’t take the warning seriously, believing that as a European he’s untouchable.
Here Flory shows a lack of loyalty to his supposed friend Dr. Veraswami: he knows he could get Veraswami into the Club and thereby protect him from U Po Kyin—but he is too beaten down by racist Ellis and his other British acquaintances to speak his mind freely and support his non-white friend. Meanwhile, Veraswami’s warning that Flory should watch out for U Po Kyin may foreshadow that U Po Kyin will pose a danger to Flory in the future.
Themes
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