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The leopard skin represents Elizabeth Lackersteen’s perception of her suitor John Flory, which is initially positive, but which is ruined over time, in large part by the schemes of corrupt Burmese official U Po Kyin. When Flory shoots the leopard on a hunting trip with Elizabeth, she is tremendously impressed by what she perceives as his manliness and skill. Afterward, they come to a tacit understanding that he will propose marriage to her, and Elizabeth plans to say yes. After Elizabeth learns that Flory has had a Burmese mistress (Ma Hla May), she jilts him before he can propose. Flory tries to create an opportunity to apologize and explain by bringing her the leopard skin, which he sent to have cured by an expert at the local jail—but when he goes to retrieve the cured skin, it has been ruined. The skin’s ruination symbolizes the ruination of the relationship between Flory and Elizabeth.
Interestingly, the reason that the curing process ruined the skin is that the jail’s skin-curing expert had recently escaped with help from the corrupt official U Po Kyin, who eventually destroys Elizabeth and Flory’s relationship beyond repair. He pays Ma Hla May to loudly and graphically confront Flory over their former sexual relationship while he and Elizabeth, who have temporarily reconciled, are in church. Thus, the leopard skin both represents Elizabeth’s ruined perception of Flory and foreshadows the role that U Po Kyin will play in Elizabeth and Flory’s final, definitive fight over Ma Hla May.
Leopard Skin Quotes in Burmese Days
The Burmese Days quotes below all refer to the symbol of Leopard Skin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 14
Quotes
If only he would always talk about shooting, instead of about books and Art and that mucky poetry! In a sudden burst of admiration she decided that Flory was really quite a handsome man, in his way. He looked so splendidly manly, with his pagri-cloth shirt open at the throat, and his shorts and puttees and shooting boots! And his face, lined, sunburned, like a soldier’s face. He was standing with his birth-marked cheek away from her.
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Chapter 19
Quotes
He unrolled it on the table they had just picked up. It looked so shabby and miserable that he wished he had never brought it. She came close to him to examine the skin, so close that her flower-like cheek was not a foot from his own, and he could feel the warmth of her body. So great was his fear of her that he stepped hurriedly away. And in the same moment she too stepped back with a wince of disgust, having caught the foul odour of the skin. It shamed him terribly. It was almost as though it had been himself and not the skin that stank.
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Get the entire Burmese Days LitChart as a printable PDF.
Leopard Skin Symbol Timeline in Burmese Days
The timeline below shows where the symbol Leopard Skin appears in Burmese Days. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 14
...Li Yeik’s, asks for chairs to be brought onto the veranda. Flory mentions that a leopard has been spotted around the village, but he suggests that they’ll probably only manage to...
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...other hunters, they are clustered around an old woman who tells them she saw the leopard. Flory suggests to Elizabeth that they could try to hunt the leopard, and Elizabeth excitedly...
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Elizabeth and the other hunters join Flory around the leopard’s body to admire it. Some hunters make a bamboo pole from which to sling the...
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Chapter 19
Flory—lonely and longing for Elizabeth—decides to return to Kyauktada. He plans to bring her the leopard skin he was having a prisoner cure for her and to explain himself at length....
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Regardless, Flory bathes, shaves, and takes the leopard skin to the Lackersteens’ around 4:00 p.m. Mrs. Lackersteen greets Flory. She fetches Elizabeth but...
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...Elizabeth is annoyed. She shows Flory out. Afterward, Mrs. Lackersteen enters the room, smells the leopard skin, and orders the servants to burn it.
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Chapter 23
...sees him as a hero again, just like she did after the buffalo and the leopard. Taking courage, he reminds her of the letter he wrote her in which he told...
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