The prose in this book was a bit more floral than what I’ve come across in Orwell before. The voice is more confident than that of Down and Out in Paris and London but also more verbose. I found it inferior to the more matter of fact tone of Down and Out in Paris and London. On the other hand, this book is more a through-going novel and so probably requires a slightly more expansive style. There is a lot more dialogue, which isn’t always a good thing. It’s not as lucid and pithy as his later books like 1984 and Animal Farm. Some of the description is a bit self-conscious and occasionally floral. I wouldn’t call it bad but it’s not as tight as the other Orwell I’ve read.
The characters and the subject matter are far better. The lonely, debauched figure of Flory is very well drawn. He is at once pitiable and detestable. His solitary existence amongst the boring, racist pukka sahibs of the club is excruciating. The inhospitable climate and the extreme isolation of his station complete the misery. His recourse to boozing and fornicating seem understandable and I was sympathetic to the self-loathing he experiences as a consequence. Against this, the spineless way he refuses to support his friend Dr Veraswami is horrible to read and really turned me against him.
The appearance of a young Elizabeth seems to be his salvation and no one seems to believe this more readily than Flory even though the two are a wildly unsuitable match. Elizabeth is a dyed in the wool racist and of the same species as the rest of the club bores. However, in his desperation to find something that he likes about himself and his life, Flory thinks she’s everything he needs to make his life complete. After an amorous shooting trip where Flory kills a leopard, which proves to be a strong aphrodisiac for Elizabeth, I thought he would propose. Flory wastes this opportunity and is then cast aside by Elizabeth when she learns Flory keeps a local mistress. Elizabeth has also been informed by her Aunt that a better prospect was arriving in their remote region of Myanmar. This part of the story is very good and the unrequited fawning of the locals on the newly arrived Military Police officer, his singular interest in a casual acquaintance with Elizabeth and his vanishing departure are all excellent. Rather less good is the way Flory wastes another chance at proposing to Elizabeth by being loquacious. I thought that after his first experience that he would not lose even a second in proposing to her when his fortunes had, unexpectedly, turned. I was also rather disappointed that Flory didn’t have more of an epiphany about Elizabeth’s suitability after being so unceremoniously dumped by her in favour of the dapper young Verrall. That he thinks he is still in love with her is probably only an indication of how dire his life is and how little he is prepared to do about it given his indolent nature.
Flory’s great moment of triumph is good scene. It’s nice to see him act decisively for once! In the aftermath of the riot I was also pleased to see that Dr Veraswami’s stock had risen and U Po Kyin’s machinations against him appear to have failed. The two plots of native, subordinate scheming and love story of a despairing colonial are skillfully intertwined. I also liked the way the book ended with evil eventually triumphing. This seems an appropriate outcome given the acerbic criticism of the colonial system that Orwell maintains throughout the book. Of course, it’s sad to see Flory, a not wholly unsympathetic character, commit suicide. Nonetheless, I felt it was in keeping with Orwell’s criticism of the colonial system that no good should come of it. The only issue I had with the final plot twist, where Flory’s mistress runs into the church to disgrace him in front of the whole congregation including Elizabeth, is that it is hardly new information. Elizabeth is already aware of Flory’s actions. First, through her Aunt and then through Flory’s letter to her admitting his sins but asking for forgiveness after she dumps him for the first time. I suppose it is plausible that the hypocritical, superficial colonial society, as Orwell paints it, would only be prepared to tolerate indiscretions if they were kept semi-private. For example, Elizabeth’s uncle’s furious womanising whenever he gets away from his wife. This phenomenon seems to be well known within colonial society but perhaps doesn’t draw the same disgrace because it isn’t as highly visible as Flory’s embarrassment. Nevertheless, even though the scene is dramatic enough, it felt a bit hasty and stretched from a narrative perspective. Flory’s suicide also seems an overreaction if it is taken as an isolated response to this incident. It makes more sense if, like me, you feel he is pretty close to suicide at the beginning of the book before Elizabeth turns up. The scheming, unctious U Po Kyin is a perfect representation of the kind of pond life that thrives under the rotten colonial system that Orwell attacks so violently. He is at once thoroughly unpleasant but strangely pleasing in his cunning. His eventual success, alongside Flory’s suicide, are the climatic damnation of colonial society and administration in Burma.
I liked this book even though the prose isn’t the finest example of Orwell’s writing. It is a scathing criticism of the colonial system. The plot is enjoyable but perhaps a little weak in the scene where Flory is disgraced in the church. The characters are excellent throughout.
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