Race, Class, And Gender In British Colonial Society

The British distinguished themselves from the Burmese in a physical and mental sense to maintain their own superiority within the colony. In order to mentally separate themselves from the Burmese, the British instilled cultural ideas inferiority that can be seen in characters like U Po Kyin. He was “a man of fifty, so fat that for years he had not risen from his chair without help…for the Burmese do not sag and bulge like white men, but grow fat symmetrically.” Orwell clearly distinguishes Po Kyin from the British in a physical aspect, which only served one side of a double sided coin. The British never considered the Burmese to be on equal level because they did not have the mental or physical capacity to measure up their white counterparts. According to colonial social discourses, a man need to be intellectually secure to conquers the empire in a mental
Ellis demonstrates how race functioned in colonial society as he condemns non-Europeans and white men that sleep with native women. Meanwhile, Flory represents the average man that when out into the empire and worked to make his fortune to thrive in the colonial world. Flory also illustrates the man that flirted with exotic and slept with native women, which threatened the purity of the race. During some of his interactions with Elizabeth, the reader sees how Flory starts to flirt with racial ideas when he wants to please the young British women. He feels the need to apologize to the girl after she encounters Li Yak, who is considered uncivilized by British standards. Macgregor is considered to be a middle man out of everyone because he represents the true British man that views himself above the Burmese and exercises to prove himself. Overall, Flory is more typical of British colonial society because he represents the everyday man that operated in colonial