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Chapter 22
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
No houses are looted and no one else is killed. The next morning, Westfield and Verrall return with two men who will be executed for Maxwell’s murder. Meanwhile, Flory visits Dr. Veraswami, who exults that Flory’s quick actions in stopping the riot prevented U Po Kyin from taking credit and bolster Veraswami’s prestige as Flory’s friend. Flory admits that the other club members are treating him better now, though Ellis is annoyed that Flory ordered the police to fire over the crowd’s heads, not at them.
The novel leaves ambiguous whether the Burmese men who will be executed for Maxwell’s murder are actually the men who murdered Maxwell, an ambiguity that highlights the racism and corruption of the British imperial justice system in Burma. Meanwhile, Ellis’s annoyance at Flory for resolving the riot without killing anyone highlights not only Ellis’s violent racism but also the bloodthirstiness of imperial repression.
Themes
Thirty minutes later, Flory approaches the club in the rain and sees Elizabeth on the veranda. They exchange a few friendly, banal sentences about the weather, and Flory asks after her cut elbow. When she immediately gives him her arm to examine, Flory realizes that she 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 her he would always love her. Then he kisses her. She shakes her head, but not in anger, and enters the club.
Throughout the novel, Elizabeth has been most comfortable with Flory when he speaks about trivialities rather than when he freely shares his true thoughts and feelings. As such, their friendly conversation about the weather reveals Elizabeth’s renewed esteem for him. The novel then emphasizes her renewed esteem when Flory realizes that she again sees him as she did after he killed the leopard, a scene that symbolizes the apex of Elizabeth’s positive perception of Flory as a conventionally masculine, high-status marriage prospect.
Themes
Inside the club, Flory praises Dr. Veraswami’s conduct during the riot to Macgregor. They don’t vote on Veraswami’s election to the club, though, because Flory is returning to his camp in the jungle. He plans to return in 10 days for the next church service—and, hopefully, after Verrall, the one remaining obstacle in his relationship with Elizabeth, has left. Flory doesn’t believe that Verrall will propose to Elizabeth because men like Verrall don’t marry “penniless girls met casually at obscure Indian stations.”
Flory again shows his loyalty to Dr. Veraswami by using his improved status with the other British people in Kyauktada to push Veraswami’s election to the club. Meanwhile, when Flory assumes that an aristocrat like Verrall won’t marry a “penniless girl” like Elizabeth, it shows his cynical realism about the influence of money and status on marriage decisions in his cultural context.
Themes
U Po Kyin, furious that the riot has undermined his plans, writes more anonymous letters slandering Dr. Veraswami and summons his co-conspirators for a meeting. At the meeting, U Po Kyin concludes that they can’t harm Veraswami until Flory—a “miserable coward” who U Po Kyin never suspected would stay loyal to Veraswami—is out of the way. Because Flory is white, U Po Kyin can’t simply slander him: instead, Flory must experience some “public disgrace.” When U Po Kyin reveals his plan, the co-conspirators laugh.
This passage does not reveal what “public disgrace” U Po Kyin is planning for Flory, but his co-conspirators’ laughter suggests that the event will seriously harm Flory. Thus, this passage fulfills the foreshadowing in Dr. Veraswami’s earlier warnings to Flory about U Po Kyin’s ability to harm Flory. Notably, U Po Kyin’s decision to attack Flory directly derives from Flory’s socially unconventional decision to remain loyal to his non-white friend Dr. Veraswami—emphasizing that standing up to racism in the British imperialist context has consequences.
Themes
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Elizabeth and Verrall ride together every evening, but Verrall still doesn’t propose. She hears a rumor that he’s leaving soon. Then, one day, he doesn’t come to the club. Elizabeth waits in agony for Verrall to appear; meanwhile, Mr. Lackersteen sexually harasses her “unceasingly.” Three days after Verrall’s disappearance, a young, plump, blond British man appears at the club and introduces himself as Verrall’s replacement. When Mrs. Lackersteen, shocked, asks whether Verrall is going already, the man tells her that Verrall’s train leaves in 30 minutes.
Mr. Lackersteen’s “unceasing[]” sexual harassment of Elizabeth again reminds readers that more is at stake in her prospective marriage than love or status: she is trying to escape financial dependence on a man who has repeatedly harassed her and already attempted to rape her once. Meanwhile, Verrall’s apparent departure suggests that Flory was right to assume high-status, aristocratic Verrall wouldn’t consider marrying a “penniless girl.”
Themes
Elizabeth and Mrs. Lackersteen rush to the train station in a rickshaw. Throughout the ride, Elizabeth tells herself that Verrall must have written her a letter that didn’t arrive—or even if he didn’t, that surely, he’ll change his mind once he sees her at the station. Yet when the women arrive, the train has already left. According to the stationmaster, Verrall demanded that the train leave 10 minutes early. (It’s unclear whether Verrall was intentionally fleeing Elizabeth or the men he owed money for his horses’ hay and corn.) Later, Mrs. Lackersteen roundly criticizes Verrall’s behavior and mentions “almost lovingly” that Flory will return to Kyauktada soon.
After Verrall jilts Elizabeth, Mrs. Lackersteen in short order begins to speak of Flory “almost lovingly.” This change of heart shows that Mrs. Lackersteen sabotaged Flory and Elizabeth’s romance solely because she thought Verrall was a higher-status marital prospect for Elizabeth, not because she had any genuine qualms about Flory’s affair with Ma Hla May.
Themes
