Burmese Days: Irony 7 key examples

The apprentice who writes this letter employs a satirical tone, referring to Mr. Macgregor ironically as a "family man" who sires and subsequently abandons children. This satirical segment is intended to critique the behaviors of powerful British leaders in Burma, many of whom put on a moral front while committing various harms behind closed doors.

In this excerpt, the article-writer refers to "syphilis" as one of the "manifold blessings" brought to Burma/Myanmar by European colonizers. This is undoubtedly an instance of verbal irony: the author upends White colonial paternalism, undermining the idea that Europeans have "blessed" the Burmese with their presence. The opposite was more often true: Europeans brought with them oppression, enslavement, and condescension, seeking to destroy native cultures and replace them with European ones. Many European imperial powers, including the British, saw fit to extract resources and labor from colonized regions, impoverishing native peoples for generations. This article satirizes the concept of the "white man's burden," critiquing the idea that White people bring blessings and resources to the regions they colonize. The actual relationships between colonized and colonizer are extractive.

In the above passage, an apparently contradictory statement from the narrator reveals a core truth about Mr. Macgregor's character: "provided [Indian or Burmese people] were given no freedom he thought them the most charming people alive." Mr. Macgregor only views colonized peoples as worthy of respect when they don't inconvenience him and when they behave according to his expectations. But if Indian or Burmese people achieve actual freedom from colonial rule, Mr. Macgregor would feel threatened and would no longer feel any sympathy toward them, revealing himself to be just as racist as Ellis.

Mr. Macgregor views the subjecthood of others on a sliding scale: the darker a person’s skin, the less humanity and empathy they are owed. At the moment, Macgregor views people with brown skin as quaint and “charming,” but if brown people were to protest British occupation, all their "charm" would disappear for Macgregor. He would view them the same racist way he views Black people.

Ellis reprimands the butler for speaking English "too well," an ironic sentiment given that Ellis just finished insulting colonized people for lacking "education" or "civility." The butler's perfect English threatens these racist assumptions, undermining the hierarchical system Ellis relies upon to feel superior in his Whiteness. If a South Indian man can speak English perfectly—better even than Ellis himself—the foundation of Ellis’s racist beliefs cannot stand. Racial discrimination is often about more than just skin color, and the butler’s English abilities threaten more than Ellis’s personal racial identity—they threaten the very rationale and fabric of British imperialism.

Orwell uses passages like this one to illuminate the hypocrisy of British colonizers in Burma (Myanmar). Mrs. Lackersteen holds all non-White people to standards that she herself cannot maintain. She subjects Burmese and Indian people to greater scrutiny, quick to condemn them for laziness; meanwhile, she lacks the mental or physical fortitude to walk even a short distance. In the modern day, these hypocrisies remain: people of color are often held to loftier standards of behavior, industry, and intellect and are punished socially or fiscally when it proves impossible to meet such unrealistic expectations.

One stanza of Kipling's racist, condescending, paternalistic poem reads: "Take up the White Man's burden— / The savage wars of peace— / Fill full the mouth of famine /  And bid the sickness cease; / And when your goal is nearest / The end for others sought, / Watch Sloth and heathen Folly / Bring all your hopes to nought." The poem asserts that White Europeans work hard for to benefit and improve non-White people, only to be met with ingratitude, "sloth," and "heathen Folly."

Flory alludes to the "white man's burden" for the purposes of critique, leveling a sardonic tone against his fellow British occupiers, whom he ironically characterizes—in a mixture of Hindi, Persian, British slang, and French—as "true gentlemen without fear and beyond reproach." He derides their blatant hypocrisy and unsubtle racism. Sadly, though, when the time comes, Flory fails to directly contradict the kind of racism he's talking about.

Ma Hla May behaves capriciously in her relations with Flory, simultaneously craving his affection and disregarding it. This behavior generates irony: his embraces "means nothing to [Ma Hla May]," and yet she is "bitterly hurt" by any sign of neglect from Flory. This contradiction arises from the nature of the relationship itself, which emulates colonial power dynamics. Flory uses Ma Hla May for sex; his relationship with her is extractive, just as the British Empire has an extractive relationship with colonized peoples. This unbalanced transaction leads Ma Hla May to form her own extractive relationship with Flory as a means of survival. He uses her for sex, so she seeks out ways to milk the money and prestige he can offer her. She comes to depend on what she can extract from Flory. His neglect does not upset her because she loves him, but rather because she can no longer extract anything from him.