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Definition of Motif
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the central themes of a book... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of related symbols, help develop the... read full definition
A motif is an element or idea that recurs throughout a work of literature. Motifs, which are often collections of... read full definition
Chapter 1
Explanation and Analysis—Fatness as Villainy:
Throughout Burmese Days, U Po Kyin retains two qualities: his villainy and his obesity. The association formed between the two ultimately becomes a motif in the novel. Note the following example of this motif from Chapter 1:
He was proud of his fatness, because he saw the accumulated flesh as the symbol of his greatness. He who had once been obscure and hungry was now fat, rich and feared. He was swollen with the bodies of his enemies; a thought from which he extracted something very near poetry.
In the novel, U Po Kyin's wealth and power correlate directly with his fatness, but not in a positive way. The man's obesity appears to provide further evidence of his greed and immorality. For the purposes of Burmese Days, largeness is synonymous with evil.
In the Western literary canon, large or fat bodies are often used as shorthand to indicate lust, selfishness, gluttony, or some other vice conflated with consumption. This commonplace motif is problematic, often leading to the stigmatization of bigger people. Orwell calls on this kind of stigmatization in Burmese Days. Despite his anti-Imperialist, often radical sentiments, Orwell is no less answerable to the stigmas of his literary tradition.
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis—Humans and Animals:
In Burmese Days, the narrator regularly compares many different characters to animals, regardless of skin color, ethnicity, or nationality. White supremacist literature tends to include such figurative language, targeted against non-White people, as a means of dehumanizing or denigrating the "Other." Orwell upends this racist literary notion, using animalistic metaphors and similes to refer to colonized and colonizer alike.
In the following excerpt from Chapter 2, for instance, the narrator describes the European Club's butler using simile:
The butler, a dark, stout Dravidian with liquid, yellow-irised eyes like those of a dog, brought the brandy on a brass tray.
Only a few paragraphs later, the narrator compares Maxwell to a horse:
Maxwell lowered the Field. He was a fresh-coloured blond youth of not more than twenty-five or six--very young for the post he held. With his heavy limbs and thick white eyelashes he reminded one of a cart-horse colt.
Later on in the chapter, when the narrator introduces Mr. Macgregor, they describe him in animalistic terms as well, suggesting that he is like a turtle, which is why he has been nicknamed "the tortoise."
Each of these examples—and many more scattered throughout the novel—affirm one conclusion: that colonizer and colonized are equal in a sort of inhumanity. This inhumanity arises naturally from imperialism, which demands that one group of people (the British) treat another (Burmese/Indians) as inferior. In affirming their own superiority and treating non-White people like scum, the British denigrate their own humanity, too.
Explanation and Analysis—Spiritual Citadel:
Throughout Burmese Days, the narrator uses a spiritual metaphor as a motif, comparing the European Club to a "spiritual citadel" and a form of "Nirvana" for people like U Po Kyin. Note the following example of this motif from Chapter 2:
In any town in India the European Club is the spiritual citadel, the real seat of the British power, the Nirvana for which native officials and millionaires pine in vain.
This metaphor reveals that it is power, not spiritual enlightenment, that provokes religious fervor in U Po Kyin and others like him. These men long for the affirmation of hierarchy. Only White European officials, who sit above them in this hierarchy, can give U Po Kyin the "Nirvana" he desires.
The narrator provides further context for this spiritual relationship in Chapter 12, again affirming U Po Kyin as an acolyte of the European Club by noting that he has "worm[ed] his way into the European Club," which, the narrator notes, is a "remote, mysterious temple, that holy of holies far harder of entry than Nirvana!" U Po Kyin views this European Club as "remote"—a "mysterious temple" he yearns to penetrate. It is precisely the exclusivity of the Europeans that allows them to maintain their authoritative status. By refusing all but a few entry to the Club, they ensure that this apparent Nirvana remains a scarce resource in high demand. This demand preserves their own power.
Related Themes:
Chapter 12
Explanation and Analysis—Spiritual Citadel:
Throughout Burmese Days, the narrator uses a spiritual metaphor as a motif, comparing the European Club to a "spiritual citadel" and a form of "Nirvana" for people like U Po Kyin. Note the following example of this motif from Chapter 2:
In any town in India the European Club is the spiritual citadel, the real seat of the British power, the Nirvana for which native officials and millionaires pine in vain.
This metaphor reveals that it is power, not spiritual enlightenment, that provokes religious fervor in U Po Kyin and others like him. These men long for the affirmation of hierarchy. Only White European officials, who sit above them in this hierarchy, can give U Po Kyin the "Nirvana" he desires.
The narrator provides further context for this spiritual relationship in Chapter 12, again affirming U Po Kyin as an acolyte of the European Club by noting that he has "worm[ed] his way into the European Club," which, the narrator notes, is a "remote, mysterious temple, that holy of holies far harder of entry than Nirvana!" U Po Kyin views this European Club as "remote"—a "mysterious temple" he yearns to penetrate. It is precisely the exclusivity of the Europeans that allows them to maintain their authoritative status. By refusing all but a few entry to the Club, they ensure that this apparent Nirvana remains a scarce resource in high demand. This demand preserves their own power.
Related Themes:
