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Situational Irony
Chapter 2
Explanation and Analysis:
Orwell's writing style in Burmese Days is characterized by decidedly negative (or unfavorable) descriptions of all the novel's characters. Many of the characters are craven, racist, apathetic, or complacent, and these negative character traits bleed into the rest of the novel. John Flory, the closest thing to a protagonist in Burmese Days, exhibits many unfavorable character traits. In accordance with this, Flory bears a birthmark marring half of his face. Note the initial description of this birthmark, from Chapter 2:
The first thing that one noticed in Flory was a hideous birthmark stretching in a ragged crescent down his left cheek, from the eye to the corner of the mouth. Seen from the left side his face had a battered, woebegone look, as though the birthmark had been a bruise—for it was a dark blue in colour.
This birthmark is both a source of Flory's woes and an emblem of his faults. Orwell frequently plays with the reader's expectations, including what appear to be earnest and positive descriptions of characters or situations before shedding light (through irony, description, figurative language, etc.) on the truth. For instance, both Mr. and Mrs. Lackersteen are subjected to this, as Mrs. Lackersteen is described as "handsome" but in a "contourless way," while Mr. Lackersteen is a "beefy" "simple-minded" man who wants to have a "good time." Unfortunately, his idea of a "good time" includes raping his niece—an uncomfortable fact that Orwell oddly highlights by understatedly portraying him as someone who just wants to have a "good time." This kind of understated verbal irony largely defines the style of Burmese Days, allowing Orwell to critique his cast of characters (and the kind of people they're based on in real life) in subtle but piercing ways.
