| George Orwell's first novel,Burmese Days,has generally been overlooked by domestic and foreign academia for several years.Recently,many scholars have been paying closer attention to the literary value of Orwell's early works,resulting in a growing literary scholarships of Burmese Days.However,much of mainstream research into Burmese Days focuses on themes of colonialism and feminism,without discussing the novel's main mystery:the death of Flory.Therefore,in this thesis,on the basis of research from domestic and foreign scholars,I will try to interpret the death of Flory,in order to suggest that this death functions as a symbol of the British Empire's recession.This thesis consists of five parts.The first part explores the historical period between The Victorian era and World War One,and how with the resulting recession of The British Empire,English men changed from traditional gentlemen into The Pukka Sahib.In Burmese Days,Flory favors gentlemanliness while others favor colonial imperialism.Flory's unique identity is symbolic of the degradation of an Englishmen's masculinity.Part two focuses on the process of Flory as he rebuilds his masculinity.Flory's pursuits of Elizabeth as well as his challenge to Verrall,prove that Flory's masculinity is in conflict with his gentlemanliness and with colonial imperialism.Part three discusses the destruction of Flory's masculinity.On the one hand,Elizabeth's racism fully embodies the recession of The British Empire,since she subverts Flory's faith in recovering his gentlemanliness.On the other hand,Flory's mistress Ma Hla May's revenge on Flory demonstrates that the colonized are gaining nationalism and that their demonstrations are surging.As such,the British empire has already lost its colonial power.By analyzing the recession,rebuilding and destruction of Flory's masculinity,this thesis aims to suggest that Englishmen's masculinity inevitably degenerates,because The British Empire's colonization is doomed to end. |
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