History Literature / BurmeseDays

* HundredPercentHeroismRating: After Flory saves the European Club from a Burmese lynch mob, the other Europeans all see him as a hero and was willing to forgive his past faux pas'. Of course, U Po Kyin ruins Flory's reputation again.

Meanwhile, Flory has become thoroughly jaded and fed up after almost fifteen years in the sticks; his health is shot, he has no other friends, and the ragged birthmark on his face has subjected him to constant ridicule or ostracism from almost all quarters. Other than his tiny local mistress, Ma Hla May, he has not known the genuine affections of a woman, and so understandably Flory gets his hopes up when Elizabeth Lackersteen, the niece of a drunkard Club acquaintance of his, rolls into Burma in general (and Kyauktada in particular) looking for a potential husband.

* {{Meganekko}}: Elizabeth Lackersteen wears round horn-rimmed glasses, though attention is infrequently called to them.

* MixedAncestry: Kyauktada has two resident Eurasians: Mr Francis and Mr Samuel, sons of Baptist and Catholic missionaries respectively. In general the rest of the colonial community (sans Flory) dislikes them nearly as much as they do the rest of the natives.
* MotorMouth: Mr Francis, the MixedAncestry son of an American Baptist missionary and a South Indian local, will jump at any opportunity to ramble in rapid-fire about his life history. It's what turns Elizabeth off when she and Flory meet him briefly.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Sort of. Katha, the Upper Burmese town where Eric Blair was last posted, serves as the primary inspiration for Kyauktada, but Katha itself appears to have been much more progressive (at the time of the author's service there, the local European Club had already admitted several natives, Indians and Burmese alike).
* AerithAndBob: English names mix with local Burmese names and the occasional Indian or Chinese one.
* TheAlcoholic: Mr Lackersteen, Elizabeth's uncle.

** ''Theatre/AsYouLikeIt'': [[{{Epigraph}} This desert inaccessible / Under the shade of melancholy boughs.]]"''

* LastNameBasis: Most of the Englishmen are referred to, in the narrative and by each other, only by their surnames: Flory (though his first name is given as John (or James)), Macgregor, Westfield, Ellis, Maxwell, and Verrall, though one scene that involves a petition gives them each initials. The Lackersteens are an exception because there's three of them (not to mention Elizabeth's late parents, as detailed in her backstory), and so Elizabeth's uncle is sometimes referred to by his first name, Tom. Even his wife, her aunt, is never given a first name.

* MixedAncestry: Kyauktada has two resident Eurasians: Mr Francis and Mr Samuel, sons of Methodist and Catholic missionaries respectively. In general the rest of the colonial community (sans Flory) dislikes them nearly as much as they do the rest of the natives.

* EthnicMenialLabor: Expected for a British colonial outpost; the European Club servants, for one, and Flory's own Burmese servants for another.

* InsaneTrollLogic: As pointed out by an Orwell biographer, when Verrall kicks the Club butler, Ellis viciously chews him out on it … but not because of any moral qualms that kicking native staff might be inherently wrong, oh no. In fact, they're arguing over ''who has the right to kick around Club servants''; Ellis maintains only the Club can do it, Verrall feels like kicking anyone who pisses him off. In fact Ellis hates more the possibility of Verrall assuming ''he'' has any sympathy for natives.

* InsaneTrollLogic: As pointed out by an Orwell biographer, when Verrall kicks the Club butler, Ellis viciously chews him out on it … but not because of any moral qualms that kicking native staff might be inherently wrong, oh no. In fact, they're arguing over ''who has the right to kick around Club servants''; Ellis maintains only the Club can do it, Verrall feels like kicking anyone who pisses him off.

* WomanScorned: Ma Hla May, Flory's mistress of two years for whom he payed all expenses (she actually considered herself to be his unofficial wife) before him meeting Elizabeth, telling her he was wants nothing to do with her, and [[GetOut throwing her out of his house]]. Then she repeatedly {{blackmail}}s him ans conspires with U Po Kyin to ruin his reputation.

* EthnicMenialLabor: Expected for a British colonial outpost; the European Club servants, for one.

* HeroicSacrifice: At one point, while trying to get her niece Elizabeth to marry Lieutenant Verrall, Mrs Lackersteen decides to let her husband go to another post alone (because Elizabeth can't stay without a chaperone). This isn't an easy decision, because Mrs Lackersteen knows her husband will cheat on her as soon as he's out of sight.

* InsaneTrollLogic: As pointed out by an Orwell biographer, when Verrall kicks the Club butler, Ellis viciously chews him out on it … not for any moral qualms that kicking native staff might be inherently wrong, oh no, but because ''only the Club has the right to kick around its servants''.

* WomanScorned: Ma Hla May, Flory's mistress of two years for whom he payed all expenses (she actually considered herself to be his unofficial wife) before him meeting Elizabeth, telling her he was wants nothing to do with her, and [[GetOut throwing her out of his house]]. Then she repeatedly {{blackmail}}s him ans conspires with U Po Kyin to ruin his reputation.

* DirtyOldMan: Mr Lackersteen sleeps with Burmese prostitutes whenever his wife isn't around, the ''Burmese Patriot'' editorial alleges that Mr Macgregor did the same, and U Po Kyin regularly rapes village girls despite being in his fifties.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: When Elizabeth first comes to the European Club, she is the only person willing to listen to Mr Macgregor's tedious stories. [[spoiler: After Lieutenant Verral leaves and Flory dies, Macgregor marries Elizabeth.]]

* WomanScorned: Ma Hla May, Flory's mistress of two years for whom he payed all expenses (she actually considered herself to be his unofficial wife) before him meeting Elizabeth, telling her he was wants nothing to do with her, and [[GetOut throwing her out of her house]]. Then she repeatedly {{blackmail}}s him ans conspires with U Po Kyin to ruin his reputation.

* AsianHookerStereotype: Ma Hla May, a sort of UrExample before American wars in the Asia-Pacific region popularised the trope. She isn't actually a hooker, though.

* WhiteMansBurden: Subverted, as the Englishmen depicted aren't even trying to pretend to civilise the natives. At least Flory tries calling them out on that, at least in his discussions with Dr Veraswami.

* WhiteMansBurden: Subverted, as the Englishmen depicted aren't even trying to pretend to civilise the natives. At least Flory tries calling them out on that, at least in his discussions with Dr Veraswami.
* YourCheatingHeart: Mr Lackersteen cheats on his wife with Burmese prostitutes whenever she's not around. As a result, Mrs Lackersteen makes sure not to leave him alone.

* [[BlackBestFriend Indian Best Friend]]: Dr Veraswami, at least in-universe. While he does get slightly more characterisation, and Orwell appears to have portrayed him in a genuinely sympathetic manner, his hopes of getting into the European Club do hinge upon his friendship and connections with Flory.

* HolidayInCambodia: Burma, in this case, is presented as a tropical hellhole.

* Foreshadowing: When Elizabeth first comes to the European Club, she is the only person willing to listen to Mr Macgregor's tedious stories. [[spoiler: After Lieutenant Verral leaves and Flory dies, Macgregor marries Elizabeth.]]