『ビルマの日々』における主人公フローリと「動物」表象(東北英文学研究)

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タイトル別名
  • Representations of Animals in Burmese Days(Tohoku Review of English Literature)
  • 『ビルマの日々』における主人公フローリと「動物」表象
  • 『 ビルマ ノ ヒビ 』 ニ オケル シュジンコウ フローリ ト 「 ドウブツ 」 ヒョウショウ

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George Orwell (1903-1950) served with Indian Imperial Police in India under the British colonial rule for five years, from 1922 to 1927. His first novel, Burmese Days, which was published in 1934, is often associated with his experience as an imperial police. This work is in the tradition of A Passage to India (1924) by E. M. Forster (1879-1970) in that both of them describe the difficulty of mutual understanding between the British and the natives What is the most remarkable is that almost all characters in this novel are given animal identifications. For example, Mr Mackregor is "reminded one curiously of a turtle" (25), and Mrs Lackersteen is described as a woman with "a slender hand like that of a newt" (26). As indicated in some studies, many descriptions of tropical rain forests and wild animals appear quite frequently in Burmese Days. According to J. V. Knapp, "human attributes and perceptions … made animal" (J. V. Knapp 14). Douglas Kerr mentions that "in colonial discourse animals are often the object of tropes of European possession and masterly control" (D. Kerr 235). They argue the enormity and violence, pointing out the relationship between the ruler and the ruled. This paper aims to explore the function of animals in this novel, focusing on John Flory related to animal representations and episodes. Those animal metaphors and scenes negatively imply the prediction of his fate. First of all, this paper demonstrates Flory's morality and feeling which are contrary to the English's colonialism, analyzing 'a dog' portrayal and a scene of a buffalo's appearing. Ellis recognizes the natives as "damn black swine" (22) and "the sneaking cowardly hounds" (25) and strongly has imperialistic views that the White is the masters. In contrast, Flory interacts with the natives in Burma in a friend way and with affection, so that he sympathizes with the natives in his inner mind, and has the equal consciousness between the White and them. In the second place, the paper pays attention to a pigeon and a leopard in the hunting scenes. Elizabeth loves Flory who hunted those of the animals. This episode reinforces her cruelty and tacitly shows Flory's own self-destruction in that those killed animals can be seen as himself. That is, the White is relevant to "our [the British's] beastliness to the natives" (37). Furthermore, his suicide displays that his moral minds such as sympathy and familiarity are negatively evaluated in controlling the colonies. What is very remarkable is to regard Flory as animals, even though he is a white man. Whereas the White is often expected to behave following 'pukka sahib,' Flory doesn't consistently hope to do so because "your opinion ... is dictated for you by the pukka sahibs' code" (69). In addition, he recognizes that "we're here to uplift our poor black brothers instead of to rob them" (37). As a result, he suffers from dilemma caught between the white and the natives because he is sometimes compelled to respond to them violently and cruelly. Through the descriptions of Flory related to animals, even the rulers are emotionally and physically governed by the British Empire. The White except him is little relevant to the representations of animals. This fact emphasizes that Flory morally and ethically has conscience.

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