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Chapter 10
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Burmese Days, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Imperialism and Hypocrisy
Status and Racism
Class, Gender, and Sex
Freedom of Speech, Self-Expression, and Loneliness
Friendship and Loyalty
Summary
Analysis
One morning, Flory takes Elizabeth to the bazaar, supposing she’ll enjoy it. When Elizabeth sees how “horribly dirty” the bazaar is, she wonders why Flory is always bringing her to places where native people are present. When the smell, heat, and bodies get to Elizabeth, she asks Flory to find her some shade. He suggests they go to the shop of Chinese grocer Li Yeik. Though Elizabeth really wants to flee back to the club, the “European look” of Li Yeik’s shop comforts her, and she agrees to accompany Flory there. Just outside Li Yeik’s, a young man delivers Flory a letter from Ma Hla May demanding money. He tells Elizabeth it’s from a clerk seeking a job.
Elizabeth’s perception of the Burmese bazaar as “horribly dirty” and her wish that Flory would avoid places that native people frequent emphasize yet again her racist and conventional attitudes, which diverge sharply from the adventurous and curious attitudes that the lonely Flory attributes to her hopefully. Tellingly, Elizabeth only goes into Li Yeik’s shop because it has a “European look,” showing her cultural prejudices. Also tellingly, Flory lies to Elizabeth about Ma Hla May’s letter despite wanting to make Elizabeth his confidante and companion—a lie revealing that he knows his previous sexual liaisons with non-white women would be unacceptable to the racist Elizabeth.
Themes
When Elizabeth and Flory enter Li Yeik’s shop, Li Yeik immediately goes to fetch them tea. Elizabeth spots and criticizes as ugly the tiny feet of the Chinese women in the shop. Flory explains foot-binding to her and argues that beauty is culturally relative. Li Yeik returns with two Burmese girls, one of whom fans Elizabeth and Flory while the other serves them tea. In whispers, Elizabeth questions whether it’s socially acceptable to sit down at Li Yeik’s and criticizes the green tea he serves as “beastly.” She grows very rigid and disapproving. Then, an infant in the room sees her white face, grows terrified, and urinates on the floor. Elizabeth is disgusted, and Elizabeth and Flory quickly leave the shop.
All Elizabeth’s reactions—her disgust at bound feet, her criticism of green tea as “beastly,” and her intolerant reaction to a frightened, peeing baby—underscore yet again her racism and narrow-mindedness. This reinforces how badly Flory has miscalculated her ability to be an open-minded and sympathetic partner to him.
Themes
Hurrying away, Elizabeth calls Li Yeik and the others uncivilized, “disgusting people.” Flory, though apologizing, suggests they ought to have at least thanked Li Yeik for the tea. Elizabeth bristles at the very idea. Flory is very unhappy at having upset her, but he still doesn’t understand her viewpoint on “the ‘natives’”—he only knows that she expresses aversion every time he tries to share his views and experiences. Yet simultaneously, he realizes how much he loves her. After a pause, he remarks that the weather is “beastly hot.” This banal remark, which sounds like something they’d say at the Club, pleases Elizabeth, and she and Flory reconcile. For the rest of the walk they discuss dogs, and Flory wonders why they only get along when their talk is trivial. They reaffirm their plans to go hunting together and part.
Given Elizabeth’s overt racism, calling Chinese Li Yeik and his Burmese servants “disgusting people,” readers may wonder why Flory still fails to comprehend her viewpoint on “the ‘natives.’” One may conclude that his infatuation with her and his desperate hope that she will assuage his loneliness keeps him from seeing her obvious flaws. Her immediate positive reaction when he makes small talk complaining about Burma’s weather, meanwhile, reveals that she too misjudges him: while he is looking for any clue that she is open-minded and sympathetic, she is jumping on any hint that he might make an appropriate, conventional British husband.
Themes
