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John Flory
U Po Kyin, an obese man in his mid-50s, is the Subdivisional Magistrate of Kyauktada, the fictional town in Upper Burma where the novel takes place. When U Po Kyin was a child, he witnessed the British annexation of Upper Burma and decided “to become a parasite upon” the British. Having worked his way up through government service, he uses his official position to enrich himself with bribes. Although U Po Kyin already has wealth and status when the novel begins, his true ambition is to gain membership into Kyauktada’s all-white European Club for the prestige it would give him. When the government begins pressuring European Clubs in Burma to induct a token non-white member, U Po Kyin begins a slander campaign against local doctor and jail superintendent Dr. Veraswami, whom he perceives as his competition for membership. When British timber merchant John Flory nominates Dr. Veraswami for membership in the Club, U Po Kyin pays Flory’s Burmese ex-mistress Ma Hla May to create a public scene about Flory, destroying Flory’s social position and precipitating his suicide. Afterward, U Po Kyin is elected to the Club, but though he goes on to an illustrious career, he dies of apoplexy before he can put into action his plan to fund Buddhist pagodas to make up for his sins. As such, his wife Ma Kin fears he is either in a hell of some sort or reincarnated as vermin.
U Po Kyin Quotes in Burmese Days
The Burmese Days quotes below are all either spoken by U Po Kyin or refer to U Po Kyin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“But Flory will desert his friend quickly enough when the trouble begins. These people have no feeling of loyalty towards a native.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
With Indians there must be no loyalty, no real friendship. […] What shall it profit a man if he save his own soul and lose the whole world?
Chapter 12
Quotes
The European Club, that remote, mysterious temple, that holy of holies far harder of entry than Nirvana! Po Kyin, the naked gutter-boy of Mandalay, the thieving clerk and obscure official, would enter that sacred place, call Europeans ‘old chap,’ drink whisky and soda and knock white balls to and fro on the green table!
Chapter 20
Quotes
U Po Kyin’s version (he had a way of being essentially right even when he was wrong in detail) was that Elizabeth had been Flory’s concubine and had deserted him for Verrall because Verrall paid her more.
Get the entire Burmese Days LitChart as a printable PDF.
U Po Kyin Quotes in Burmese Days
The Burmese Days quotes below are all either spoken by U Po Kyin or refer to U Po Kyin. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 1
Quotes
“But Flory will desert his friend quickly enough when the trouble begins. These people have no feeling of loyalty towards a native.”
Related Characters:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 6
Quotes
With Indians there must be no loyalty, no real friendship. […] What shall it profit a man if he save his own soul and lose the whole world?
Chapter 12
Quotes
The European Club, that remote, mysterious temple, that holy of holies far harder of entry than Nirvana! Po Kyin, the naked gutter-boy of Mandalay, the thieving clerk and obscure official, would enter that sacred place, call Europeans ‘old chap,’ drink whisky and soda and knock white balls to and fro on the green table!
Chapter 20
Quotes
U Po Kyin’s version (he had a way of being essentially right even when he was wrong in detail) was that Elizabeth had been Flory’s concubine and had deserted him for Verrall because Verrall paid her more.
