Posted by Mike Lloyd on May 05, 2001 at 15:33:12:
I understand there is a modicum of arguement about whether Orwell ever wrote heroes to whom the reader could or would relate to on a personal level. I have just finished Burmese Days and found Flory to be somewhat of an enigma in this respect. Orwell seems at pains to emphasise Flory's birthmark and its effect on his behaviour, but set against a background of Orwell's reading, e.g Henry Miller and Lawrence, I would have thought that this was his attempt at a "modern" anti hero. My point is, is this an attempt to create an antihero, a foil for some unfocussed anti- imperialism or are we to identify with Flory as a coomon connection between the embarssments of our childhood and Orwell's?