Psychological Experience of Colonialism - Essay Example

?Psychological experience of colonialism Colonialism leads to serious psychological effects on both the colonized and the colonizer, resulting in intense inner struggle with ones convictions resulting from the tension between one’s desires and the external self image as imposed by the colonial system. In most cases, it results in painful and lonely inner conflict within individuals in making an informed choice either to conform to the prevailing system or resist it. Those who embrace the new order are accepted by the larger society despite their true selves, leading them to live according to the expectation of the new order, which leads to a meaningless life. On the other hand, those who resist the new order are often isolated into lonely lives from the rest in desolate lives. Colonialism had serious psychological effects not only on the colonized, but also on colonizers who did not share the same ideologies with their fellow Europeans. In Burmese Days, Orwell presents an important aspect in Flory’s predicament as an inner struggle between joining the exploitative fellow Europeans and siding with natives. Flory’s inner conflict results from his guilt of being a ‘colonizer’ enjoying many privileges at the expense of the exploitation and victimization of the natives. This eventually leads to torturous inner conflict after which Flory commits suicide. This suggests when an individual is overwhelmed by their inner conflict and is helpless in solving them, they lose their essence and the only resolution to such a predicament is death. Flory is much awake to the economic motives of colonialism and is strongly opposed to it, denying it in his mental level, but unfortunately the conflict is just trapped in his mind and; he sometimes acts like the same colonizers. Importantly, fighting and rejecting the status quo seldom leads to redemption, but leads him to be more caged, as Flory is observed lonely with only a few friends. This is the painful but conscious choice taken by an individual due to their awareness of the exploitative nature of colonialism Ironically, Flory lastly portrays his exploitative nature through sexual abuse of Burmese women as he dumps and sacks his mistress, Ma Hla May, for interfering in his relationship with Elizabeth, and for being a financial burden to him, after exploiting her for sexual favors. Flory’s give and take relationship with his Ma Hla May signifies how colonizers treat the colonized, characteristic of how the whites exploited Burma for economic benefit but left after becoming a financial burden after the Second World War Similar to how Burma is of no importance in the colonizer’s eyes, Ma Hla May is devoid of value and identity in Flory’s eyes as she is discarded easily like an object. Therefore, Flory does not fit well in the colonizer’s framework as brought out by Memmi as he neither fully condemns nor supports the exploitative nature of the colonizers. The painful inner conflicts are not a preserve of the colonizers as the colonized similarly face such strong internal struggles, leading to negative perception of self. In Not out of Hate, Way Way best exemplifies serious inner struggles resulting from exploitation by the colonizer. Way Way is submissive and passive, conforming to the expected colonizer- colonized system where the colonizer has the right to make all decisions, though she suffers serious inner conflicts as her desires are not in tandem with the system. Way Way finds U Saw Han to be over controlling, which leads her to feel depersonalized, in which her life has to revolve around performing roles and responsibilities around and according to him. Way Way increasingly feels caged as she lives her life different from her desires and will. This crushes her so much that he loses touch with herself and in fact she is so depersonalized such that her identity is not different from U Saw Han. Way is not just passive in the whole predicament, but struggles greatly with her internal conflict. She even had sought solace at the monastery after her father‘s death where she founds peace and consolation away from the disillusion. Here the author portrays that Way Way had choice either to escape from her restrictive marriage life or return, but she surprisingly chooses to return as other people’s needs and opinions are more important than hers; she suppresses her inner desires for the sake of the needs of others, which leads to diminishment of self. Therefore, Way Way is not passive but fights with her inner convictions. She chooses to marry and live with the over controlling U Saw Han despite her conflicting inner desires that leaves her confused. Unable to escape or solve her strong inner conflicts, Way Way loses her essence and eventually dies from an injection. Just like Flory in Burmese days, Way Way finds herself lonely and with no hope as her desires are diminished, and is unable to cope with her strong internal conflicts; death is the best solace in both cases. The over controlling paternalistic care exercised by U Saw Hanover Way Way signifies the white man’s burden ,where the white man assumed a self given role to force civilization to the natives and force them to leave their cultural practices similar to Way Way’s desires. However, such roles are pretentious and are meant to hide their egos and superiority over the natives. The over controlling care taken by the whites is meant to hide their ego and after depleting economic resources in their colonies. U Saw Han becomes too controlling to Way Way and even refuses to let her go to her dying father, probably fearing she would catch what her father was suffering from, which she deeply regrets. Forcing her to take milk knowing she was intolerant to lactose was oblivious of her wellbeing, and the unwillingness to let her decide on anything made her ill and deemed her spirit. This was characteristic of colonial manifestation where natives had no voice before the whites U Saw Han is a representation of those who receive the new order in the society and embrace it such that conflict exists in their minds, compared to Way Way who is resistive of the new order. U Saw Han is particularly not a white man. He is a westernized Burmese who even does not speak Burmese, but his fashion, foods and lifestyle resembles that of a white man. Like the serious inner struggles that affect others in the colonizer- colonized relation such as Way Way and Flory, U Saw Han has deep psychological conflict, and lives in a life of denial. He heavily relies on Way Way to escape from this reality, but is deeply disoriented when she goes away. These novels bring out another perspective lacking in Memmi’s framework of the colonizer and the colonized. This is the power struggle where individuals try crossing their preset boundaries of either being a colonizer or the colonized. However, the power struggle ends up clearly showing the status quo, demonstrating the difficulties involved in individuals trying to resist and contest against the existing colonial system unless backed by a community of self awareness ready to incite and fight for changes. For example, in Burmese days, Ma Hla May tries to siphon as much dollars as she could from Flory and is even produce to be a white man’s wife. Her attitude is similar to U Po Kyin in Not out of Hate who does much and tries to benefit from the colonial system as well. While the two tried to exploit the colonizer, the ultimately end up being the exploited ones. Ma Hla May ends up feeling rejected and used after she is damped. U Saw Han is a Burmese but tries as much to assimilate western ideologies to benefit from the colonial system. He is a colonized who tries to cross this boundary through assimilation. He represents a unique case where the elite natives become the oppressors and exploits his fellow natives. In choosing this option, U Saw Han lives in a life of denial where his mind is set to be a white man while he is indeed a native. Rejecting this obvious identity results to internal conflict which he tries to suppress through pretending to take care and protect Way Way, rather than exploit her. U Saw Han is also too dependent on the colonized and is helpless without them as he is desperate whenever she goes away. This is similar to Memmi’s assertion that the dependence between the colonizer and the colonized is mutually dependent, without which the whole system fails. This is observed in the desperate sate of U Saw Han whenever Way Way was a way, as he drank to sleep and is devastated. Importantly, U Saw Han is a good match to Japan in Harp of Burma. In Harp of Burma, Japan is the Asian giant, the colonized, yet they are eh colonizer in Burma status quo is maintained at the end as they are defeated at the end. Importantly, in Harp of Burma, the novel brings out numerous aspects of inner struggle affecting the soldiers. Mizushima, though Japanese is appalled and defends Burmese against the Japanese mode of thought. Mizushima explains that Japanese do not care about making strenuous spiritual efforts and have not recognized their value though Buddhism stresses on these values. Unlike Way Way and Flory who died as a result of conflicting desires which they could not solve, Mizushima calls the Japanese soldiers to search for their desires deep in their souls and follow them for self satisfaction; they are involved in inner conflicts regarding whether to fight or surrender despite the heavy losses they were suffering. He calls for a closer interdependence between the colonized and the colonizer to ensure a formidable working system. In addition, when burying the dead Mizushima though a soldier is greatly troubled and has many tormenting questions: “why does so much misery exist in the world? Why is there so much inexplicable suffering? What are we to think?” Mizushima just like Flory in Burmese days is a colonizer who is greatly troubled by the exploitation and economic suppression of the natives, but unlike Flory who died due to strong inner conflicts, he follows his desire to solve the situation by pleading with the soldiers to surrender and stop the war. Choosing to remain in Burma and not be repatriated with his comrades and become a monk is a conflict between his initial role, and taking a completely different destiny which he chooses to follow. Unlike Flory who was a colonizer but deeply troubled in mind but his actions showing otherwise, Mizushima follows his desires to be with the natives and fight for their cause by becoming a monk. A monk in Buddhism is a respectable position of influence in the society. Thus Mizushimi unlike Flory joins the natives to directly condemn economic suppression of colonialism as reflected by destruction of properties in war. Mizushimi’s assimilation from being a colonizer to the colonized is successful as he succeeds in wooing the Japanese soldiers to put guns down and ensure a peaceful transition. Lastly the defeat of the Japanese signifies the triumph the colonized through incitement to change. Generally, colonization may result in fragmented groups of the colonized, where the colonized do not have a common vision regarding the future as seen immediately in Burma’s civil war after Burma’s independence. On the other hand, there are those who accept the fate of their lives and conform to the system such as Way Way’s mother who left her family for the monastery. There are those colonized who reject their fate and try to revolt such as Mizushimi and those who try to cross over to be colonizers such as U Saw Han. These groups of people as seen have different psychological effects. For example, Way Way’s mother was settled and had no psychological as she accepted the new fate. On the other hand, U Saw Han by being a colonizer has a heavy psychological burden as he lives in a life of denial and exploits Way Way to achieve this satisfaction. On the other hand, Mizushimi is able o follow his desire unlike Flory who is torn down by strong psychological conflicts that they are not bold enough to follow due to the needs of others and the opinion of the society. Colonialism results in serious psychological struggles in both the colonized and the colonizer. Though as seen interdependence between the two is important without, which the system would collapse. All the parties are involved in serious conflicts regarding the right ideology to follow, and sometimes the heavy psychological burden leads to lose of personal essence and self diminishment. Those who are courageous enough to fight the mental conflict and follow their desire have happy endings and are able to greatly influence others to their destiny. The society has a great role in determining the destiny of these individuals. Those who accept to confirm to the new order are embraced by the society. However, those who reject and try to revolt to the new order are in most cases left lonely and eventually die from such psychological torment. Bibliography Lay, Ma Ma. Not Out of Hate: A Novel of Burma. Translated by Margaret Aung-Thwin. Edited by William H. Frederick. Athens: Ohio University Center for International Studies, 1991 Michiyo Takeyama. Harp of Burma, Translated by Howard Hibbett, Singapore: Tuttle Publishing, 2001. Orwell George, Burmese Days, FL: Harcourt, Inc., 1934 Read More