Psychological Experience of Colonialism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Psychological Experience of Colonialism - Essay Example 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 im portance 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 role s 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