Capitalism in Burmese Days.

"We seem to have no authority over the natives nowadays, with all these dreadful Reforms, and the insolence they learn from the newspapers. In some ways, they are getting almost as bad as the lower class at home."

Here, Mrs Lackersteen complains about the increasing difficulty of controlling her servants. But at the same time, by comparing the 'lower class' in English society to the 'natives,' this quotation also highlights the stark parallels between the social structure in English society and the colonial enterprise in India.

"Everyone is free in England; we sell our souls in public and buy them back in private, among our friends. But even friendship can hardly exist when every white man is a cog in wheels of despotism ... you opinion on every subject of any conceivable importance is dictated for you by the pukka sahibs' code."

Here again, the narrative describes the capitalist regime of English society in Hindu terms (ie: Pukka sahibs' code). This again highlights the parallels between the situation in England and in Burma. Therefore, I think it is perhaps arguable that "Burmese Days" is also a critique of the capitalist discourse and not just imperialism per se. Perhaps it is even arguable that Burma is merely a tool used by Orwell to unveil the evils of capitalism in England. By highlighting the similarities, I think the novel also exposes the nature of these systems, suggesting that institutional power doesn't rely on any individual (whether the pukka sahib in Burma or the bourgeois in England), and ultimately results in the alienation of the individual as exemplified by Flory.