Flory's 'Glory' and Unsympathetic Characters in Burmese Days

I found the name of Flory quite interesting considering the character. The images conjured in me on first sight were that of 'glory' and 'flourish', which are certainly not attributes that the man himself usually conjures.  The only times when he is covered in 'glory' is under what one may consider false pretexts - when he chased away the tame buffalo, during the shooting trip, and later when he aided in dispersing the riot.  Every time, the 'glory' is ripped away, sooner or later (for example when Flory fell off the pony).  Flory as 'false glory', a slippage from the lette F to G; and the fact that it is a vaguely feminine-sounding name (especially when his dog's name Flo brings attention to that) - he ends up as a false hero, right to the end of the novel (which I'll not spoil here :p).

In fact, none of the characters come of the novel well; for example, Verasami's blind faith in the British Raj, Elizabeth's anti-intellectual snobbery, the Anglo-Indians' general racism (particularily Ellis's), U Po Kyin's slippery ruthlessness, even his wife's passivity.  Orwell, in fact, seems to go out of his way to make the characters unlikable, with few if any redeeming qualities.  By provoking dislike for the characters, Orwell invites us to condemn the sorts of attitudes and worldviews that drive them.

-- Yingzhao