Forster'ın Hindistan'a Bir Geçit ve Orwell'ın Burma Günleri adlı romanlarında imparatorluğun öksüzleri

This thesis aims to scrutinize the psychological impacts of British imperialism on both the colonizer and the colonized by referring to the two major characters, Dr. Aziz and John Flory that are the colonial subjects in E. M. Forster's A Passage to India (1924) and George Orwell's Burmese Days (1934) respectively. Despite starting as the obedient subjects of their mother country, they become other(s) and end up as displaced figures in their society. In fact, they both go through a process of identity formation that is analogous with Lacan's stages of psychological development. By experiencing the imaginary, the symbolic and the real orders, they attempt to make sense of their true self and endeavor to gain free subjectivity under the restrictive laws of the British Empire. At this point, the study will also benefit from the invaluable insights of the postcolonial critics such as Said and Bhabha, since as a school of criticism, postcolonialism is very much concerned with the identity problem of the colonial subjects. The first chapter of the thesis is devoted to the colonized figure, Dr. Aziz and his story of psychological development. The second chapter, on the other hand, deals with the colonizer figure, John Flory who experiences a similar process of personality formation. Finally, the conclusion of the thesis will demonstrate that both works lampoon British imperialism and its expansionist policies through these characters and reveal the indispensable and destructive impacts of this economic project on individuals' process of becoming free subjects. Keywords: George Orwell, Burmese Days, E.M. Forster, A Passage to India, Colonialism, Lacan