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Simile
Explanation and Analysis—Capricious Cat:
In the following example of both simile and situational irony from Chapter 4, the narrator compares Ma Hla May—John Flory’s lover-for-hire—to a cat:
She lay and let him do as he wished with her, quite passive yet pleased and faintly smiling, like a cat which allows one to stroke it. Flory's embraces meant nothing to her (Ba Pe, Ko S'la's younger brother, was secretly her lover), yet she was bitterly hurt when he neglected them.
Ma Hla May behaves capriciously in her relations with Flory, simultaneously craving his affection and disregarding it. This behavior generates irony: his embraces "means nothing to [Ma Hla May]," and yet she is "bitterly hurt" by any sign of neglect from Flory. This contradiction arises from the nature of the relationship itself, which emulates colonial power dynamics. Flory uses Ma Hla May for sex; his relationship with her is extractive, just as the British Empire has an extractive relationship with colonized peoples. This unbalanced transaction leads Ma Hla May to form her own extractive relationship with Flory as a means of survival. He uses her for sex, so she seeks out ways to milk the money and prestige he can offer her. She comes to depend on what she can extract from Flory. His neglect does not upset her because she loves him, but rather because she can no longer extract anything from him.
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