Hla Pe
An apprentice clerk of eighteen who writes the libellous newspaper article and then the anonymous letters, taking a diplomatic attack of dysentery and later of bronchitis to get them done. U Po Kyin calls him a most promising boy and sees that he gets his clerkship.
To get on. He forges to order and takes sick leave to do it, and U Po Kyin's reward for the first job is a promise that he will have his clerkship.
The book
At a glance
- Apprentice clerk in the Deputy Commissioner's office, and U Po Kyin's forger
- Eighteen
- The Burmese Patriot article, then the anonymous letters against Dr Veraswami
- Dysentery the first time, bronchitis the second
- Chapter 1, by report; in person in chapter 23
Who they are in the book
Spoiler-freeHla Pe is eighteen years old and an apprentice clerk in the Deputy Commissioner's office in Kyauktada, the Burmese town where the novel is set. He works under Ko Ba Sein, the head clerk, and both of them take their real orders from U Po Kyin, the Burmese magistrate who spends the book trying to destroy the reputation of Dr Veraswami, the Indian doctor who runs the town's hospital and jail.
Hla Pe is the one who does the writing. The campaign against the doctor opens with an article in a shabby local newspaper called the Burmese Patriot, which accuses Mr Macgregor, the senior British official in the district, of fathering nine children across two postings and leaving all of them unprovided for. Hla Pe wrote it by himself. U Po Kyin's plan is not to make the accusation stick but to make the Europeans believe Dr Veraswami wrote the piece.
The next stage is a flood of anonymous letters to every European in the town, and Hla Pe writes those too. Because he cannot do it at his desk, U Po Kyin tells Ba Sein to have him report sick. The first time the illness is dysentery. Months later, after the campaign has to be restarted, it is bronchitis, and he stays away for two full days to get through the batch.
He never speaks in the novel. He is on U Po Kyin's veranda before breakfast for the conference where the plan to disgrace John Flory, the English timber merchant who is the doctor's only European friend, is decided, and he laughs with the others when he hears it. George Orwell describes him as bright-faced and promising, with the manner of somebody who will certainly succeed in life.
How the book draws them
- How the book draws himA bright-faced, promising boy of eighteen with the manner of one who will certainly succeed in life. That is the whole physical description George Orwell gives him.
- The newspaper articleHe writes the piece in the Burmese Patriot that accuses Mr Macgregor, the Deputy Commissioner, of abandoning nine illegitimate children in two districts. The paper's editor is expected to get six months in prison for printing it, and reportedly does not mind, because prison is the only time his creditors leave him alone.
- The dysenteryU Po Kyin needs the anonymous letters written and cannot have his clerk doing it in a Government office. His instruction to Ba Sein is to tell Hla Pe to have an attack of dysentery and stay away.
- The bronchitisAfter a riot wrecks the first campaign, the letters start again in such quantity that Hla Pe is off work for two whole days to write them. They accuse Dr Veraswami of every offence up to and including the theft of Government postage stamps.
- His rewardReading the article, U Po Kyin calls him a very clever boy and a most promising boy, says he will never again hear that the Government High Schools are a waste of time, and settles it that Hla Pe shall certainly have his clerkship.
- In the conferenceHe is one of four people on the veranda, with Ma Kin and Ba Sein, when U Po Kyin announces that the next target is a white man. He says nothing throughout, and joins the laughter when the plan is explained.