George Orwell Foolishness

Looking foolish is the bane of many people and a very common fear among many around the world. The main theme of George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is to do what is right, not what will make you look good. Orwell believes that he was going to look idiotic; so he allowed himself to let a crowd of people persuade him into doing something he knew was wrong, but he was too afraid of not looking sensible. Sometimes looking foolish is worth it, and in the story, you can easily tell the Orwell regrets his decision to shoot the elephant. Throughout the story, Orwell has been setting a very malicious tone for the people that are witnessing him getting red to put down this elephant. He constantly describes them as a “sea of yellow faces” which shows that he does not see them as a crowd of people, but a crowd of lifeless and colored beings (299). He even goes as far as to describe them as “evil-spirited little beasts” (296). He disregards them as humans yet still feel the need to satisfy and impress them. He constantly regrets the decision he made to shoot that

He describes such a fast-paced memory in such vivid detail that the memory feels like an experience that lasted more than 15 minutes. When describing the scene he uses graphic words describing “the thick blood” as “red velvet” (301). When he fires the shots and describes the blood “[welling] out of him” he then proceeds to describe the elephants cries as “tortured breathing” and “dreadful (301). Orwell also relates the breathing to “the ticking of a clock” (302). His vivid imagery of the dilemma shows he regrets his decisions; you can tell how he has played the memory over and over again in his head. He did not feel foolish at the time as he had satisfied the crowd, but now he feels even more foolish as he feels remorse for his previous