ipl-logo

George Orwell Shooting An Elephant

782 Words4 Pages

Shooting an Elephant Unexpected decisions that one is pushed to make can suffer make one. In George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant” his decision to shoot on elephant is a more dilemma. Every individual must make troublesome judgments over the span of regular day to day existence. Choices that appear to be minor at the time may influence one's life for quite a long time. Some of the time the decision is whether to meet the desires of others or to meet the desires of the soul. One's development is estimated when one experiences the elephant and chooses to shoot it to satisfy the group, or to not shoot it and give off an impression of being weak. He hates his circumstance in his everyday life, and when he is in an ethical quandary, a profitable work creature amazing spare …show more content…

Walking nearer to the elephant can get Orwell murdered, and more terrible, a portion of the Burmese may giggle if that happens. Thinking about the giggling, Orwell says, "That could never do." Leaving without shooting the elephant is additionally impossible "A sahib needs to act like a sahib; he must seem fearless, to know his own mind and do unmistakable things," inferring that the Burmese will consider him to be weak in the event that he appears to alter his opinion about killing the beast. The British have made a overjoyed picture that they request the Burmese regard, yet they are caught by living inside that image. Orwell overlooks his soul and shoots the elephant, and he aggravates his wrong by mishandling the execution. Slugs shot into the wrong spot make the poor creature bite the dust gradually and in incredible pain. In spite of, Orwell putting shot after shot into his heart and down his throat, the elephant lives thirty minutes after its "tormented wheezes" drive Orwell to take off. Countless years after the fact, Orwell still appears to be troubled by the way that pride, not need, made him destroy the

Show More
Related
970 Words | 4 Pages

“ As soon as I saw the dead man I sent an orderly to a friend’s house nearby to borrow an elephant rifle. I had already sent back the pony, not wanting it to go mad with fright and throw me if it smelled the elephant. ”(Orwell, George. Shooting an Elephant (1936): n. pag.

Read More
214 Words | 1 Pages

In the beginning of, “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell establishes that the separation of power in colonial Burma resides more than just black-and-white. While it seems he holds symbolic authority and military supremacy as a British police officer, Orwell is still powerless to stop the hatred and abuse he receives from the oppressed Burmese. This hatred, that may be perceived, will become an influential reason as to why he would feel guilty regardless if he would have have or haven’t taken responsibility for his actions. Orwell, in the beginning, views the elephant as,”... not a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must’”, but he later realizes, that the elephant itself, represents more than just an animal. Orwell is able to better comprehend

Read More
849 Words | 4 Pages

Well known author and journalist, George Orwell, in his essay, Shooting an Elephant, describes his experiences as a Policeman in Moulmein, Burma during European Imperialism. Orwell’s purpose is to convey the ideal that what is right and what is accepted don’t always align. He adopts a remorseful tone in order to convey to the reader the weight of his actions. By looking at George Orwell’s use of imagery and figurative language, one can see his strongly conflicting opinions on Imperialism. Orwell begins his essay, Shooting an Elephant, by explaining the actions of the Burmese people and by expressing his contempt for imperialism.

Read More
692 Words | 3 Pages

Shooting an Elephant Analysis Orwell mentions in the beginning of his essay that he was hated by the Burmans because he worked as a police officer under the British Empire. He was made a joke of in front of the town. When the incident with the elephant came, it gave him a chance to show his strong character to the natives by solving the problem. Orwell wrote Shooting an Elephant to inform his readers.

Read More
406 Words | 2 Pages

In George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant” Tony Early’s idea of the “thing and the other thing” manifest themselves in Orwell’s need to seem sensible and his idea of what makes him look foolish. These are both affected by the culture that Orwell was raised in and the culture he was living in at the time. Though this essay starts out talking about his situation in life and his hatred of imperialism it quickly becomes clear that the main focus is on his story about shooting an elephant and his reasons for doing so.

Read More
1480 Words | 6 Pages

In George Orwell 's short story titled “Shooting an Elephant” presented an event that changed a countries civilization. George’s life in Burma, and the prejudice placed by the people he oppressed inspired his writing through the uses of setting, style, and theme. In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell no specific event influenced this piece rather it was an accumulation of many small events of prejudice and hate by an opposing group of

Read More
1044 Words | 5 Pages

In the end, he decides to override his moral compass and shoot the calm elephant to avoid humiliation from the crowd. Orwell admits this when he states that he “had done it solely to avoid looking a fool” (8). George Orwell portrays human nature through people's tendency to disregard self-righteousness for a positive appraisal from others. Within these difficult decisions, individuals must establish their true values and apply them to the situation at hand to ensure a desirable outcome is achieved. Though Orwell’s story explores a conclusion boiled from fear and negative emotions, others can explore more righteous

Read More
672 Words | 3 Pages

Prior to prominence, George Orwell was a police officer in Moulmein, Burma. During this time, Moulmein is under British control and Orwell writes a story about his duty and how he struggled with the choice to be in accordance with the crowd and shoot an escaped elephant roaming the lands or follow his morals and do what he believed was right and wait for the animal control to rescue him. Choosing to go against his morals, saying it was peer pressure and not feeling ashamed is a struggle that disregards his own ethics. Morality and Colonialism are reoccurring themes in Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant. These themes create conflict within Orwell because he claims to be an anti-imperialist and sides with the Burmese.

Read More
735 Words | 3 Pages

In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” the reader may see a sort of peer pressure on that of the white man that has been sent to kill the elephant. That peer pressure actually makes him kill the

Read More
611 Words | 3 Pages

“Shooting an Elephant” and “...More Than It's Gonna Hurt You: Concerning Violence” analysis George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” centers around a police officer in Burma, located in Southeast Asia, who is harassed in multiple ways. However, one day an elephant went wild and rampaged through the bazaar. Being an officer, he was requested to come to the aid of the people so he hopped onto a pony to see the elephant. After going against his own morals he shot the elephant multiple times, causing it a slow agonizing death. Thomas C. Foster’s chapter “...

Read More
766 Words | 4 Pages

At this moment, Orwell’s conscience nagged him against shooting the elephant, but he “was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind” (Orwell, 2014, para 7). The Burmese culture influenced Orwell to act against his will and shoot the elephant, despite his conscience nagging him against the

Read More
393 Words | 2 Pages

In his essay, “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell describes his experience of killing an elephants when he was an officer in Burma. He explains how the local Burmese hated him and saw him as the authority of the repressive white British. He mentions that he also had the same feeling about the local Burmese. Even though he hated the Thyestean imperialism but he also hated what he called the yellow-faced and evil-spirted Burmese people. One day, he was told that an elephant was destroying the bazaar and killing people.

Read More
1926 Words | 8 Pages

Throughout “Shooting An Elephant” , Orwell’s narrative style brings out internal and external conflicts that are relatable in society today. The narrator faces multiple internal and external conflicts. One external conflict being the Burmese and how they mock him because he is a representative of the British Empire, but he will do what it takes to show them he is not a fool. "I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

There was a reason the elephant was “chained up”, it was because “he might charge if you came too close.” (pg. 328) He understood that the elephant had no control and he felt sympathy. After fired a third time” (pg.329), Orwell say “it took him half an hour to die.” (pg.330)

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

The Burmans slight acts of rebellion by spitting and laughing at the British is represented by the elephant going “must”. Orwell 's self-imposed task of upholding the British Empire’s mask of control can be related to the Empire’s goal of controlling or “taming” Burmese society. Orwell is aware that his reputation reflects that of all the other Europeans. This awareness plays a role in his deciding to shoot the elephant because if he didn’t, the Burman’s would question British authority and think of them as weak (Orwell).

Read More

More about George Orwell Shooting An Elephant

Related Topics

Open Document