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Shooting an elephant by George Orwell analysis
Shooting an elephant by George Orwell analysis
Shooting an elephant by George Orwell analysis
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Barbed Wire And its effects on WW1 Introduction World war 1 is undoubtedly one of the most deadly conflicts in human history. Killing an estimated 37 million people over the span of 4 years, this is one of the most deadly wars, to have ever been waged. Many things make world war one stand out, when compared to its predecessors. World war one was the last major european war since the franco-prussian war 40 years earlier.
(Orwell 3). The ideas learned from this quote is that shooting the elephant would embrace the people, it would make the people support the officer and give him the respect he deserves. This is
Also letting his audience know that he was influenced by the people to shoot this elephant and immediately regretted it. Therefore, the narrator fell under peer pressure by the Burma people by shooting the elephant. With that being said he should've stuck to his gut and his instinct to not kill the poor animal instead of trying to win over the Burma people and look like a hero. All in all he was trying to do the right thing and help the people, instead he killed an elephant during must in cold blood to feel
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.
There are numerous themes in this short story such as British imperialism and colonial resentment however the most prominent theme in this story is fear of humiliation and the effect peer- pressure has on an individual. The setting of Burma helps work with this theme as it provides an area for the plot to take place and develop. After marching miles to the destination of the elephant, a crowd had surrounded George Orwell and encourages Orwell to kill the elephant. George Orwell is compelled to kill the once ravaging elephant due to the fact that Orwell wants to avoid looking like a fool. George Orwell is willing to sacrifice his role of doing the right thing and fulfilling the Burmese wishes in order to save himself from
K.Kapler 8-26-17 English 1A Lourie,Iven The story, “Shooting an Elephant”, by George Orwell, states an elephant that ‘got loose’ (134,135) and was ‘running wildly’ (135,136) in the streets of “Moulmein’ (133). And since Orwell was part of a police force,which the people of Burma didn’t like. Nor liked him because he was a different color from how the people of Burma looked. Yet he was called out from his normal duties to ‘deal with the wild elephant’ (135,136). When he arrived, to ‘Moulmein” (133), which was a ‘lower Burma’ (133) city, his job was to find the elephant and deal with the issue it was causing to stress out the people of Burma.
“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 “...
He felt his only choices were to either shoot the elephant and give the people what they wanted or to not shoot the elephant and be ridiculed. He was providing entertainment as well as meat for those that followed, but Orwell expresses that he did not want to shoot the elephant. However, against his better judgement he fell into their expectation, feeling pressured, and shot the elephant.
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.
“I loved you not” Love, ranging from mutual affection to enjoyment, is a strong and powerful bond that two people can share if he or she enjoys being in the presence of the other person and both have strong feelings for each other. Hamlet and Ophelia, two crucial characters in William Shakespeare’s play, Hamlet, are at first thought to be in love, but as the play’s plot begins to build, it is shown that Hamlet has very little to no feelings for Ophelia. Once several conflicts and truths are revealed within the play, Hamlet’s character starts to act crazier and crazier which ultimately is a great factor on why Hamlet shows no affection towards Ophelia. Throughout the course of Hamlet, many instances are shown that Hamlet doesn’t love Ophelia, never did, and actually meant it when he said “I loved you not.”
The corpse grinned with “…unendurable agony. ” When that began taking place, Orwell felt the pressure of the crowd bugging and pushing him to shoot the elephant. Orwell already had a certain idea that the elephant was no longer a threat and did not intend to shoot
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.
However, his internal conflict arose because of his dislike for the Burmese people. When working in Burma, he found his daily interaction with the Burmese people to be unpleasant and enervating. Even in the first paragraph of Shooting An Elephant, he says: “In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all. There were several thousands of them in the town and none of them seemed to have anything better to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans.”
In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, he encounters the pressure influenced by the Burmese and the way it affected his decision. Orwell uses symbols such as the police officer, the yellow faces, and the elephant to represent the evil of English imperialism. The Police officer symbolizes his weakness of authority, the executioner of the elephant, and guilt. Orwell explains “I was hated by large numbers of people.”
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).
