In an attempt to feel better about how he has been treated for the last few years, the officer moves forward with the request that was given, this was to kill the elephant. The thought of feeling pride from completing a mission makes the officer feel happy, among feeling good about himself he feels killing the elephant would lead to respect from the community. The officer exclaims, “To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man's life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.”
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
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
The first thing is he didn’t see the elephant, instead he saw what the elephant had done. It killed
When the narrator heard the news about an elephant going wild and destroying most of the Burmese homes, he rushed to find the elephant and shoot it. During his journey, he told himself that he would not shoot the elephant. But when he arrived face to face with the large mammal, with thousands of people watching, he shot it multiple times until the elephant fell. Minutes later, he came back with a different weapon brutally killing the elephant.
He was dying, very slowly and in great agony” (Orwell 6). This was an act of barbarism as the officer shot the elephant multiple times only to leave him alive bleeding to death in pain and
He was also afraid that the elephant might kill or attack him if he were to get too close to him before being able to shoot. More than once he expressed how afraid he was that the people would laugh at him if her were to not shoot the
He rushed to the site with his rifle to stop the elephant but when he got there he found the elephant eating peacefully like a cow. Which huge crowed around him, George didn’t want to look weak in front of the locals and at same
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.”
“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
He remembers that the event of shooting an elephant helped him understand the real nature of imperialism, the real motives for which tyrannical governments act. In the beginning, he did not want to shoot the elephant because
The elephant was incapable of defending itself from the power of the coolie. The rampage when “the elephant was merely ravaging their homes.” (pg.326) narrows down the capability of the destruction caused by the elephant. If it wasn’t for the destruction of the village, and the death of a coolie, the elephant could have prevented its
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).
