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Internal Conflict In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

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George Orwell held a unique perspective on Britain’s involvement in Burma. Through his own experiences in Burma, he developed an inner struggle between following orders and opposing imperialism, that he expressed in the story Shooting an Elephant. Orwell was born under the name Eric Blair in colonial India. As an adult, he joined the Imperial Police stationed in Burma, where he soon discovered a conflict brewing within himself. He was naturally a reflective person, analyzing what he saw to be obvious disparities in the two sides of an Imperialistic relationship. He experienced these obvious disparities in person while working as a police officer. Out of 13,000 Imperial Police in Burma, the top 90 were almost entirely comprised of white Englishmen. …show more content…

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.” (Orwell, 1319). When viewing the situation objectively, it is understandable that the locals would have resentment towards Englishmen. They felt vulnerable and saw them as a threat. Orwell still empathized with the locals, understanding the hatred they felt. And yet, as a human being with feelings, it proved hard to deal with such hatred and remain empathetic and compassionate at all times. He demonstrates his abhorrence towards the locals by saying, “I thought the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest’s guts.” (Orwell, 1320) He was stuck between knowing his job was wrong and being a perpetuator of destructive British Imperialism, and having to face daily torment from the

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Pg 269 The feeling i get from George Orwell’s shooting an elephant is that when he started out working as a civil servant for the British Raj that he didn't hate the Burmese. It feels like when he first started out, he got into it with good intentions and that this job wore him down. He has very strong thoughts on the empire and his distaste for it but then he turns around and has an uncontrollable rage for the Burmese.

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Hannah Edmiston Boudreau AP Language Friday 25 September, 2015 Shooting an Elephant Analyzing Rhetorical Devices Shooting an Elephant, written by George Orwell in 1936, describes his experience working as a British officer located in Moulmein, Burma. He writes his essay to reveal the cruelty and disastrous outcome of imperialism he witnesses. Orwell uses strong resource of language such as symbolism, metaphors and imagery to express his disdain for British imperialism. Orwell uses symbolism to connect the character of the elephant to the effects of imperialism.

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Imperialism is the state of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy. Most people suffered from the Anglo-Burmese Wars, while other people died harshly from the terrible hardships they faced. Specifically the essay, Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell explains about the oppressiveness of British Imperial rule. In order to prove his purpose, Orwell develops authority through shifts in verb tense, a reflective tone, and word choice; appeals to logic with comparisons; and establishes an emotional connection with the audience through direct reader address, colloquialisms, and imagery.

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The British had been an imperial empire at the time, and had ruled Burma. The Burmese people were very Anti-European and because of this they had been oppressive towards those who had been a part of the British Empire. Europeans were not widely liked throughout Burma because they treated the Burmese poorly. Burmese had been pretty harsh towards European’s because of this, laughing at and mocking them. Orwell

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Orwell included the symbolization of the nazi party in 1984 so that he could include the theme of psychological manipulation. The nazi party worked their way into the minds of the youth much like the party, but the party also used the telescreens to manipulate the entire population into following them. The Nazis had used devices such as movies and books to spread their ideas and manipulate their followers much like how the party uses the telescreens to control the minds of the citizens. The party holds public hangings of criminals for citizens to watch and even enjoy. Winston says that, “The children always clamored to be taken to see it,”(23).

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He appeals to the empathy of the audience by stating the actions of the Burmese people: “if a European woman went through the bazaars alone somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress” (Orwell, 1), “When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter.” (1). Actions with which would be more expected of the European imperialists rather than the Burmese people themselves. He clearly states his contempt for Imperialism through the following statement on his life and job: "All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred for the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.”

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The short memoir of “Shooting the Elephant” tells the story of George Orwell’s experience as a british policeman in imperialized Burma. His experience is made up of anger, hate and resentment of conditions he feels is out of his control. Orwell makes many revelations in this story, one of them being, “when the white man turns tyrant, it is his own freedom that he destroys.” Orwell also claims, “He wears a mask; and his face grows to fit it.” These statements possess much validity and can be supported in multiple ways.

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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

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Orwell conveniences the reader that imperialism has not only a negative impact on those run by imperialist, but also degrades those holding the power of an imperialist. Like other works Orwell has written they too have expressed his opinion on social and political aspects. In “Shooting an Elephant,” readers can recognize his opinions on imperialism through the narrator’s display of pathos. Orwell over and over expresses his hatred, fear, doubt, and distress for authority of imperialist. The narrator states “As for the job [he] was doing, [he] hated it more bitterly than [he] perhaps make clear.”

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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.

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This narrative piece is an effective expository technique that describes the narrator’s thoughts and tone. Orwell uses oxymoron such as “grinning corpse” and paradox phrases such as “the story always sounds clear enough at a distance, but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes”. Another paradox statement is shown in “I perceived this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys”. Orwell’s decisions were briskly altered as he was deciding on whether to kill the elephant or not. His mind altered from “I ought not to shoot him” to “I had got to do it” and also to “But I did not want to shoot the elephant”.

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When Orwell moved to Burma, he noticed their extreme nationalism and their hatred towards Great Britain. Oceania was striving for strong nationalism and had hatred for Eurasia and Eastasia. Later, Orwell fell in love with his future wife, Ilene, be he felt like he

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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.

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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.”

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