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Pathos In Shooting An Elephant

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First of two start of, the most rhetorically influential element of this story is the authors background. While George Orwell is a well-known for being an English author and journalist, he is very famous for being a political satirist. In this story, the audiences can see Orwell’s personal opinions on social and political views. In “Shooting an Elephant,” readers detected Orwell’s opinions on imperialism through the narrator’s display of pathos. Throughout the story, the narrator shows feelings of hatred, doubt, fear, anxiety, and distress at the fact that he is in a position of mocked authority.
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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.

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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

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The essay “Shooting an Elephant” discusses Orwell 's values in the conflict of shooting the elephant. Orwell reveals that the people treat him as an outcast and the disrespectful comments he receives from them bothered him greatly. “The insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves” (Orwell, 1) shows how little the people thought of him. Due to the past disrespect of the people towards Orwell, he could not just run off and not shoot the elephant, “and my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.” (4).

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Orwell is told that the elephant has been seen destroying the village and even killing a man that Orwell meets up with later. The elephant’s destruction on the village represents imperialism destruction -- rampaging through the streets, knocking over food shelves, and invading people’s properties. Once the officer finds the elephant, he tells the readers, “As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him” (3). The author provides insight to his moral beliefs on how shooting the elephant is immoral and remorseful. Orwell made it clear to the reader which side he wants to be on, which in this case is the elephant’s side.

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" Shooting an Elephant " written by George Orwell describes an ugly nature of imperialism. The story is about one European police officer who served in Moulmein, in lower Burma. While he was doing his job he faced many difficulties because of local people's anti- European attitude. This negative attitude overcomplicated his job. He had already realized that he wanted to get rid of his job as soon as possible.

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