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Perspective In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

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The idea of perspective is a massively overlooked tool of rhetoric that can shape how a reader mentally identifies with a novel. If a reader's point of view in a controversial story is altered, the reader will have an entirely different opinion on the morality of the situation. Telling a story from single perspective can cause the reader to not have information present that is vital to the understanding of other characters in the story. Stereotyping is another deceitful tactic that can alter a viewer's opinion on a character through a negative influence that is cast upon the reader due to pre-misguided knowledge gained from society. A good example of how drastically perspective can affect a reader's notion on the subject matter of the plot …show more content…

In the short story Orwell faces a choice, a lesser of two evils scenario where he must either decide to shoot an Elephant that killed a man because it was provoked or follow his better judgement and not kill a defenceless animal. A Lot of people would argue against his decision of killing the animal because he states the main reason he killed it was because he didn’t want to appear weak or foolish in front of the citizens that already despise him. If the perspective was changed to the eyes of one of the Burmese bystanders then you would have an entirely different conflict to think about. This person is in great fear of the elephant because it might destroy their home or even kill someone who is dear to them next and they are putting their life’s safety in the hands of a person they criticize on a daily basis. They want to see the elephant executed to prevent further havoc and no one would argue with the reasoning behind their mindset. Compare this to Orwell’s mindset and how killing the elephant can be viewed under different circumstances in that

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