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.
When European settlers first broke land in American, several differences divided them from natives previously inhabiting this "new" land. Back home the Europeans were accustomed to large masses of people inhabiting small areas with well defined borders under a single government. The native Americans however were the exact opposite; they were accustomed to smaller groups of people in large vast areas with socially defined borders. The native Americans were also, for the most part, self governed within their respective tribes. With these stark differences, coupled with the ethnocentric perspective of the Europeans, it is easy to see how conflict quickly exploded into violent incidents.
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.
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.
Regret, it helps you but hurts you Have you ever had some sort of regret in your life? Most of us would say yes to this question. In the book Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, she talks about regret. Her characters make many choices that they wouldn’t do again if they could go back in time. In Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, she describes the theme of regret by using verbal irony, alliteration, and satire.
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
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.”
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.
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.
Within Orwell’s short story Shooting an Elephant, an intimate character study is depicted alongside class disparity, metaphorical symbolism, and fundamentally disagreeing with the job at hand. Orwell portrays himself as the furthest thing from a company man, working for the British Empire in Burma as a police officer. The Burmese could not think less of him, and the mentality spreads from monks laughing at him patrolling the street, to bullying in a recreational football match. The great irony here lies in Orwell not trusting the integrity of his superiors, empathizing with the villagers he lives alongside.
Orwell wants to convey the message by explaining that imperialism is evil. It shames people, reducing them to the low status in their own country. Also, it pushes people into making immoral or unethical decisions to maintain their superiority. In “Shooting an Elephant," the narrator acts against his conscience to save face for himself and his fellow imperialists. He was a European policeman in Burma, and the Burmese feeling toward all Europeans was extraordinarily negative, and he knew that the Burmese people disliked him.
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.
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.
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.”
For centuries, Imperialism has affected many societies around the world. In the sixteenth century, the British Empire colonized places such as Burma, India. In George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant”, he gives a first person account of imperialism. His retrospective story entails a moral dilemma he faced as a British police officer in Burma. Orwell uses the themes of imperial representation resentment to demonstrate the true nature of imperial colonialism and its effects on both the victims and prosecutors.
