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Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

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We are constantly fighting an internal battle—a battle between our beliefs and what is expected of us. In the essay "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, we follow the story of a man who must make a critical discussion between what he is expected to do and what he wants to do. This piece tells us the demanding situation he is put in and how he must fight internally for what he is expected to do and what he wants to do. George Orwell writes about how he was a police officer in lower Burma, a job he hated. The city's people were bitter towards him, disrespectful, and played jokes on him. He had made up his mind that British imperialism was nothing but evil.

Working for the police, he could see firsthand the mistreatment and abuse the people had to endure at law enforcement's hands, especially in the jail system, where the inmates were put in miserable conditions, overcrowded cells, and beatings by other officers. Orwell felt stuck in his job, as he hated it but also serving citizens that were so disrespectful to him. …show more content…

When 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." (Orwell 97-98) Reading this, you can visualize all the people staring at him and feel how uncomfortable Orwell must have been. I am sure he also felt irritated because the citizens he repulsed were still expecting him to keep them

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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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As an opponent of political and social injustice, author George Orwell shows his disapproval for political corruption and political injustice through the display of pathos. Likewise, in “Shooting an Elephant,” readers detect George Orwell’s subjective opinions on imperialism through persuasion using pathos. Throughout the essay, the narrator uses expressions and feelings of fear, hatred, anxiety, doubt, and distress at the fact that he is in a position of no authority to inform the audience of his disapproval.

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He is nothing, his role is superficial. All of these intense emotions are raging though Orwell, and the reader feels every one because of the vast imagery throughout the passage. We know the exact moment when his mond shifts, when he realized he had no choice to begin

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George Orwell appeals to pathos and uses imagery to give a satirical presentation of imperialism, showing it’s negative impact on both those governed and those who govern. Throughout the entire essay, the narrator expresses various feelings of hatred, fear, anxiety, and doubt. He resents the fact that hs is in a position of authority, yet mocked. He resents that he is forced to continue his career despite the fact that he detests British imperialism.

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(Orwell 3). The ideas learned from this quote is that shooting the elephant would embrace the people, it would make the people support the officer and give him the respect he deserves. This is

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Orwell appeals to authority by his verb tense shifts that create a reflective tone and use of word choice. For example, the speaker states how, “ I was young and ill-educated and I had had to think out my problems in the utter silence that is imposed on

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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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And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.” (p.3) In this passage it is clear that Orwell acted this way because he is forced to by the expectations of the crowd. To him it was impossible to look like a weak person. This situation of the Burmese not liking him and expecting him to act with cruelty, is the only way he can fulfill the expectations of the Burmese townspeople, and maintain some sense of trustworthiness in their

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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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Zachary Conners SUNY – Eng. 12 Mrs. O’Malley December 15, 2014 “Shooting an Elephant” is a persuasive rhetorical piece written by George Orwell used to describe Orwell’s feelings about imperialism. Orwell uses pathos, logos, and ethos to convey his feelings towards imperialism and how destructive it can be. Born 1903, George Orwell, novelist, essayist, and critic, was best known for his novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty- Four. Son of a British servant, Orwell spent most of his days in India, where his father had been stationed.

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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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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.

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(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.

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