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George orwell on imperialism
George orwell on imperialism
The elephant as a metaphor in shooting an elephant
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In the passages How to Tell a True War Story by Tim O’Brien and Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, there are many similarities and differences between the two passages, but the differences exceed the similarities. While both sections talk about a shooter, human death, and animal death; they differentiate in the shooters motives, pacing, and narration structure. Just as How to Tell a True War Story has the death of Curt Lemon, Shooting an Elephant also has the death of the coolie. In Tim O’Brien’s story, Curt Lemon is killed by a boobytrapped bomb in which O’Brien leads himself to believe is the sunlight. The passage goes on to describe the events leading up to Lemon’s death and how O’Brien believes that Curt Lemon would have thought the sunlight killed him and not the 105-round, “It was not the sunlight.
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.
In “Shooting an Elephant”, which use the first person as narration, the author tries to express the detestation to imperialism and the sympathy to Burmese people at the beginning. “I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British” (Cleghorn 92). The author
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.
Also letting his audience know that he was influenced by the people to shoot this elephant and immediately regretted it. Therefore, the narrator fell under peer pressure by the Burma people by shooting the elephant. With that being said he should've stuck to his gut and his instinct to not kill the poor animal instead of trying to win over the Burma people and look like a hero. All in all he was trying to do the right thing and help the people, instead he killed an elephant during must in cold blood to feel
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.
Shooting an Elephant: Orwell on Imperialism: Making The Abstract Appear Natural George Orwell creates a powerful argument against imperialism through the presentation of its many flaws in his essay “Shooting an Elephant”. This essay describes his life as a young police officer in Burma when he is called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant against his better judgment. In this essay, he asserts that imperialism dehumanizes both the perpetrators and the native people while creating unnatural situations and conflicts. It also forces the perpetrators to watch their every action, acting in ways with which they may not be comfortable. Orwell’s argument is further reinforced because he presents it through a personal story in order to exhibit the awful traits of imperialism as well as strengthen his stance by providing supportive evidence.
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
To support this Orwell tells of the hardship he faces as being not only a white man in an Indian society, but a cop as well, to help convince the audience that imperialism needs to end before it leads to many country’s demise, including his own. Orwell did not just give a general description of what happened he made it so the reader could feel what he felt, see what he saw, and experience what he experienced. Way of the ways is through his graphic imagery of the story, including the moments after he shot the elephant, “his legs collapsed beneath him…” describing the pain and suffering the elephant went through as he took each shot; this strong imagery strengthens the emotions of anger and sadness in the reader to better his argument against
Moreover, injustice may be addressed within the dualism present within a composer’s text, for they establish conflicting perspectives to influence their responses. In light of this, George Orwell's “Shooting an Elephant” mirrors the dissent held towards British imperialism through the torn narrator symbolic of Orwell’s views. Exemplified
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.”
To start off with, the Burmese people expect George Orwell to shoot the elephant because it rampaged through the bazaar and accidently killed a man. Later, the elephant calms down, and while Orwell does not want to kill it, he also does not want to appear weak. Orwell sympathizes with the Burmese people, but they hate him because they associate him with violence and oppression. However, they expect Orwell to take vengeance on the elephant by killing it. The situation calls for him to behave with cruelty because that is the only way he can fulfill the expectations of the Burmese people and maintain some sense of credibility in their eyes.
We all know that he shoots the elephant was because thousands of people were watching behind him and expects him to do what is ought to do. He does not shoot the elephant, the British empire would also be at loss to. Even more, he has struggled a lot not to be laughed at by the people of Burmese and in an instant, it would be a historical momentum for him if chose the elephant over his pride. The main purpose of the riffle bringing it with him was just a protection from the elephant that it might cause trouble again. But then again, it was a mistake for him to bring the rifle because people mistook it in a different way.
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.
Orwell is trying to keep his sanity in a psychotic world. He’s face with many crazy situation in his job and he has to find ways to keep himself calm. As an officer orwell is face with very insane situation and he’s constantly being watch and judge by other. In “Shooting an Elephant” orwell is pressure into killing and elephant which he doesn’t want to do. Orwell confess “in the end i could not stand it any longer and went away” orwell is face with the aftermath of shooting the elephant and he couldn’t stand to watch the elephant die after he killed it.
