In the beginning of, “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell establishes that the separation of power in colonial Burma resides more than just black-and-white. While it seems he holds symbolic authority and military supremacy as a British police officer, Orwell is still powerless to stop the hatred and abuse he receives from the oppressed Burmese. This hatred, that may be perceived, will become an influential reason as to why he would feel guilty regardless if he would have have or haven’t taken responsibility for his actions. Orwell, in the beginning, views the elephant as,”... not a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must’”, but he later realizes, that the elephant itself, represents more than just an animal. Orwell is able to better comprehend
(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
Furthermore, the essay Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, is a reflective story on Orwell, that has concerns on the British Empire and
The text structure was a way shorter essay. He sets the scene and describes one event. The timeframe is that he told his story in a much shorter period. In the beginning, he provides useful information that explains the event and how it took place over a few hours. The voice Orwell uses is a combination of formal and informal.
The audience could tell he regretted it by the way he described the pain and agony of the elephant. "I heard the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd... He looked suddenly stricken, shrunken, immensely old, as though the frightful impact of the bullet had paralysed him without knocking him down." (Orwell). He chose the words "devilish roar" on purpose to represent the darkness and fear.
He had been watching this elephant for a while and it wasn’t currently disrupting the people. Causing him to not want to kill the elephant because technically it wasn’t causing any harm. He also talks about the worth of the elephant by saying “alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds, dead he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds possibly”(Orwell 709). By him stating that observation it shows that if it were up to him he wouldn’t kill the
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
Prior to prominence, George Orwell was a police officer in Moulmein, Burma. During this time, Moulmein is under British control and Orwell writes a story about his duty and how he struggled with the choice to be in accordance with the crowd and shoot an escaped elephant roaming the lands or follow his morals and do what he believed was right and wait for the animal control to rescue him. Choosing to go against his morals, saying it was peer pressure and not feeling ashamed is a struggle that disregards his own ethics. Morality and Colonialism are reoccurring themes in Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant. These themes create conflict within Orwell because he claims to be an anti-imperialist and sides with the Burmese.
The reader can become more aware that Orwell hates his job and, the reader can see more of a pathos appeal as they read on. Orwell uses ethos as well, to conduct his feelings about imperialism, his description of being a police officer in a Moulmein, Burma reflects his judgment on
Throughout my initial reading of Orwell’s essay, I made a connection between the Elephant and the British Empire. During the last few paragraphs as the officer is attempting to kill the mad elephant, it refuses to die. No matter how many shots he fires the animal continues to breath. Finally, the officer shoots near the heart and what Orwell describes as a thick velvety blood, pours from the wound. During the period this essay was written, Britain’s empire was slowly shrinking.
The essay appears to be written eight years after his resignation from the Imperial Police Force in 1928. This time gap appears evident as it appears that this is not only a recount of a first hand experience, but in addition to that, his commentary of that former self at the time of publication. As the younger man pondered about when the elephant appeared no harmful than a cow there’s a shift in narration that can be noticed, “…I thought then and I think now that his attack of "must" was already passing off…”(Orwell). It’s that in order for the essay to be thoughtful and analytical, that it was pertinent for Orwell to narrate his account years later. As it appears in good timing, it’s effectiveness is shone through as an older, more experienced man provides better insight upon his experiences, providing the reader with an explanation for what had happened and how it had changed him as opposed to an immediate account that may, more than likely, be far more passionate from a young man versus a thoughtful
He felt his only choices were to either shoot the elephant and give the people what they wanted or to not shoot the elephant and be ridiculed. He was providing entertainment as well as meat for those that followed, but Orwell expresses that he did not want to shoot the elephant. However, against his better judgement he fell into their expectation, feeling pressured, and shot the elephant.
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.
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”.
There was a reason the elephant was “chained up”, it was because “he might charge if you came too close.” (pg. 328) He understood that the elephant had no control and he felt sympathy. After fired a third time” (pg.329), Orwell say “it took him half an hour to die.” (pg.330)
