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
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”.
(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.
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.
Reading Response “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell is a story about what he went through when he was a policeman in Burma, and why he shot an elephant, “solely to avoid looking [like] a fool.” “[He] was hated by a large numbers of people,” and in a way tortured for things that he didn’t even understand what he was doing. He perceived that him and his other european cohorts were doing the right thing, but he also hated that fact that they were there. At first I assumed that this essay was going to be about just killing an elephant for fun and how it made him feel.
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.
As the hero embarks on his or her journey, the trials and tests they try to overcome do not always go as planned. The journey physically and mentally prepares the hero or heroine for the end of their quest and the holy grail, but somehow along the way the temptation and challenges get in the way of one's consciousness and causing the hero to fall into the expectations of society which causes them to fall into the wasteland. In George Orwell’s “Killing an Elephant” a Burman Policeman discovers his call to adventure to take care of a rogue elephant in the streets of Burman. As a military occupier the majority of the village does not necessarily approve of him. Colonialism, in Orwell’s short writing, acts as a metaphor explaining for his experience with the institution of
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)
