Andrew Solomon 's An Elephant Crackup Essay

In the piece “Elephant” the author uses irony in order to showcase the true essence of social norms. It is stated, “For at that moment, with the crowd watching me, I was not afraid in the ordinary sense, as I would have been if I had been alone.” This dialogue reveals that the people are causing the main character to behave differently. This implies that they ironically have power over the main character, despite the fact he is a law enforcer. Later in the piece, the main character is aware that it is not right for him to kill the elephant, but goes through with it anyways. This again presents the ironic manner of his actions because he is a law enforcer, which they are supposed to do the right thing. Moreover, through the use of irony the

Each and every person on this Earth today has an identity. Over the years, each individual creates their identity through past experiences, family, race, and many other factors. Race, which continues to cause problems in today’s world, places individuals into certain categories. Based on their race, people are designated to be part of a larger, or group identity instead of being viewed as a person with a unique identity. Throughout Richard Wright’s Black Boy, Richard is on a search for his true identity. Throughout Black Boy, one can see that Richard’s racial background assigns him with a certain identity or a certain way in which some

and disrupting the little bit of peace that they have. So in that instant he

Good morning/Afternoon, I’m Tarryn and today I’m going to talk to you about personal identity. Identity is what makes us who we are, everyone has a different identity. Without identity we wouldn’t be human because everyone needs one to exist. Our identity is changing as we progress through life and as we experience new and different things. The texts that I’ve looked at are “Frankenstein”, the graphic novel by Gris Grimly, published in 2013, is an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s original text, about a scientist who creates a ‘monster’ who he’s ashamed of and leaves the ‘monster’ with no knowledge of anything about himself or the world. My second text is “Edward Scissorhands”, a film directed by Tim Burton and released in 1990, which is about a man created by a scientist who dies before he can entirely finish his creation and must live his life with scissors as hands. From these texts, I am going to be talking about how our journey through life changes our identity and how others can affect our identity.

As society has progressed, the evolution of imperialism has come to a point where people see it has pure history. It has vanished from our daily lives as we have not recently witness a country trying to dominate another. In “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, we are able to envision the lives of the Burmese as they were involuntarily controlled by the British. In the early 1900’s we are told a true story of Orwell himself where he was once established in Burma was apart of his military service. During his service, he describes his living situation by noting that the army as well as himself were not appreciated. He mentions, “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.”(1) One day he

George Orwell’s 1930 short story “Shooting an Elephant,” demonstrates the total dangers of the unlimited authority a state has and the astounding presentment of “future dystopia”. In the story, Orwell finds himself to be in an intricate situation that involves an elephant. Not only does the fate of the elephant’s life lie in Orwell’s hands, he has an audience of people behind him cheering him on, making his decision much more difficult to make. Due to the vast crowd surrounding his thoughts, Orwell kills the elephant in the end, not wanting to disappoint the people of Burma. Orwell captures the hearts of readers by revealing the struggles he has while dealing with the burden of his own beliefs and morals.

George Orwell, author of, "Shooting an Elephant" reveals his inner conflicts to the audience by offering in depth description, using intensity, and symbolism through the act of shooting the elephant. His narration helps him do so by giving descriptive scenarios in the story. Orwell's narration can also be used to examine the role of India and Great Britain at the story's time in history. The narration then allows Orwell to use symbolism in place of description. Orwell uses narration to help explain his inner conflicts and to what is happening in each setting of the story.

An individual's identity is how one perceives and differentiates themselves from others in their society. Outside factors such as family, friends, and society can have a major impact on how one views themselves. However, identity ultimately comes down to one’s own personal beliefs. In Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild, Krakauer investigates the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man whose actions allow him to pursue a unique identity, but also lead to his untimely demise. In Stephen King’s short story “Survivor Type”, King envisions the affects one’s morals and values can have in grave situations, especially concerning the identity of an individual.

Identity is one’s perception that shapes one’s mind. It reflects the outer aspect of personality and the life choices we make as an individual. In Anthem by Ayn Rand, a dystopian futuristic novelfuture, Equality talks about how society is integrated to try to control his mind, body, and spirit. In “Don’t. The secret of self control” by Jonah Lehrer, a nonfiction article, Lehrer explains an experiment where children are determined to be a high or low delayers. Furthermore, In “Who Holds The Clicker” by Lauren Slater, a nonfiction article, Slater explains analyzes the fear of how brain implants can treat intractable mental illness. The formation of identity is created when a person is tied to the choices he makes,

People have different identities because they all make their own over the course of their lives. Identity development is the outcome of different experiences and situations people encounter throughout their lives. Views, beliefs, activities, and conflicts have an impact on how individuals form their identities. People go through life trying to recognize their character traits, the act of which leads them to their identities, but over time can lose the identities they have through society, through a marriage, or through one’s own self. Willy Loman, a delusional salesman, in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman; Minnie Wright, an unhappy and lonely housewife, in Susan Glaspell’s Trifles; and Oedipus, a king with excessive pride and

During Africa's colonialism, opinions on the opposite race were easily influenced and constantly changed. Cognitive dissonance is the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes. Things Fall Apart shows cognitive dissonance relating to one person. Shooting an Elephant and Heart of Darkness, both show a much larger view of cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance especially relates to behavioral decisions and attitude change.

Elephant has long been known as one of man’s best friends, who have peacefully coexisted along with humanity for thousands of years. However, the relationship between the two is no longer in the equilibrium state. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert discusses the downfall of the elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants among themselves and toward other species, including humans, and presents an educated and almost unexpected explanation to their behaviors. He says elephants are just like us; they have feelings and now are “suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma”(Siebert 354). The similarity that should be something fascinating is now slowly turning them into the immensely savage beasts before wiping them out of existence. Even when the appearance of the words “stress” and “trauma” looks like a serious case of “anthropocentric conjecture”, it provides a totally new vision, a fresh way of looking at the boiling issue of the disappearance and sadistic acts of elephants specifically and wild animals at large. With the help of two powerful essays: “Great to Watch” by Maggie Nelson and “The Power of Context” of Malcolm Gladwell, the issue of the unusual behaviors of the elephants is thoroughly illuminated and its solution no longer seems to be out of human’s reach.

Over the past few decades, relations between animals and humans have been modified drastically. From domesticated species’ to wildlife, it seems as though human interaction has taken a dramatic toll on the way animals’ function in the 21st century. Particularly, an account that focuses on this dramatic toll is that of Charles Siebert’s, an essayist whose observations bring a fascinating perspective to the correlation between wildlife habitat disruption and uninhibited human nature. Siebert’s essay for The New York Times Magazine, entitled, “An Elephant Crackup?” has raised many eyebrows over the past few years with regard to the destruction of a species that might suffer from something more than meets the eye. The author of this essay is aware of his audience, so respectively, the tone of his essay diverges into a new plane, a plane that is dreary and drab, yet in the same way, remains thought provoking and systematically contingent. Siebert doesn’t waste a second pushing his account across the table. New information is provided within each paragraph, which proves his use of systematic contingency. Charles Siebert, who is also responsible for writing “Wickerby: An Urban Pastoral” (1999), a tale that revolves around the surroundings and observations of Siebert, understands what it means to tie in environmental awareness with solution, and his solution is hidden within the text. Extinction is a topic that is commonly discussed when issues like this are brought up, however, a

An identity defines a person’s life on who they are. We do not get to choose our identity; our identity chooses us. Whether one doesn’t get to choose their identity, it is important to be appreciative of ones identity. In the novel The Human Stain by Phillip Roth, identity is displayed through Coleman Silk actions. Coleman Silk a man that made decisions in his life such as making a racial comment while teaching, lying about his race, and having an affair. In all, he was trying to find a new identity in search for power. In results of his life decisions, Coleman Silk lost his original identity that would dawn on him forever.

Few supervisors experience lack of respect and denunciation from workers because of their positions in a company. Supervisors take actions to preserve the image of authority before subordinates and from being ridiculed by their workers, even if the supervisors object these types of actions. The essay "Shooting an Elephant" relates to this situation. The author of this essay is George Orwell. The author talks about his work and personal experience that emphasizes the impact of imperialism at the sociological and psychological stage. This paper shall discuss the Orwell's essay, how the artistic choices shape the facts in the essay, how the relationship between facts and artistry contributed to the