British Imperialism In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

The first portion of Orwell’s piece is filled with his hatred for imperialism and the “evil-spirited little beasts” (para. 2) that torment him. Orwell hated the imperialism in Burma and “those who tried to make [his] job impossible” (para. 2). You can see his true anger and hatred when he uses diction like “petty”, “sneering”, “wretched”, “intolerable”, and “rage” (para. 1,2) when he’s describing some of his encounters in Burma. Most of all, Orwell just wanted to be liked and respected. He is tired of being punished for the actions of the British empire. He states that like “every white man,.. in the East” (para. 7) he was just living “one long struggle [to] not be laughed at” (para. 7). Orwell’s change in tone forces a change in the reader’s perception of the situation. When he shifts from enraged hatred and hostility towards the eastern world to a desperate want to be liked by the burmans, the reader also has a shift. They go from not only despising imperialism but

George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant’ (Orwel, 1936) represents a number of strangers being involved in a combined encounter. The situation throughout the essay represents the unjust British occupation of Burma, the hatred towards him as a British officer and the elephant symbolising the British. The part of the text chosen clearly exemplifies how a forced duty can lead to hatred. The text chosen displays that he is forced to encounter the Burmese people yet they despise him. Although the encounter with the Burmese improves with the arrival of the elephant, Orwell still has a sense of isolation. Throughout the text Orwell questions the presence of the British in the East exploring that the encounter with the Burmese should not have took place.

Orwell portrays the vengeful feelings of the Burmese people, the colonized, towards British People, the conqueror. As he has worked as a British officer in Burma, he knows how the natives feel about the British. Of course, it was obvious that the Burmese did not welcome any kind of British presence, including Orwell himself. The Occidentals were extremely mistreated, such as being jeered, and the narrator understood that anti-European feeling was very “bitter” (Orwell, 313). He needed to deal adequately with the native society, even though he was a target of bullying. For instance, he used to get ripped up on the football field, ignored by the referee and mocked by the crowd (Orwell, 313). Hence, he is a victim of the natives’ behavior. Not only is he the target of the native’s behavior, but he is also the victim of the imperial system.

“Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell, who was an Assistant Superintendent in the British Indian Imperial Police in Burma from 1922 to 1927. The essay was published in 1936. Burma was occupied by the British over a period of 62 years (1823-1886) and it was directed as a province of India until it became a separate colony in 1937. In the essay, Orwell narrates the scene of the killing of an elephant in Burma and expresses the feelings that he goes through during the event. The writer’s theme is that imperialism is not an effective way of governing. It can be decoded through his

Shooting an Elephant is a short anecdote written by George Orwell. The story depicts a young man (Orwell) who has to decide whether to bend the rules for his superiors or to follow his own path. George Orwell works as the sub-divisional police officer of Moulmein, a town in the British colony of Burma. He, much like the rest of the English military are disrespected by the Burmese due to the English invading their territory and taking over. Over time, Orwell, the narrator, has already begun to question the presence of the British in the Far East. He says that, theoretically and secretly, he was “all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.” Orwell describes himself as “young and ill-educated,” bitterly hating his job. Orwell uses powerful imagery and diction to convey a depressing and sadistic tone to the story. At the end of the story, he faces a dilemma: to kill the elephant or not.

However, any power given to him through the imperialistic setting is lost, because Orwell exists as a part of a minority in Burma. With this dilemma, Orwell notices the difficulties that come with an authoritative figure in a foreign country as, “[Orwell] was hated by a large number of people- the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.” (144) Due to this hatred, Orwell finds his job to impose order futile because the Burmese people seem to have a tighter grasp on Orwell than Orwell himself. The Burmans appear to be enforcing their power over Orwell through their majority and he experiences this when, “A nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way.” (144) These acts that the Burmans commit show that power appears to exist in the hands of the Burmese majority rather than Orwell. By placing a colonist within a colony, the writer establishes the feeling that power should lie in the hand of the colonist. However, this concept is shattered because Orwell possesses no power though the colonial setting because of the fact that the Burmese appear to be in control. The lack of power present in the surroundings further enforces the fact that true power cannot come from one’s conquest or authority but only from within.

Orwell should have had someone else soot the animal because he knew he was a bad shot, and he was not sure where he needed to aim to kill the elephant

While the elephant continues to break away, his force begins to diminish “ One could have imagined him thousands of years old.”(5). We now see the power that the Burmese are capable of putting out. The British army is slowly giving up. Orwell shoots again “...he did not collapse but climbed with desperate slowness…”(5). Again, “ That shot did it for him”(5), the British army has lost all their strength to the Burmese, as the Burmese flock to the dying elephant Orwell fires two more times to end the pain and suffering once and for all. The British army has been robbed of all their power, you see them have the vision of re-rising but can not. Eventually the elephant dies, symbolizing the freedom the Burmese have just

In “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell achieves two achievements : he shows us his personal experience and his expression while he was in Burma; he use the metaphor of the elephant to explain to describe what Burma looked like when it was under the British Imperialism. The special about this essay is that Orwell tells us a story not only to see the experience that he had in Burma; he also perfectly uses the metaphor of the elephant to give us deep information about the Imperialism. By going through this essay, we can deeply understand what he thinks in his head. He successfully uses the word choices and the sentences to express his feeling. By reading this essay, Orwell succeeds us with his mesmerizing sentences and shows us the

Orwell futhers to contradict himself and the maturity of his manhood with his relationship with the Burmese people. When he finally arrives he is hated and taunted by the Burmese people. He would be humiliated in front of crowds at football games and young men would sneer at him every chance they would get. Orwell also says he would feel a great joy to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest’s guts. This statement would make the reader believe he hates the Burmese. At this point in the essay Orwell starts to contradict himself again by secretly expressing a

By reading George Orwell’s engaging essay “Shooting an Elephant”, imperialism and its internal effects on humanity is exposed in a stylistic and figurative penmanship. Orwell somehow finds a way to create his frightening autobiography into an enlightening essay that even contemporary people still learn about. He discusses the intolerable sense of guilt he feels throughout his whole time in Lower Burma from factors of all sorts. Stuck between two passionate flames of fury, ORwell cannot decide who he ates more- the cruel oppressors, or the beastly creatures being oppressed. His experience with the elephant and the stir of the villagers can only be explained by imperialism. He notices the eagerness in the eyes of the natives, and finally he makes

George Orwell's 1936 "Shooting an Elephant," is a nonfiction narrative essay about an incident that occurred during the time of Orwell’s service as a police officer in Burma. The essay is centered around an event in which he was forced to shoot an elephant, resulting in a battle between his own personal beliefs and the expectations of those around him. In human nature, often times, humans will play certain roles which are dictated by what others expect of them. Humans will adapt to the environment by any necessary means to survive. The moral dilemma Orwell struggles with is clear through all stages of the essay, from beginning to end.

In George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant” the story starts off by describing Orwell himself, serving as a police officer in Burma. He elaborates on the main conflict between the Elephant and the British Officer. While on duty Orwell got called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant but Orwell was not for this judgment but the people surrounded him expected him to do it because of his job.

Through the essay, with the use of particular emotional words and sentences, the audience can perceive Orwell’s feelings and emotions, by the memorable amount of pathos over his essay. Orwell goes on describing the cruel reality the Burmese people lived in by describing, with the use of dramatic and lively words, the terrible situations, and consequences of Imperialism. Giving more reasons for his logos, Orwell at the same time uses pathos to emotionally involve

Despite his support for the Burmese, Orwell endured their overwhelming bitterness and hatred because of his British heritage: "the sneering faces . . . of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me . . got badly on my nerves" (p.3). Orwell sums up his feelings of guilt, coupled with his reaction against being hated: "All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible" (4). Although part of him saw the British Raj as tyrannical, "with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts" (4). Orwell rationalizes his rage saying, "Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism" (4). Orwell realizes that tyrannical imperialism works against both the imperialists and the natives.