Burmese Days Essay

As a European white man in the British colony of India, George Orwell, in his narrative essay Shooting an Elephant, describes one of his most memorable events while living in the Southeast Asian nation of Burma. Orwell’s purpose is to share the absolute horror of living in imperialism. He adopts a tense tone throughout his essay by using vivid description and gruesome imagery in order to relate the incident with the elephant to what it is like to live in imperialism.

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.

     In the story, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell was a police officer for the British government. In the story it is hard to tell if George was actually forced to go to Burma, but

The British colonization of Burma created a racial boundary that had the Burmese dealing with white European supremacy since day one. It is evident throughout George Orwell’s novel, Burmese Days, that the main theme is the superiority of the white Europeans over the non-white Burmese. The white Europeans are extremely racist, sexist, and self centered. The social class system in this novel seems to be a two-tier system. The top tier being the white European elite, while the bottom tier seems to be the rest. The non-white Burmese people constituted the rest. These non-whites are considered second nature to the Europeans and hold such titles and jobs as peasants and servants. Elizabeth often refers them to as “beastly”. She is an

“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

Two of Orwell’s first literary works were his essays regarding his experiences as a policeman in Burma during imperialization from Europe. These essays include “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant.” In these essays, he shows his clear disagreement of oppression, even while working for the oppressors. Orwell writes

This story is a representation of George Orwell’s perception of British imperialism around the world. It is a firsthand account of how imperialism affects both rulers and the oppressed using a short story. The author shows how imperialism is a prison to not only the Burmese, but also the British. The message can clearly be seen though Orwell’s regret in being forced to kill an elephant. The purpose of this essay is to explain Orwell’s true message of anti-imperialism using the nature of tyranny and the British Empire as examples.

When John was led back into life in the futuristic society, he was mocked and treat as a strange attraction. He was at the awful end of a sick joke - people came from all over to understand this simple “savage” who has spent his life in curiously primitive manners. John was so poorly received, he went as far as wanting to commit

Orwell?s extraordinary style is never displayed better than through the metaphors he uses in this essay. He expresses his conflicting views regarding imperialism through three examples of oppression: by his country, by the Burmese, and by himself on the Burmese. Oppression is shown by Orwell through the burden of servitude placed upon him by England: Orwell himself, against his will, has oppressed many. British Imperialism dominated not only Burma, but also other countries that did not belong to England. At the time it may appear, from the outside, he shows us that the officers were helping the Burmese because they too were against oppressors; however, from the inside he demonstrates that they too were trying to annex other countries. Though Orwell?s handling of this subject is detailed, in the end, he subtly condemns imperialism. Orwell finds himself in a moral predicament no different than the ones placed on the white men in the East. He justifies his actions, driven by the instigation of the Burmese. Orwell also feels forced by the natives to kill the elephant, hindering his

John is introduced into the story by the narrator as soon as the story starts. The narrator describes him as "practical in the extreme." He has "no patience with faith, an intense horror of superstition, and he scoffs openly at any talks of things not to be felt and seen and put down in figures." Although the narrator describes him as these things, they are married and she, undoubtedly, loves him. She continues on by saying " John is a physician and perhaps... that is one reason I do not get well faster." This description paints the husband, John, as controlling over his wife.

First of all, when the narrator is in her room, she sees the woman behind the wallpaper creeping her during the daytime. This shows that she is unreliable because of her mental health problem. This is one the most important part of the story because the woman that she sees represents herself being trapped in the room. Also, her feelings are not stable. In the beginning, she sees John as a person who takes care of her and loves her. However, the later in the story, the narrator seems to

Aldous Huxley used the sense of isolation a lot throughout the venture of the novel. Huxley used isolation in the tone of the characters voices, and when the characters had a sense of being alone. He would show this feeling of isolation by telling us readers the sound of the characters voices when they are in certain situations, like when Fanny spent his time alone, Huxley would say he has horror in his voice. A sense of horror in a confined area has everything to do with the feeling of isolation, but there are different types of isolations. John grew up hating that he was always kept away from the indians, but as the book went on John just wanted to be alone and be by himself. Some of the characters throughout the novel had a feeling of intense

Every writer has their own signature writing style. However, few get recognized for their literary brilliance. George Orwell stands out as one of the few authors that has withstood the test of time through his literary works. Born at the beginning of the twentieth century, Eric Arthur Blair, more commonly known as George Orwell, started his path of excellence, not as a writer, but as a part of the British Imperial Police. Stationed in Burma, Orwell gained much insight on life through his experiences with the Burmese people. His stories inspired one of his first works, “Burmese Days.” After his travels in Burma, Orwell focused more on society in Europe. He gained interest in politics through serving in wars and broadcasting propaganda through a radio channel. Many of Orwell writings confronted his concerns about imperialism. Readers thrived on his eye-opening novels and essays. Such insightful literature has earned Orwell a name as one of the greatest political authors of all time. This not only comes from the content of his literature, but also from the style in which he writes. This has led to the creation of the “Orwellian” style, in which one would write like Orwell in modeling his content and form. His focus on politics in his literature appears in most of his essays and novels. This content of anti-imperialism has led him to be globally known as one of the most influential authors of the twentieth century and has been noted as the second greatest author since 1945 by

In the novel George Orwell also gives a very detailed description of the Burmese landscape and its flora. It is typical for the author to draw parallels between the mental state of the main characters and their environment and so he does in the book. He describes the exotic plant life in Burma clearly and links it up to John Flory’s feeling of being a stranger in a strange country. The changes of weather and vegetation during the seasons in Burma can be compared to the changes of Flory’s emotions. At the beginning of the

The novel “Burmese Days” written by George Orwell explore some of the important features of modern history – colonialism, imperialism, the British Empire, racism and nationalism. Orwell has described the native Burmese society in his novel.