George Orwell Shooting An Elephant

“Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell, first published in the journal New Writing in 1936. In this essay, the author tells his own story about when he was working as a police officer for the Indian Imperial Police in Burma.

Haley Collins Professor Henery English 100 February 17, 2016 Shooting an Elephant The essay “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell is set in time during the 1800’s when the country of Burma had been conquer and then controlled by the British. In “Shooting and Elephant,” the essay is illustrated through the eyes of a British Imperial Officer who undergoes a life-changing event that demonstrates the true effects Imperial control. In this essay Orwell describes the horrific killing of an elephant and the emotions and frustrations the Officer endures while deciding the initial fate of the animal.

“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, along with 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 states, 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.

In the passage Orwell comes across an elephant. The elephant is a wild elephant and had just killed a man. So Orwell is conflicted about killing the elephant because the wild animal has killed an innocent men but when Orwell arrives the elephant is not doing anything. Shocked at the calmness of the elephant, Orwell decides he can and should let the elephant stay there and not kill him over the incident. Yet, he looks over his shoulder and see that over two thousand people have followed him to see what he is going to do. Upon realizing people are watching him he questions his original decision. The author displays the concept of peer pressure here. The influence of others cause him to think that he should shoot the elephant because the people are

George Orwell, a white British police officer in Burma, met many conflicts and setbacks when deciding if he should shoot an unruly elephant or not. These conflicts, and the power of pressure would eventually weigh down on him and put him a situation to make a life or death decision.

In George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell recites a personal experience in which he shoots and kills an elephant while working as a British police officer in the British colony of Burma. While his actions were legally justifiable, Orwell describes his feelings of guilt for his true intentions and rationale for the killing, which he admits to himself as unnecessary and unjust. In slaying the elephant Orwell acts contrary to his own fundamental values, principles and reasoning, by killing the animal, “solely to avoid looking a fool” (6). Orwell is faced with a Hamlet-like quandary, to shoot or not to shoot, that is the question. Orwell makes a decision to shoot the elephant while under perceived group pressure. Afterwards, Orwell is haunted by the incident and is deeply remorseful for not following his own fundamental values, principles, and best judgment by doing what he knew would be the right thing under the circumstances. However, Orwell does ultimately take responsibility for his moral misconduct. Orwell’s honest confessions seem clearly cathartic and he seems to make major strides toward mitigating his guilt regarding the incident that occurred many years earlier when he was a young man. In addition, Orwell is able to use his traumatic experience to address the evils of a much greater villain, imperialism.

If put in a situation where you were expected to do something you did not want to do, would you be able to do it? This situation occurs in “Shooting an Elephant” written by George Orwell. This story recounts the events Orwell faced during his time as an Imperial police officer in Burma, India. “Shooting an Elephant” focuses on a day where an elephant was causing mayhem in Burma. The elephant destroyed houses, food stands, and even killed a laborer while roaming the city.

The short story “Shooting an Elephant”, by George Orwell, can be seen as one broad metaphor for imperialism. In the story, Orwell is direct about discussing imperialism from the narrator's point of view. But, if the reader analyzes “Shooting an Elephant” through a historical critical lens then representation of imperialism can be seen in many other aspects of the story as well. Through this lens, we can not only see the effects of imperialism on the policeman and the people of the colonized nation, but we can see it reflected in the plot and what happens to the elephant and its true owner.

Amna Umair Bajwa Aqila Zaman Writing and Communication SS100 30th November, 2015 Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blaire, the writer of “Shooting an Elephant”, was an English essayist, novelist and critic. His goal, as he stated in an essay explaining why he started writing, was “to make political writing into an art” (“Why I Write”). The rules he laid out for this art form are still used today. Orwell is famous for his opposition to totalitarian rule, profound realization of social injustice and forthright support of democratic socialism. Called the “conscience of the generation” (“George Orwell Biography”), his two best-selling masterpieces, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm, are examples

The country of Burma currently called Myanmar has been under many rulers. From 1824 to 1948 the country was under the rule of the dying British Empire. The European imperialization of Burma was resisted by the local Burmese people. As punishment for the resistance these people were locked up and beaten by the English Officers. With an overwhelming hatred toward the officers it was difficult for them to be respected. One officer was mentioned for his efforts in George Orwell’s “Shooting and Elephant” and the story includes the themes of how strangers can pressure one into a situation, and the issues of beginning a task that is unfinishable.

The character in the essay even says “Theoretically- and secretly, of course- I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.” (Orwell Elephant 1) Throughout the essay there is also a tone of pity when speaking about natives. For example, “he was only an Indian and could do nothing” (Orwell Elephant 3), the tone that this is written in makes the reader sympathize with the natives far more than the British. The author does a brilliant job at using the authority figure to convey a sense of remorse for those living under imperialism.

After reading “Shooting an Elephant,” I think Orwell was a person misguided to his future and to his choices. Rather than attend to the university, Orwell join the Imperial police in neighboring Burma. Where he later realized and explained he is opposed to the British Colonial Project in Burma. He made up his mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner he get off that job the better. Yet, something happened that an elephant was destroying the bazaar. Feeling forced to do some decent police, Orwell grab a old raffle to see what's happening. At this point, he’s doesn't have any intention to shoot the elephant. When he arrives to the town the mess the elephant has made and it has killed a person. After Orwell saw the dead man, he borrow

Shooting an Elephant takes place in 1920’s Burma which is now known as Myanmar. At this time Burma had lost a sixty-year fight with Britain and was under British rule. The Burmese people and the British officers that keep them in line are in a constant state of tension with each other. George Orwell was a British soldier in Burma from 1922 to 1927 (Kozak 64) much like the main character of this essay. Shooting an Elephant is written in first person, and in this way, the essay can be seen as an autobiography. Orwell has long been known for is distrust of government, and uses this distrust in his writings. In Shooting an Elephant Orwell conveys the life of a British soldier in Burma and the struggle of obtaining power from a source that is hated. In many of Orwell’s writings his distaste for government is accompanied by a fondness for the lower class. The soldier in Shooting an Elephant

I chose to reflect upon the story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, I reflected on this story due to its relatable content and the stir of emotions I felt throughout the essay. I felt especially sad and angry while reading the story due to the fact the elephant was killed to protect ones reputation. This story taught me that people would go to great lengths just to fit in or to not be made fun of. The main character expressed his life struggles during the essay saying how everyone made fun of him and aspired to make his day as difficult as possible. The main character was put in a difficult situation which caused him to choose between what he knew was right versus what everybody else wanted him to do. I could relate to that due to the

The essay, “Shooting an Elephant” written by George Orwell, talks about his personal experience from when he was about twenty years old and in during which he was forced to choose between two cruel choices. In the introduction of the essay, Orwell effectively sets the tone of the essay by describing his surroundings in Burma working as a British Police officer. Feelings of depression are described by the author as he continues to recount his experience in Burma. Even though he has reigned a certain level of authority over the Burmese natives as a British officer, Orwell is consistently humiliated by the natives themselves. Orwell uses his first paragraph by recounting the British rule over the Burmese. He then narrows the focus effectively onto an escaped elephant who