The narrator in George Orwell’s Killing an Elephant despises his job and hates the way it makes him look. At the start of the story the narrator instantly starts complaining about his job. Telling how it got on his nerves how much the natives hated him and how they would do little things to show they don’t obey the crown like tripping the narrator in a football game. Talking about these little things shows that he cares what the natives think of him and it’s the job they see not him. He doesn’t want to be the guy who is always seen for what the British empire is and be like every other officer always trying to rob the people as he says, “For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the "natives," and …show more content…
The narrator early in the story comes out and says, “I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better.” telling the reader that the people didn’t persuade him into thinking that his job is for bad people he was already playing with this idea. He doesn’t want to be seen as the guy who took the job of being an imperial officer and wanting to enforce the law of a government, which doesn’t take place in the country. The narrator didn’t want to be talked about he just wanted to be another officer that comes and goes without a impression good or bad. He definitely didn’t want to be remember as someone who couldn’t even perform his job, he tells the reader this when he says, “My whole life, every white man's life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at.” Then get laughed out of the job and be shamed by what every mistake he made.
Not liking how the job attracted attention to himself and how it made him look. He was not excited when he was going to the elephant because he says, “I marched down the hill, looking and feeling a fool, with the rifle over my shoulder and an ever-growing army of people jostling at my heels.” Making him look like the typical westerner, trying to solve every problem with a gun and enforcing his way to a solution. If a person who hates when the spotlight is on him then he would hate if two thousand people were watching him eagerly waiting him to do
George Orwell describes to us in “Shooting an elephant” the struggle that his character faces when to win the mobs approval and respect when he shoots down an innocent animal and sacrifices what he believes to be right. Orwell is a police officer in Moulmein, during the period of the British occupation of Burma. An escaped elephant gives him the opportunity to prove himself in front of his people and to be able to become a “somebody” on the social
“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.
George Orwell who wrote a narrative essay Shooting an Elephant” has a tense tone of literature towards his life. He is using a stressed tone due to peer pressure, and lack of confidence toward himself as he is an imperialist who came to protect uphold the laws. He's difficult attitude sets the scene for the story in his eyes. Throughout the story the concept of his decisions and action will be projected through the uses of diction; the write words to express his feelings.
With the use of the words ‘white man’ and ‘tyrant,’ it is obvious Orwell was referring to one of the sides of Imperialism, the side that has the power. They are becoming the puppets of the natives: “A sahib has got to act like a sahib” (Orwell, 410). With the use of this phrase Orwell uses the word “sahib” as a symbol of tyrant or master. This phrase shows not only how the people oppressed by the Imperialism suffer, but the tyrant itself by giving up his freedom. Through the way Orwell arrange this paragraph the audience can now truly understand Orwell’s argument about how Imperialism has negative effects on those in the power, and how ironically it is for Orwell to gain power and dominance over others, just to lose freedom and dominance over yourself.
Throughout "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, he addresses his internal battle with the issues of morality and immorality. He writes of several situations that show his immoral doings. When George Orwell signed up for a five-year position as a British officer in Burma he was unaware of the moral struggle that he was going to face. Likewise, he has an internal clash between his moral conscious and his immoral actions. Therefore, Orwell becomes a puppet to the will of the Burmese by abandoning his thoughts of moral righteousness. This conflicts with the moral issue of relying upon other's morals, rather than one's own conscience.
Story is about a Burma village where an elephant got loose and wreaked havoc on the town and kills a villager (a man). George Orwell is the sheriff and ultimately makes the choice to kill the elephant.
The white man’s burden is an idea that the white men have a job to take care of the uncivilized beings and develop them to be a more socially endowed race. Their belief that they are superior to the natives is where this is rooted. This idea excused racism and portrayed it as more of a positive element in our society, rather than the destructive mechanism that it actually is. It also caused white men to truly believe that they are better than any other race out there. In “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell, the narrator’s brain is subconsciously imbedded with this notion. He claims to be opposed to imperialism and everything about it while also hating his job and the people associated with it. These two things cannot go hand in hand.
Due to George Orwell’s many successful works, he has remained a recognizable and respected author from his first moments of fame until now. Orwell’s novels and essays touch on aspects of government and human nature that will always remain relevant. With America’s changing values and controversial times, Orwell’s warning seem more relevant than ever and prove that with strong ideas, a novel can remain current beyond lifetimes.
In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell retold an occasion where he was struggling to come to a final decision of whether to shoot the elephant or not. With his final decision, the elephant finally lay dying in front of thousands of people. He said that he was forced to shoot it because the Burmese people were expecting him to do that. In addition, he also explained that he had to do it “to avoid looking like a fool” in front of the crowd (14). At first glance, one would think that it makes sense for him to kill the elephant to save his face, but that was not the case. He effectively uses this incident to demonstrate the “real nature of imperialism” (3), whereas the elephant represents the British Empire.
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.
The most obvious motive is peer pressure, a social motive. Despite his personal will, Orwell analyzed the situation and realized that “the people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly” (3). He justified his motive by saying that he “committed [himself] to doing it when [he] sent for the rifle” (3). Although this is understandable, because he is not the first and not the last to falter before a crowd, it shows that he created new reasons to do what peer pressure was forcing him to do. The political side of this was that the British felt that they must live up to the expectations of their colonies, where the ones with power (the British) ended up having to use that power
As Orwell glanced at the growing crowd, he instantly perceived the common desires of the people “They were watching me as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick. They did not like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watching. And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all” (3).These people wanted revenge for the death of the innocent man, the meat its carcass would provide, and the amusement of witnessing the shootings “The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly” (3). Because of these collective expectations, Orwell had to appear determined, authoritative, and decisive through shooting the elephant or else his reputation and the rest of the British colonizers’ reputation would be
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
and disrupting the little bit of peace that they have. So in that instant he
When you know that everyone wants you to do something and their will is pushing yours, even if you feel like what they want done isn't what you believe should be done. This is the problem that George Orwell faced, he was pushed by a crowd to kill the the elephant even though he felt it was wrong. The essay shows through the language that Orwell uses that his pride pushed him to kill the elephant and the deep regret he feels afterwards.