Rhetorical Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant

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.

The consequence of imperialism is discussed in “Shooting an Elephant”; The victim of imperialism is not only the natives but also the narrator. Indeed, this essay is about the suffering and the struggling of Orwell who is torn between the Burmese’s actions and 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, 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.

The glorious days of the imperial giants have passed, marking the death of the infamous and grandiose era of imperialism. George Orwell's essay, Shooting an Elephant, deals with the evils of imperialism. The unjust shooting of an elephant in Orwell's story is the central focus from which Orwell builds his argument through the two dominant characters, the elephant and its executioner. The British officer, the executioner, acts as a symbol of the imperial country, while the elephant symbolizes the victim of imperialism. Together, the solider and the elephant turns this tragic anecdote into an attack on the institution of imperialism.

In ‘Shooting An Elephant’ by George Orwell, he describes his experiences and difficulties of being a police officer for the British Empire while they imperialized Burma. George Orwell specifically depicts the experience he had when he was summoned to tame an elephant that had escaped from its owner. He uses several rhetorical devices that show his perspective towards the Burmese and their society as well as the British Empire. A rhetorical device that is used repetitively throughout the passage is imagery. Orwell uses imagery to describe his first-hand experiences working for the British Empire in detail and make it evident that imperialism can bring out the worst in

Orwell uses this metaphor of an elephant’s rage and destruction of homes, theft of food shelves, and even killings as an example to the inner working of imperialism. Metaphorically, Orwell expands his argument about how imperialism is tyrannical towards to the Burmese people by comparing an elephant’s rage to the British Empire’s invasion of Burma and its destruction of the native life. Similarly, the elephant’s theft of food represents the oppressed of the British Empire’s imperialism has brought upon the Burmese people. They try to implement their aim of domination upon Burma without any care upon the Burmese way of life. This event not only makes the oppressed country become the victims of the imperialism, but it also is the foundation of Orwell’s dilemma regarding the killing of an elephant or the peer pressure he feels towards killing. In short, the use of metaphorical devices found throughout Orwell’s narrative help emphasizing the similarities of imperialism to that of an elephant ravaging through a town, illustrating the true effects it has upon the Burmese people.

Rhetorical devices are very powerful and deceiving in writing. Metaphors, irony, similes, and etc, can portray an illimitable amount of themes and ideas but authors mainly use them to to convey to the listener or reader a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective. George Orwell, the author of Shooting an Elephant, is outstanding at utilizing metaphors and irony in his writings. Metaphors and irony are common and in the novel it is used a lot.

Lee 1Yio Kyung (Joy) LeeRhetorical Analysis of an Essay“Shooting an Elephant”By George OrwellIn “Shooting an Elephant”, writer George Orwell illustrates a life-changing incident thatreflects more than just “shooting an elephant.” Orwell describes the scene of the killing of anelephant in Burma and articulates the sensations that he goes through during the short, butdramatic event. Rhetorically, Orwell uses various literary techniques to convey the emotion andsituational irony of the whole scene, which ultimately leads to a satirical presentation of imperialism. Through the vivid descriptions of the spectating crowd and a direct appeal with thenarrator’s pathos, Orwell succeeds in convincing the audience that imperialism not only has anegative

Never Forgotten. The Essay “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell shows that colonialism is an inhumane thing. “Shooting an Elephant” takes place during the colonialism of Burma by the British. During this event George Orwell had an encounter with an elephant that was terrorizing the village, George Orwell was peer pressured into shooting that elephant.

In the essay written by George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant,” he aims to promote the idea that the oppressor would end up losing his freedom at the end, opposing imperialism. Orwell uses metaphors to describe the police officer—Orwell¬—and the situation in which he felt pressured into killing the elephant by the crowd in Moulmein, Lower Burma: Orwell is “seemingly the lead actor,” playing the part of an oppressor in front of the Burmese people. He is also “an absurd puppet,” who is being used by the British government. Orwell’s portrayal of himself “seemingly the lead actor” relates to the metaphor “absurd puppet” because he is being manipulated and he is performing unusual actions against his will.

Over the past four to five hundred centuries, imperialism has grown to be one of the most powerful and oppressing forces in history. Imperialism has given dominant economic empires the ability to take interest in a nation and expropriate its land, goods, and markets. Throughout world history, numerous countries have been taken advantage of due to imperialism. In the short story Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell discusses the strength of European imperialism, specifically in Lower Burma. He analyzes the effects of colonialism on not only those being colonized but also on those that are acting in favor of the imperial power. By looking at Orwell’s allegory Shooting an Elephant through a culture, race and postcolonial lense, it is suggested that the dehumanization of an inferior race is caused by the oppressor being greatly influenced by their need to have an authoritative image in the eyes of the oppressed.

George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is a short story that serves as a metaphor for Imperialism in the early 20th century. He recalls being an officer in Moulmein, Burma, an area that was occupied by the British until 1948, while he served there he dealt with the issues of Imperialism and he uses the story to express those issues. He uses the metaphor of the elephant to express how Imperialism affected the British and the Burmese(occupied people) in a negative way. The British were represented by the elephant and the gun, the elephant represented the British empire and the gun represented the power of the British. At first the Elephant was tamed and docile, it eventually became must, and finally it had to be taken down.

In 1936, George Orwell published his short story ‘Shooting an elephant’ in an English magazine. Since then, it has been republished dozens of times and holds a place as a definitive anti-colonial piece of literature, in an era where the British Empire was at its peak and covered almost 1/3 of the Earth’s surface. George Orwell believed that “…imperialism was an evil thing...” and uses much themes, symbolism and irony to convey his strong anti-colonialist feelings.