Shooting An Elephant Analytical Essay

Orwell starts the story with his struggle with the Burmese people. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” “In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves.” The narrator is upset that he is hated just for doing his job. When he actually hated his job and

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

2. In paragraphs 3-5 Orwell is shown as searching for the elephant and discovering all the damage that the elephant has caused while on its rampage, and we see orwell eventually “sent an orderly to a friends house to borrow an elephant rifle”(page 2). After he receives this gun he is shown as socially pressured because all the burmese people expect him to “shoot the elephant” (page 3), but he doesn’t want to shoot the elephant himself. These details intensify the conflict because he originally got the rifle to defend himself, but now since all the burmese people already expect him to shoot the elephant he can’t really back down since he would be laughed at and mocked if he did. Orwell has to decide

The story, written in first person, gives insight of the narrator’s thought process. It is well conveyed that Orwell is very unhappy with his current position and is working for something he doesn’t believe in, which allows his audience to feel sympathetic to his current situation. His dilemma is clearly presented- whether he should shoot the elephant or not- which provides a universal theme of a personal battle, to choose what one believes is right, or whether to conform with society. Ultimately, this provides an emotional connection between Orwell and the reader, as they can relate to the feeling, which gives them a better understanding of the story’s main point. The shooting of the elephant itself also provokes an emotional response from the audience, as Orwell employs the element of death in a powerful and symbolic way. It is well persuaded throughout the story that he believed the elephant did not deserve to die, and the death itself is portrayed as devastating to him..” (Orwell, 5). The remorseful tone in this ending sentence exposes to the audience that just because something appears to be socially acceptable does not mean in any way that it is right for us to do, in which this case, the guilt exposed to the reader illustrates the negative consequences of social

One day, an incident takes place that exhibits Orwell “the real nature of imperialism.” A domesticated elephant has escaped from its chains and gone berserk, threatening villagers and property. The only person capable of controlling the elephant—its “mahout”—went looking for the elephant in the wrong direction, and happens to be twelve hours away. Thus, Orwell goes to the neighborhood where the elephant was last seen, but the inhabitants give such conflicting reports, as a result, Orwell nearly concludes the whole thing a hoax. Suddenly, he hears an uproar nearby and

George Orwell first explains the effects of peer pressure in Shooting An Elephant. Peer pressure has always been and always will be in extreme issue in today’s society. In schools, workplaces, and public areas many people are pressured into doing things that they would not choose to do on their own. Henry Jones, a child therapist explains, “Kids often give in to peer pressure because they want to fit in.” Kids long to be able to fit in and be a part of what the cool kids are doing. Teenagers and children are not the only people who are struggling with always striving to impress those around them. Adults also struggle with this because of the constant need to have the nicest house, the best car, or the most expensive clothes. Materialistic things are an large part of peer pressure, but another aspect is actions. In Shooting An Elephant George Orwell explains, “The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at,”(lines 156-158). Orwell means that the only reason he shot the elephant was because of the the consequences of what would come to follow.

Upon seeing the rifle, a huge crowd started to follow him. He had no intention to kill the elephant. However, the crowd was expecting him to shoot it. They did not want to kill it because it had destroyed the bazaar, but rather to enjoy the fun and to get the elephant meat. The crowd’s expectation leaves Orwell no choice but to shoot the elephant. He points out that he had to shoot it to “impress the ‘natives’” (7). If he had not done it, the crowd would have laugh at him, and it would hurt his pride as a white man living in the East. In the end, he decided to trigger the gun and shot the elephant.

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

THESIS: Although Orwell is justified, legally shooting the elephant is wrong because, the elephants “must” period was over, the way the animal was shot caused the animal to suffer, and Orwell violated his own beliefs because of peer pressure.

To sum up the reasoning behind George Orwell shooting the elephant, one must conclude, that there had been put great pressure on his shoulders. He had two ways to go, both with major problems. Some might say he chose the right thing, while others will be opposed, but one thing is right. He did it for the better of

In "Shooting an Elephant", Orwell succumb to the expectation of the public which is to shoot the elephant dead even though it is against what he believes in.

The reader sees a glimpse of Orwell's moral conscious when he displays his feelings of unrest at his unethical decision. He writes, "It seemed dreadful to see the great beast lying there, powerless to move and yet powerless to die"(526). The elephant suffers a prolonged, agonizing death because Orwell did not have a hunter's knowledge of how to kill the elephant; thus his shot penetrated the elephant in the wrong spot. As a result, the guilt grows and he "could not stand it any longer"(527) and left the site. Orwell realizes that he committed an atrocity. However he tries to defend his action. It seems that Orwell is trying to make himself feel better by justifying his wrongdoing. He

Have you ever been pressured into doing something you didn’t want to, but felt like you had no other option? The narrator in Orwell's, “Shooting an Elephant” had a very similar experience. He was pressed by the Burmese into committing a senseless killing that he did not deem necessary. This transformation of the main characters mentality and morals gives the audience a terrific example of characterization, which would not be possible without the effective use of point of view in Orwell's story.

In the essay he uses a sad tone and throws light on the fact that his position of power is not at all glitter and sparkle, he uses strong words such as “hated by people” (ORWELL 472) to portray his position prior to shooting the elephant .Orwell reveals some of the ugliest truths of the British Empire, such as jails and cages in which people were locked in, and the anti British feeling amongst the

Orwell’s values were both making an impact on what his final choice was going to be when it came to shooting the elephant; although he could only choose to follow one value, and he had to choose quickly. As Orwell was a police officer, some of his believes came from the legal system.