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.

The story “Shooting an Elephant” is told by an ongoing and first person narrator, who was committed to events he was faced with and obtained insight and wisdom from these adventures even though he struggled internally and externally.

He says that secretly he supported the Burmese and hated their oppressors, the British, who he worked for. The policeman then gets called up because of a tiny incident. An elephant had killed someone and the Burmese people were urging the policeman to shoot the elephant. The narrator is then left with a decision whether to kill the elephant and show off his authority or leave the elephant be and seem weak to the Burmese people. Ultimately, he is forced to shoot the elephant in order to avoid being laughed at and the elephant suffers an agonizing death.

“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 article "Shooting an Elephants" by George Orwell the author's story is very captivating and descriptive. “I remember that it was a cloudy, stuffy morning at the beginning of the rains.” He does not hold back the details as if he remembers them. Orwell originally did not want to shoot the elephant but feared what his peers would say, his peers being the thousand yellow faces that stood behind him if he didn't complete his job. Unfortunately, he was not in fear of his life but his duty and job called for him to against his morals and shoots the elephant. The locals had it out for him anyways, not killing elephant would have added fire to the flame of the dislike they would have for the policeman. The Burmese people play a huge role, badgering

DISCUSS ORWELL'S USE OF PERSUASIVE TOOLS SUCH AS, SYMBOLISM, METAPHORS AND IRONY IN THIS ESSAY AND EXPLAIN HOW HE USES EACH OF THESE TO CONVEY HIS ARGUMENT OR MESSAGE

In the essay, “Shooting an Elephant” , written by George Orwell, the protagonist, the narrator, is faced with a conflict of shooting or letting the violent elephant live. The narrator is a British policeman who is made fun of and disrespected by the locals in the village. The story opens up saying “In Moulmein, in lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people…. Was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so...nimble Burman tripped me up…” (Orwell 1) The elephant in this short story symbolizes the imperialistic British empire. The elephant soon starts to cause a riot and the narrator is prepared to kill it. When the time comes, and all the locals are watching, Orwell is stuck at a crossroad of what to do.

The narrator in “Shooting an Elephant,” has a conflict of whether to listen to his own conscious and not shoot the elephant, or listen to the native Burmese and go ahead and execute it. It is a difficult decision to make because as humans we strive for acceptance, but we also want to adhere to our own moral standards. When we are considered an outsider in society, we regrettably jeopardize our own beliefs. When the narrator had finally built up the courage to shoot, he had not heard the shot itself but the “devilish road of glee that went up from the crowd.” He continuously fires with his powerless rifle as he kills the innocent life of the elephant. As he watches the beast fall to the ground, the regret builds up within. The crowd goes wild with encouragement and the narrator realizes what he has done and the power of guilt emerges. He says, “In the end I could not stand it any longer and went away.” When we do something we feel uncomfortable with, those that cheers us on makes us feel noble, but the regret itself destroys our

One day something happened which in a roundabout way was enlightening. It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism — the real motives for which despotic governments act. Early one morning the sub-inspector at a police station the other end of the town rang me up on the phone and said that an elephant was ravaging the bazaar. Would I please come and do something about it? I did not know what I could do, but I wanted to see what was happening and I got on to a pony and started out. I took my rifle, an old .44 Winchester and much too small to kill an elephant, but I thought the noise might be useful in terrorem. Various Burmans stopped me on the way and told me about the elephant 's doings. It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone ‘must’. It had been chained up, as tame elephants always are when

George Orwell’s short story, “Shooting an Elephant”, demonstrates the harsh environment, and survivalist mode that the people of Burma are in. The Burmese people had been unjustly seized over, the British Empire was crumbling therefore they invaded the space around them. The narrator starts preparing the essay manifesting his perspective on British Imperialism. He claims that it is evil and he is contradicting the oppressors. Although he is a British officer in Burma, he feels a certain hatred and guilt towards himself, the empire, and the “evil-spirited little beasts,” (Orwell) the Burmese people.

The story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell seeks to show the audience how easily people are influenced by the expectations of others. He accomplishes this by exploring the effects of British imperialism on the people of lower Burma. Orwell acts as the narrator in this story, telling of experiences he had while working as a sub-divisional police officer in Burma. He explains how he secretly hated his job and supported the Burmese people who where being oppressed. One day, an elephant is found loose wandering around the town causing ruckus, and even killing an Indian coolie. Orwell was ordered to respond to this incident and take control of the situation with whatever means necessary. When he finally finds the elephant, he realizes that it is no longer endangering anyone, and there is no need to shoot it. However, the Burmese people soon gather around and shout excitedly, causing Orwell to change his mind and shoot the elephant to avoid humiliations. The death of the elephant is described with excruciating detail, showing how the elephant suffered as it endured a slow death. At the end, Orwell explains how neither the natives nor his fellow British police officers

At that time the main character did not want to kill the elephant. “As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him.” He was then pulled into a dilemma and needed to decide between not shooting the elephant because it is beginning to become more peaceful, or shooting the elephant to not look like a fool, in spite of the fact that people who are observing him despise him and vice versa. The main character started to think about how everyone was expecting him to shoot the elephant and that he had to do it, but instead of doing what he believed in, he gave into peer pressure. And at that time I was extremely disappointed.

"Shooting an Elephant" is the story of a British policeman in Moulmein, a city in Burma, that is torn between shooting or not shooting an elephant that has gone ramped. The native people did not like him much, but when the elephant went on its rampage they were quick to call on him. What seemed like is should have been an easy task for the officer to do was harder than he ever could have imagined when he can face to face with it. When the

The story begins with a description of the typical atmosphere in Burma. That is a atmosphere of hatred that is directed at the Europeans. After this exposition is over, the author hears of an elephant running rampant in the town. It was looking for a ‘partner’. The owner had gone in the wrong direction when he went looking for it. The author goes to find it. He comes to a part of town where he discovers the dead body of a man who had been trampled by the elephant. Ultimately, the author ends up shooting the elephant because it was what was expected by the ‘natives’.

In George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant” the story starts off by describing Orwell himself, serving as a police officer in Burma. He elaborates on the main conflict between the Elephant and the British Officer. While on duty Orwell got called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant but Orwell was not for this judgment but the people surrounded him expected him to do it because of his job.