Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

The narrator encounters three conflicts, one with the people of Burma who ridicule him when he is secretly on their side, one with the British Empire on account of its shameful occupation of Burma and one with his conscience - the elephant. The conflicts are so disturbing to him that he struggles with their answers.

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.

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.

and disrupting the little bit of peace that they have. So in that instant he

Orwell should have had someone else soot the animal because he knew he was a bad shot, and he was not sure where he needed to aim to kill the elephant

Orwell next faces the moral dilemma of whether or not to shoot the elephant. At first, it is clear that he does not feel the internal urge to shoot the elephant: "It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him" (Orwell.525). However, Orwell's virtue becomes dwarfed as the Burmese's "two thousand wills [press him] forward"(524) to kill the elephant. At this point there is an obvious role reversal as the Burmese begin to strongly influence Orwells decisions. Because he constantly dwells on what the crowd will think of him he shoots the elephant. Thus submitting to the will of the people and committing the immoral deed of abandoning ones own conscious because of the pressure of others.

There are many examples of political domination between the readings from Orwell, Douglass, Obama, and Wong. Whether it’s an extreme example such as imperialism or whether it’s a smaller example such as different culture, political domination can be found in all these readings. Each of these authors use an “unexpected event” to show off how their experience of being an outsider. In George Orwell’s, “Shooting an Elephant”, the story begins through the eyes of a colonial policeman in British Burma who is hated by the Burmese people.

The language that was used to express how George Orwell was feeling leading up to him killing the elephant shows how he felt the situation should of been handled compared to how he actually handled it. “ I had no intention of shooting the elephant”(Orwell 112) in this phrasing Orwell is clearly saying before

It’s common to see children smiling and having fun, however it’s likely to see that there is a notable smaller amount of adults smiling and having fun in today’s world. This explains why many adults joke about wishing to go back to being a kid. It is well-known that as one becomes an adult, life becomes more difficult and fun becomes limited. George Orwell, born Eric Arthur Blair, was a British writer of the 20th century. He explains in his essay, “Shooting an Elephant” some of the tough responsibilities and struggles an adult can face.

Peer pressure is a term we all have heard of growing up. Not only have we heard of peer pressure, but we have all experienced peer pressure at some point in our lives. It could have been as little as a friend saying to take that one kids crayon from him to being pressured to sign a multibillion dollar contract that can change the face of the planet. No matter the act, one loses control over their own choices due to the influences of their peers. This is not only seen in the real world, but also in all types of literature.

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 Shooting an Elephant the main character comes face to face with the decision to shoot the Elephant or to not shoot the Elephant. The guard’s decision to finally shoot the Elephant was because he realized he had very little control of the entire situation. Orwell

Because of the unjust colonization, there is a battle between cultures. The British represent a more technologically advanced people that come to industrialize while the Burmese represent a weak industrial-less civilization. The Burmese hate the British and the British accommodate with the Burmese. For example, Orwell does not want to kill the elephant, but the crowd does and in the end kills it due to the crowd. He personifies the animal and perceives its emotions of its horrific death at his own inhumane hands, but the crowd easily take the elephant’s flesh moments after it falls. The crowd’s appetite for bloodshed and brutality conflicts with Orwell’s hope to avoid violence entirely. The secondary culture clash that is clear is an internal

In the essay “Shooting an Elephant,” narrator George Orwell feels an astonishing sense of guilt after giving in to social pressures, and killing an elephant. The act of confessing one’s wrongdoings gives one a sense of comfort in knowing that the remorse is no longer trapped. However, confession does not erase blameworthiness for misdeeds.

During the last few weeks of my senior year of high school, I was hanging out with a few friends; it was late at night and we were on our way to a nearby park. Out of sheer boredom, we started playing pranks on one another. Some of the pranks were downright awful. In one instance, my friends decided to hide in a nearby bush and scare people who walked by. Initially, I was against pranking people, but reluctantly agreed because I did not want to be known as the “killjoy.” One of the people we scared, a five-year-old returning from the park, fell in a puddle and hurt his knee. We all ran away to avoid getting caught. Actually, I did not want to prank people; however, the social pressure of being with my friends in addition to my role in the group eventually caused me to comply. In “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell, Orwell faced a similar dilemma. “Shooting an Elephant” is an essay that depicts Orwell’s conflictions about shooting a rampaging elephant while he served as an Imperial policeman in Burma during British colonial rule. In his essay, Orwell describes the difficult decision of whether or not to shoot the elephant and why he made his decision. Although he did not initially want to shoot the elephant, the social pressure of being surrounded by a crowd of Burmese natives encouraging him and his role as an Imperial policeman ultimately forced his hand. The concepts of social pressure and roles are studied in many different experiments and studies. Two prominent