The Depictions of Imperialism in Shooting an Elephany by George Orwell

At the same time, the narrator is also the victim of the Imperialism System itself. Under the system, it seems that the British manipulate the Burmese, but in reality, it is the opposite situation. The Burmese had the control over the British, especially people like the author who worked in a country under colonization. Orwell

A main strength of this book is the authors eye for non-judgment, detail, discussing human behavior through power. An example of this would be an incident when the governor was injured in the novel. The governor was wounded by a spear thrown at him and the British interpretation was that the British believed an Australian naïve threw a spear at the enemy in simple panic (M, 2012). Clendinnen does not agree with this interpretation because there are not enough details to verify the reason. The explanation is based off an assumption and the reputation of the Australian natives that the British believe in. Even though Clendinnen does not know the motive behind the throwing the spear she does suggest an explanation based off Australian history where Australians performed a ritual to humble a person who had hurt them without destroying their larger alliance with him (M, 2012). Clendinnen also paints a picture for the reader with her vivid choice of words. With detail, she discusses the viewpoint from an Australian native hiding a bush observing the new people stepping on their land, wondering

Earning respect from the villagers meant shooting the elephant, and not shooting the elephant; humiliation. This is the problem the narrator faced in the story Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. The narrator was already hated for being an English police officer by the locals in Burma. Any hatred he received could be resolved through the rampant elephant situation that arises, although, this was not an easy case to handle. However, the narrator takes it on in hopes of earning respect from the villagers. The narrator is faced with two different options and he may have not made the best decision. In the end, the narrator decides to shoot the elephant, but he should have let the elephant live because the elephant’s attack was over when he

The next focus of the book is on Jaidee Rojjanasukchai, a courageous and outstanding captain of the white shirts (the militant section of the Environment Ministry). Jaidee and his men intercept a dirigible containing, along with many other items, Anderson’s highly required algae tanks, and irradiates the contraband as to teach a lesson to what they call the “farang,” or the white foreigners who attempt to establish trade in Thailand. This destruction angers the “farang” and they pressure Minister Akkarat, the head of the Royal Trade Ministry, to make Jaidee back off.

“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 very first paragraph of the story the character tells of his experience on a football field. He stated that “when a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter” (Orwell 1). The character also recounts of other experiences he has where “insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance” (Orwell 1). In his own words the character describes how he feels about these situations. He states how the Burman’s actions badly got on his nerves. He explains how overwhelming and upsetting his job makes him, so much so that he wants to quit. It is important to note the characters perception of the Burmese because it shows that his rancor towards them does not affect his longing for respect. This is a basic point that helps set up the story to show what the characters

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 perspective and ideas given by Orwell show his true character and lessens the overall power set up for him. Although Orwell is a

Being from the east, nobody is fond of him, but he sees this as an opportunity to prove himself. This story reveals his meaning of violence as he is stuck in this dilemma. Is it really worth it, to shoot the elephant? Thomas C. Foster’s chapter, “. . . More

One of Orwell’s distinctive characteristics is his emphasis of his emotional response to life and death in every situation. Orwell engages readers in his pieces because they feel

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

George Orwell was born in 1903 in India, during the time of the British colonial rule. He was brought to England at a young age by his mother and educated there. Orwell moved to Burma in 1922, where he served as an assistant superintendent of police for five years before he resigned because of his growing dislike for British Imperialism or colonialism. He became a writer in 1927 and wrote one of his essays, “A Hanging”, in 1931, which is a prime example of an essay where he demonstrates his feelings

” , the ‘white man’ has conditioned those who fought in the wars, Tayo is the only one to realise that the native American soldiers never had any freedom, and are still being influenced and controlled by the ‘white man’. Even when the war is over Tayo’s comrades blame themselves, not realising their emotions and knowledge has been conditioned. Tayo recalls in a dream the pain he felt when forced to kill a group of what he is told are Japanese soldiers however swears his uncle Josiah was in the crowd, “Tayo started screaming because it wasn’t a Jap, it was Josiah, eyes shrinking back into the skull and all their shining black light glazed over by death” , Tayo had no freedom to choose, he was forced by the ‘white man’ to kill a group of innocent

This whole story is a police officer who gets a call that there is a wild elephant that is in must and needs to be tamed. Well he is a police officer so he doesn't know a whole lot of stuff to do about it. The owner of the elephant is a while aways and he doesn’t know how to command and elephant. So he brings his rifle for self defense, his intention were not to kill this elephant. As he is chasing it the townspeople sees this rifle and are excited that he is going to shoot it for meat. This officers does not want to kill this animal. The only thing this animal is doing is wrecking a couple of things and it isn't hurting anyone. Now he has finally caught up to this elephant and it's just sitting in peace in a empty field but the townspeople are still there and they're still excited about the whole thing. Well he doesn’t want to be laughed at or made fun of so he ends up shooting the elephant and killing

In conclusion George Orwell essay “ Shooting An Elephant” expresses through his language that pride was something that pushed him to pull the trigger even though if it had been him alone he would have never pulled it.  He also showed  through his use of colour language and imagery the regret he feels for shooting the