In George Orwell’s “To Shoot an Elephant” the reader is teleported to Southeast Asia; Orwell writes from the perspective of an English police officer for a British colony in Burma. It is quickly made known to the reader that with the Imperialistic nature of the British Empire, the people of Burma give the English colonist a stigma. This stigma causes our narrator to be jeered and laughed upon by the native people, which causes him to in turn have a hatred towards the Burmese. So instead of properly doing his job as an officer, he would rather avoid contact with the indigenous people. Until, one fateful day; a captivated elephant gets loose during mating season. Since the elephant is in heat it indirectly begins to wreak havoc, now with all eyes on the narrator, he now must do something. He is sent out to defuse the situation without killing the animal, but the situation ends with a bullet riddled elephant from our narrator’s rifle. Flash-forward some years and now the narrator, during a midlife crisis, is looking back on the events of the incident in Burma. So, was our narrator the victim? Was he justified in shooting the elephant? Does our narrator resolve his midlife crisis after looking back on his actions as a youth?
I whole-heartedly believe that “To Shoot an Elephant” told the is a classic piece of literature. When reading it for the first time through, I felt that the narrator was the oppressing force in the narrative. But with the second read through I came to
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.
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
The story of Shooting an Elephant is a short story that shows the internal struggle of a man who tries to figure out for himself if he values self respect more or others respect more. The main character is a European who works for the sub-divisional police in South East Asia. He is stationed in Burma where, even though he hates the people, he hopes the Burmese win the war. Hatred for the Burmese people is fueled by their mocking him and treatment towards him with absolutely no respect and little regard. In addition, even though the man shoots the elephant, he earlier stated that he had absolutely no resolve in him to shoot the elephant. His decision to not kill the elephant comes crumbling down when he realizes the Burmese will take notice of him if he shoots the elephant. Why would he care about what the Burmese thought of him if they hated him anyway? This is because his hatred for the Burmese is little in comparison to how much he wishes for respect and recognition. The
“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.
“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 quest for power is one which has been etched into the minds of men throughout history. However, it can be said that true power is not a result of one’s actions but comes from the following one’s own beliefs without being influenced by others. This principle sets up the story for Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. The protagonist, Orwell himself, is a sub divisional police officer in Burma, a British colony. Orwell must try to find and use his inner power when he is faced with the decision of whether or not to kill an elephant which has ravaged the Burman’s homes. The state of power established through the imperialistic backdrop show that Orwell, as a colonist, should be in control. As well, the perspective and ideas given by Orwell
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.
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
George Orwell, author of, "Shooting an Elephant" reveals his inner conflicts to the audience by offering in depth description, using intensity, and symbolism through the act of shooting the elephant. His narration helps him do so by giving descriptive scenarios in the story. Orwell's narration can also be used to examine the role of India and Great Britain at the story's time in history. The narration then allows Orwell to use symbolism in place of description. Orwell uses narration to help explain his inner conflicts and to what is happening in each setting of the story.
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
This essay describes the experience of an English narrator named Orwell, who was ordered to shoot an aggressive elephant while he was working as a policeman in Burma. As a consequence, the locals expected him to do the job (shooting the elephant), thus he did the job to please the people, but he wasn’t pleasing himself. Orwell’s pain increased by the elephant’s slow and painful death. He had a sense of guilt when he mentions seeing the elephant laying in the ground “powerless to move and yet powerless to die”. In fact, he made himself believe that he was right and it was legal to kill the elephant, by thinking to justify what he had done, stating “legally I did the right thing, a mad elephant has to be killed, like a mad dog, if its owner fails to control it”. On the contrary, Orwell knew that the elephant could have been saved without unnecessary harm, but he chose the latter. In my opinion, I’ve liked other essays more than Orwell’s essay because this one was very hard to read, thinking that it was hard to see an elephant die slowly and killing
The literary piece “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, highlights the apprehensions of a colonial officer's obligation to shoot a rogue elephant. The author does not want to shoot the elephant, but feels pressured by a crowd of indigenous residents, before whom he does not wish to appear indecisive or cowardly. “Shooting an Elephant”, by George
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.
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell is a story about his time as a police officer working for the British Empire in Burma. Orwell discusses his clear disapproval of the European intrusion into the country of Burma. Orwell mentions that he struggled with the fact that he empathized with the Burmese against their oppressors, yet he found himself stuck between hating the Empire and the disdain he felt towards the people he was supposed to protect. Until finally, something happened that allowed him to get a certain level of perspective on British colonialism imperialism he did not have before; he received a call that an elephant had gone “must” and his help was required. After some time tracking down the animal and talking to the locals, Orwell found the elephant, which appeared to have calmed down. He was now lost in what to do, his moral compass telling him to not shoot and the “crowd of yellow faces” looking to him for the strength of the Empire he represented to shoot. In the end, he decided to give into the influence of the crowd of faces and became the power the Empire represented by killing the elephant. By doing so he had been forced to go against his moral compass in favor of an overwhelming British rule and a large number of Burmese who stood behind him watching.