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Orwell’s belief conflicts with his action in shooting the elephant
Orwell’s belief conflicts with his action in shooting the elephant
Orwell’s belief conflicts with his action in shooting the elephant
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…When The White Man Turns Tyrant It Is His Own Freedom That He Destroys:
A Critical Analysis Of George Orwell’s “Shooting An Elephant”
Killing an enemy chips away at your humanity. It is human nature to long for acceptance within one’s community. Often, one is forced to sacrifice bits of their morals to achieve this acceptance. In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell illustrates this concept by recalling an incident that occurred during his time as a British police officer in Moulmein, Burma. The task he was set to accomplish while here was the dispatching of a renegade elephant. It is during this period of time that Orwell comes to terms with this inner struggle. Orwell communicates the story in first-person point of view. He blames British
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With one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down, in saecula saeculorum, upon the will of prostrate peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest 's guts. Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism; ask any Anglo-Indian official, if you can catch him off duty.
Orwell conveys his inner turmoil clearly through his eloquent use of alliteration, symbolism, and imagery.
Orwell’s essay has quite a number of instances of alliteration. Some of them are as follows:
“Yellow faces of young men that met me
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Imagery enhances the scenic quality of this essay and adds to its integrity as in the following example, “… when we heard yells a little distance away. There was a loud, scandalized cry of “Go away, child! Go away this instant!” and an old woman with a switch in her hand came round the corner of a hut, violently shooing away a crowd of naked children. Some more women followed, clicking their tongues and exclaiming… ”. Orwell provides concrete images and unfolds layers of meaning through his particular precision in utilizing numerous words, phrases and clauses. The image in the expression “His face was coated with mud, the eyes wide open, the teeth bared and grinning with an expression of unendurable agony” is simple and painful which etches the text in the memory of the readers. Orwell uses gruesome images of the dying elephant to imprint his arguments into the minds of the audience. The dying elephant is described with sections like “the thick blood welled out of him like red velvet”, “the tortured breathing continued without a pause.”, and “he was dying, very slowly and in great agony” and such ghastly images tell of the tragedies of imperialism. Through such use of imagery, Orwell is able to plant a powerful political message in the minds of the audience. The text is also heavily interlaced with auditory images like “shouting excitedly” “jeering” “grinning” “devilish roar of
For instance, when Orwell says, “I thought then and I think now that his attack of ‘must’ was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly…” he is using logos. He is appealing to the reader's sense of logic and reasoning when it came to Orwell deciding on what to do with the elephant. He presents the conflict within himself of whether or not to shoot the elephant but was ‘peer pressured’ in doing so. This proves that imperialism not only affects the oppressed but the oppressor as well. Orwell also uses Pathos, for example, "The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still, he did not die. His body did not even jerk when the shots hit him, the tortured breathing continued without a pause. He was dying, very slowly and in great agony, but in some world remote from me where not even a bullet could damage him further." This appeals the reader’s emotion of empathy. Orwell imprints the gruesome, pitiful image of the dying elephant, to reinforce the tragedy of imperialism. It also symbolizes one country killing and overpowering the other. Orwell, a policeman, killing the elephant is equivalent to Britain and its imperialistic obliteration of its
George Orwell uses strong, noticebly-patterned diction to highlight his argument, that choosing human imperfection is better in some situations
The time frame of this article is in 1946, a year after World War 2 has ended. Orwell takes the current situation into consideration when he appeals to his audience. Therefore, he addresses areas of politics in combination with recent events to try to persuade his audience while inducing a connection between the reader and his article. Orwell writes, “Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face…”. The reader makes a connection with the article because they can remember the previous experience of the topics in their time frame. However, Orwell uses pathos to finally convince the audience of his argument when he writes “Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, and the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets”. This technique is highly effective because readers automatically feel a sense of pity and sadness which in turn persuades the audience of the argument and convinces them to agree with Orwell’s
This is an important example of the foolishness of writers that do not understand the metaphors, similes, and symbolic expressions to help the reader understand their ideas in the writing. I also agree that writers do not use words “precisely”, which can confuse the reader. Many writers are not fully aware of the meaning of the words they choose, which Orwell breaks down in the writings he is analyzing. Clarity in the writing process is conveyed with great accuracy by Orwell to make this second point.
Symbols that Orwell uses pose as natural occurrences, but these symbols are those that would be considered aspects of a “normal world.” They are normal but in 1984 the symbols serve as symbolism that serves a justly purpose. These symbols are important to the theme of a dystopian society. The language is a symbol of the manipulation of the lower parties in 1984. The development of Newspeak completely rule...
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 show his true character and lessen the overall power set up for him. Lastly, the symbols shown are representations of traditional forms of power, but take on different implications in the story. In Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell uses setting, characterization and symbols to show that true power comes from following the dictates of one’s conscience.
Howe, Tom. "George Orwell." British Writers Volume VII. Ed. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Scribner, 1984. 273-287.
In this story ,Orwell is taking part in imperialism by proving his power and dignity to the natives presenting imperialism metaphorically through the use of animals. He is using the elephant as a symbol of imperialism representing power as an untamed animal that has control over the village. He uses a large and very powerful animal to represent a significant metaphor for imperialism.. In doing so he leads to the understanding that the power behind imperialism is only as strong as its dominant rulers. Orwell?s moral values are challenged in many different ways, ironically enough while he too was the oppressor. He is faced with a very important decision of whether or not he should shoot the elephant. If he does so, he will be a hero to his people. In turn, he would be giving in to the imperial force behind the elephant that he finds so unjust and evil. If he lets the elephant go free and unharmed the natives will laugh at him and make him feel inferior for not being able to protect the...
Every day, each individual will look back on decisions he or she have made and mature from those experiences. Though it takes time to realize these choices, the morals and knowledge obtained from them are priceless. In George Orwell’s nonfictional essay, “Shooting an Elephant”, a young Orwell was stationed in Burma for the British imperial forces, tasked to deal with an elephant who destroyed various parts of the village Moulmein while its owner was away. Backed by second thoughts and a crowd of thousands, he finds himself shooting the elephant and reflecting that it was not justified; however, it was a choice pushed by his duty and the people. Written with a fusion of his young and old self’s outlook on shooting the elephant, Orwell’s essay is a sensational read that captivates his audience and leaves them questioning his decision.
Orwell makes his point on the state of the English language by using five quotes. He
Orwell, George. “Shooting an Elephant.” The Brief Arlington Reader. Ed. Nancy Perry. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2004. 334-339.
When he finial find the elephant Orwell say “I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him.” But when he lays his eyes on the crowd he changes his stance to “but I did not want to shoot the elephant.”(Orwell 199). He felt guilty for shooting the elephant when he describe that the elephant worth more alive than dead, but despite the many reason not to shoot the elephant, he took a shot. Orwell describes “when I pulled the trigger I did not hear the bang or feel the kick …I fired again into the same spot…I fired a third time. That was the shot that did it for him.”(199) the shooting of the elephant represent the Burma people trying to stay alive and over powering by the
Based on the two essays, George Orwell is a vivid writer who uses a unique point of view and strong themes of pride and role playing to convey his messages. His writings are easy to pick out because of the strengths of these messages. Just like politicians in government, people with power turn corrupt to stay in power and keep their reputations. Anyone who takes on power must be prepared to live with the consequences of his actions. Orwell knows this challenge well and conveys this principle in his writing. After all, his narration is based on real life experiences and not fictional fantasies.
If a seven year old read Animal Farm he/she would have thought that it is a sad story about a farm in England. If an older person reads it however, he/she realizes that this story has much more meaning to it. The story is filled with themes that help us understand the world around us. In this essay I am going to talk about four themes that Orwell discussed in this story. They are power, totemism, coercion, and violence. Power leads to absolute power, the job of totemism is to keep the people loyal, and after that doesn't work coercion comes in effect by using violence.
Orwell?s extraordinary style is never displayed well than through ?Shooting an Elephant,? where he seemingly blends his style and subject into one. The story deals with a tame elephant that all of a sudden turns bad and kills a black Dravidian coolie Indian. A policeman kills this elephant through his conscience because the Indians socially pressurized him greatly. He justified himself as he had killed elephant as a revenge for coolie.