George Orwell Shooting And Elephant Summary

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Recommended: Philisophical perspective animal rights

Molly Mims
Professor Jordan
Philosophy 2100
5 November 2014

Stage 1: Choose a Topic & Summarize Your Chapter

Shooting and Elephant By George Orwell

In Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell has to decide between killing an elephant who went on a rampage through the streets, or to let him continue roaming in a near by field since he is not threatening to harm anyone at the moment. George Orwell was a non-educated Burma police officer, and was an obvious target for many people in the town. He thought that imperialism, the expansion of a country’s power, was an evil concept. Orwell wanted to forgo his job as a police officer. Then one day he got a call about an escaped elephant that was wondering through the bazaar. Suddenly after hearing shrieks …show more content…

Peter Singer is aiming for the equality of animals and not just people. Logical reasoning is evident that both men and women have the capability to vote, whereas animals do not. If a human’s equality were based strictly off certain demands we would have to put a halt to requiring equality because there are too many factors that create differences between human beings. For example, communication skills are different among all types of people. Utilitarian Jeremy Bentham values each person the same despite their differences. He brings up a good point and says that in order for you to suffer and like doing a particular task you have to find your personal interest in it. Giving more attention to those with the same skin color as goes against the concept of equality. Not to mention that the main interaction we humans have with animals usually occurs at a meal. Humans do not intend to harm animals, but in order for our bodies to survive and flourish we have to rely on certain meat production and consumption methods. In Stanley Benn’s article Egalitarianism and Equal Consideration of Interests, he does not think that the characteristics of humans are anywhere near equal to an animal such as a dog. The general argument of this essay takes sides with the human population because we are also

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  • Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, Brief Description of Words and Symbols

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    Orwell shot the elephant not to save the people in the village but for his own benefits. Fearing what the people might think if he did not shoot it. In paragraph nine he weighs the options of shooting it or not. Reasoning if he did not shoot it and got trampled they would laugh at his defeat. Thankful that the coolie man got killed so he could shoot the elephant. The guilt would be easier to deal with since someone was killed. Shooting the elephant was not necessary, when he thinks about the owner who would be coming and how the elephant’s terror had ended already the only thing Orwell was thinking about was the people laughing.

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  • Similarities Between Shooting An Elephant And The Lottery

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    “Shooting an Elephant” focuses on society by pressure. In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell is pressured by the native people to shoot and kill the elephant, even though the elephant is no longer harmless. In the beginning of the essay, the natives repeatedly attack Orwell every day. When the elephant goes insane, the natives go to Orwell for help. The natives were constantly pressuring Orwell as he said, “For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the “natives,” and so in every crisis he has got to do what the “natives” expect of him” (Orwell par. 7). Orwell is pressured by society to do the opposite of what he feels is morally

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  • Epiphany In Shooting An Elephant

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    Although shooting the, now seemingly calm, “mad elephant” is morally wrong to George Orwell, in his narration of Shooting an Elephant, he has to do so as he is a representative, or more so a pawn, of the British authority in the occupied country of Burma. Being such, he wages a war with his inner self to seek which decision needs to be carried out. With two outcomes in mind, one being that he will be seen as a fool if he does not shoot the elephant and the other being an authority of the law by truly showing it and protecting the villagers, he has an epiphany. With such an authority, the law and someone’s moral conscience diverge. He then realizes what must be done and shoots the elephant to protect the imperialistic authority. As the excitement

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  • Metaphor In Shooting An Elephant

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    George Orwell is a novel writer, born in India and have only spent five days there. Ida Mabel Limouzin, his mother, brought him and his sister too England while his father stayed in India. The novel Shooting an Elephant, that George wrote, took place in the bottom of Burma in the middle of Moulmein. The story is about George Orwell hesitating to kill an Elephant that has killed a man. All George planned to do was to test the elephant to see if it really meant any harm. George feels pressured by the crowd following him because they expect him to kill the elephant. He eventually made the decision to kill the elephant to make the mad crowd happy and plus he doesn’t want to fail at doing his job. Throughout the story George Orwell exert many Metaphor

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  • Shooting an Elephant

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    A police officer in the British Raj, the supposedly 'unbreakable'; ruling force, was afraid. With his gun aimed at a elephant's head, he was faced with the decision to pull the trigger. That officer was George Orwell, and he writes about his experience in his short story, 'Shooting an Elephant';. To save face, he shrugged it off as his desire to 'avoid looking the fool'; (George Orwell, 283). In truth, the atmosphere of fear and pressure overwhelmed him. His inner struggle over the guilt of being involved in the subjugation of a people added to this strain, and he made a decision he would later regret enough to write this story.

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  • The Use of Metaphors in Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

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    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...

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    In “Shooting an Elephant” writer George Orwell illustrates the terrible episode that explains more than just the action of “shooting an elephant.” Orwell describes the scene of the killing of an elephant in Burma and reveals a number of emotions he experienced during the short, but traumatic event. Effectively, the writer uses many literary techniques to plant emotions and create tension in this scene, leading to an ironic presentation of imperialism. With each of the realistic descriptions of the observing multitude and the concrete appeal of the narrator’s pathos, Orwell thrives in persuading the audience that imperialism not only has a destructive impact on those being governed under the imperialists’ oppressive power, but also corrupts

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    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.

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  • Similarities Between Shooting An Elephant And George Orwell

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    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

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    Generally, as a human being, the unplanned choices one make might have long-lasting effects. In "Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell, the author narrates an experience of his life when he was about twenty years old during which he had to choose the lesser of two evils. Some years later, that experience seems to still haunt him. The story takes place at somehow times of imperialism during the five miserable years Orwell spends in Burma as a British police officer. Although Orwell repudiates his circumstance in life and when he is facing a moral dilemma, an invaluable work animal has to die to save his honor. The despondent young officer Orwell lives in mental isolation. Also, Orwell feels repugnance to the British imperialism and

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    "Shooting an Elephant" is perhaps one of the most anthologized essays in the English language. It is a splendid essay and a terrific model for a theme of narration. The point of the story happens very much in our normal life, in fact everyday. People do crazy and sometimes illegal moves to get a certain group or person to finally give them respect. George Orwell describes an internal conflict between his personal morals and his duty to his country to the white man's reputation. The author's purpose is to explain the audience (who is both English and Burmese) about the kind of life he is living in Burma, about the conditions, circumstances he is facing and to tell the British Empire what he think about their imperialism and his growing displeasure for the imperial domination of British Empire.

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