George Orwell's Dilemma

Humans make decisions daily that effect society around them and while these decisions are often harmless in manner, occasionally an individual is faced with choices that challenge societal norms and one’s personal beliefs. This internal conflict that every human comes to encounter at some point in their lives is often significantly biased by the peers and situations such that a person finds themselves challenging their personal beliefs. While humans are all capable of making choices based on what he or she believes is right or wrong, their decisions are strongly influenced by the pressures and expectations of society, sometimes forcing them to ignore their moral beliefs and acting on their social image.

Since birth, parents instill the morals and norms of society of their offspring as they grow into functional beings of society. At a young age a human is often incapable of determining right from wrong therefore many of the decisions made by adolescents

In George Orwell’s narrative, “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell encounters a problem in which he struggles internally with deciding on whether or not he should kill an elephant that had escaped captivity and was a harm to the community. In the end, Orwell killed the elephant and while the elephant was a danger to society, he admits that he “had done it solely to avoid looking a fool” (Orwell 499). Humans desire for social acceptance is blinding and damaging, in which we often find ourselves living through a “mask” (Orwell 496) of something that society accepts but we don’t entirely deem true. Therefore, no matter the situation an individual finds themselves in, they are all capable of using some form of cognitive function that allows them to form a decision. However, the strength of peer acceptance will outweigh their moral