Summary of Shooting an Elephant The main character was a European sub-divisional police officer in Moulmein, Burma. He was hated by large numbers of Indian people because of his ties to British Imperialism. The young officer was always being harassed by the locals. He bitterly hated his position because he disagreed with how the British oppressed the Burmese people. The officer?s disgust of his job grew from witnessing the harsh treatment of the people under British rule. ?All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the Empire I served and my rage against the evil spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.? (Orwell 1) One day an incident occurred that opened his eyes to the real nature of imperialism. A sub-inspector from the other side of town called telling him an elephant was ravaging the bazaar. Because he was curious, he got on his pony with his .44 Winchester and headed to the bazaar. On the way, he was stopped by several Burmese people telling him what the elephant had done. The officer learns it is a tame elephant in ?must? that had broken off of his chain and escaped. The mahout, the only person who could manage it, was twelve hours away and could not help. …show more content…
They had to depend on British officials for their safety. The elephant destroyed a bamboo hut, killed a cow, and raided fruit stalls and devoured the stock. It also attacked a garbage truck. The officer met the Burmese sub-inspector and some Indian constables where the elephant had been seen. They began questioning witnesses, but came across no definite information on the elephant?s whereabouts. He was having difficulty communicating with the natives. ?In the East; a story always sound clear enough at a distance, but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes.? (Orwell
The British police officer in Shooting an Elephant had never been respected by the Burman natives a day in his life. He was regularly mocked and cheated, even by the religious students of Burma, simply because he was one of the many enforcers of their imposed oppressor’s government. When the elephant went on a “must”, he found himself in an interesting position. The very natives who had always jeered and spat at him were cheering him on. Suddenly, he is faced with the choice between his personal morality and the ever so f...
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.
George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is a short story that not only shows cultural divides and how they affect our actions, but also how that cultural prejudice may also affect other parties, even if, in this story, that other party may only be an elephant. Orwell shows the play for power between the Burmese and the narrator, a white British police-officer. It shows the severe prejudice between the British who had claimed Burma, and the Burmese who held a deep resentment of the British occupation. Three messages, or three themes, from Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” are prejudice, cultural divide, and power.
George Orwell's essay 'Shooting an Elephant' gives remarkable insight into the human psyche. The essay presents a powerful theme of inner conflict. Orwell feels strong inner conflict between what he believes as a human being, and what he believes and should do as an imperial police officer. The author is amazingly effective in illustrating this conflict by providing specific examples of contradictory feelings, by providing an anecdote that exemplified his feelings about his situation, and by using vivid imagery to describe his circumstances.
George Orwell, an ardent opponent of endemic social inequality, records in his persuasive essay Shooting an Elephant a life changing moment that discloses far more than just shooting an elephant. In his essay Orwell eloquently describes the scene of killing an elephant and articulates the sensations he feels during the brief yet emotional event. Orwell utilizes a myriad of literary techniques to convey the situational ironical presentation of imperialism. Orwell objective is to convince his audience, the working class of Britain, that imperialism both has a negative impact on those governed and degrades those exercising their power.
In the essay, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell illustrates his experiences as a British police officer in Lower Burma, and reflects it to the nature of imperialism. Since “anti-European feeling was very bitter” due to the British Empire’s dictatorship in Burma, Orwell is being treated disrespectfully by the Burmese (12). This allows him to hate his job and the British Empire. However, the incident of shooting of an elephant gives him a “better glimpse … of the real nature of imperialism – the real motives for which despotic government act” (13). Through his life experiences as a British man, Orwell efficiently demonstrates the negative effects of imperialism on individuals and society.
“Shooting an Elephant” By George Orwell reveals the story of events during Orwell’s service as a sub-divisional police officer with the India Imperial Police, in Moulmein, Burma.
Throughout "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, he addresses his internal battle with the issues of morality and immorality. He writes of several situations that show his immoral doings. When George Orwell signed up for a five-year position as a British officer in Burma he was unaware of the moral struggle that he was going to face. Likewise, he has an internal clash between his moral conscious and his immoral actions. Therefore, Orwell becomes a puppet to the will of the Burmese by abandoning his thoughts of moral righteousness. This conflicts with the moral issue of relying upon other's morals, rather than one's own conscience.
The glorious days of the imperial giants have passed, marking the death of the infamous and grandiose era of imperialism. George Orwell's essay, Shooting an Elephant, deals with the evils of imperialism. The unjust shooting of an elephant in Orwell's story is the central focus from which Orwell builds his argument through the two dominant characters, the elephant and its executioner. The British officer, the executioner, acts as a symbol of the imperial country, while the elephant symbolizes the victim of imperialism. Together, the solider and the elephant turns this tragic anecdote into an attack on the institution of imperialism.
Brutal Honesty Hits the Unsuspecting Mark The memorial account George Orwell details, of his confrontation with an elephant gone mad, in his essay, Shooting An Elephant (1946) is engaging and thought provoking. Born in 1903, in Bengal, India to a British Colonial civil servant, Orwell states in his most powerful essay against imperialism, “I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys,” (Orwell, 1946, para.7). In a disarmingly musing, sort of style, Orwell makes his point. that in order to maintain illegitimate power when largely outnumbered he acted according to normative social influence rather than dictates of conscience.
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
One relationship that particularly stood out to me throughout the novel, Another Country by James Baldwin, is that of Ida and Vivaldo. Vivaldo being a white man, and Ida being a black woman in 1960’s New York City, reveal to readers a very complex relationship. We can see Ida and Vivaldo dealing with heavy themes and burdens, such as race, gender, poverty, love, and grief. Out of many themes, the one their relationship encounters the most is that of race, and the effect it has on their relationship is quite tumultuous. Everyday their relationship is tested as people walk by and sneer or snicker at them, and Baldwin writes that as they would walk together, “They looked at her as though she were no better, though more lascivious and rare, than a whore. And then the eyes of the men sought his, inviting a wet complicity.” (144) This was everyday
Orwell’s story provides an empathetic rendering of the politics of power Nandy through the eyes of a disenchanted British police officer stationed in Burma who encounters an escaped elephant. He is trapped between his personal desire to leave the elephant in peace and the need to demonstrate to the Burmese the ‘manly’ resoluteness of a ruler by shooting it. This performative aspect of fulfilling a role affirms Nandy’s belief that colonialism begins with the internalisation of colonial role definitions (Nandy 6). Eventually, the narrator’s will is subordinated in favour of the crowd’s – “When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys” (Orwell 152).
Unanticipated choices one is forced to make can have long-lasting effects. In "Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell, the author recounts an event from his life when he was about twenty years old during which he had to choose the lesser of two evils. Many years later, the episode seems to still haunt him. The story takes place at some time during the five unhappy years Orwell spends as a British police officer in Burma. He detests his situation in life, and when he is faced with a moral dilemma, a valuable work animal has to die to save his pride.
"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.