Literary Analysis of “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell

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 picture of Burma in the past.

In this essay, Orwell divides it into five parts. Each part in this essay will be supporting the following part. This Orwell’s style suggesting that we should expect to go in deep his head by reading the next part. Part one includes the first two paragraphs, shows us about who Orwell is and introduces the British Imperialism. Part two is the next following three paragraphs, narrates about how the elephant ravage the bazaar and the way to track him down. Part three is the paragraph sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth, show us the deep expression of how he feel about the elephant and how people surround him can put a lot of pressures on Orwell. Part four is the paragraph eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth, supports the previous part and going in deep in Orwell’s head and the way of killing the elephant. Part five is the last paragraph, he tells us about why that he had to kill the elephant.

At the beginning, Orwell claims that he is fully against the Imperialism and he des...

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...ice officer also portrays a struggle held deep within him towards both his job and beliefs. All of the elements working together contribute to the success of his stance, and it powerfully demonstrates his position of negativity towards imperialism.

George Orwell’s use of flexible metaphor, visual imagery, and bitter tone strongly demonstrates the peril of imperialism in Shooting an Elephant. Through his anecdotal attack of imperialism, and the persuasive tools used, Orwell illuminates his argument establishes the viewpoint of domineering British imperialism and its ruthless oppression on Burma. The portrayal gives a message of imperialism’s disastrous impact on both the colonizer and the colonized while communicating to the reader emotions and thoughts about the damage done tosociety in oppression and the underlying effects it may entail upon a society.