One way to read actively is to read consciously. Ask yourself why or what are you reading. Asking questions while reading “makes you notice more, think harder, and make connections among ideas” (Cohen 3). Questioning the writer’s arguments allows the reader to think of reading as a conversation; the reader responds to the writer. Another way of reading actively is to read with a pencil in hand. Cohen notes that students are afraid that they cannot sell back their marked books. Instead of reading passively and forgetting the contents of the book, it is possible to make marks, or annotate to ensure active reading. Highlighting does not allow one to annotate since it would demonstrate that “you haven’t engaged with your reading so much as prioritized …show more content…
The lake represents both the author’s past (childhood) and the present (when he took his son). As White spends time with his son at the lake, he experiences a dual existence. He says, “I began to sustain the illusion that [my son] was I, and therefore, by simple transposition, that I was my father” (White 459). This shows that White reminisces his childhood by going to the same lake that he went as a child and goes back and forth from the past to the present. In the past, there would be “peace and goodness and jollity” (White 462) which indicates that it used to be quiet and peaceful. Due to advancement of technology, White gets startled by the loud motorboats. He continues to describe his childhood compared to the present with his son. White would reminisces his adolescence and talk about how “ the boys played their mandolins and the girls ang and we ate doughnuts dipped in sugar… and what if felt like to think about girls back then” (White 463). White demonstrates that he has internal conflict about himself since he is trying to relive his adolescence and he is afraid of becoming older and eventually dying due to age. The last word in the essay is death since White realizes that his son will enter adolescence which shows that when the son matures, White will grow older until he dies of old age. His son will end up taking the …show more content…
He said, “I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British” (296) which indicates that he pitied the Burmese. Orwell worked as a sub-divisional police officer and noticed the “dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups..” (Orwell 296). This demonstrates the effects of imperialism under the British Raj, which gives another reason as to why Orwell hated imperialism. Orwell states, “With one part of my mind I thought the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny” (Orwell 296). This shows that the British Raj was very harsh on the Burmese and that the civilians were viewed as helpless. The elephant stomped on a man and destroyed many things and places. The elephant would represent the British Raj since it caused chaos for the civilians, similar to how it destroyed the huts, vans, cows, and a person. When Orwell decided to keep a rifle for defense, he said that “[the Burmese] had seen the rifle and were all shouting excitedly that I was going to shoot the elephant” (Orwell 298). This shows how the Burmese want to end the elephant’s life or the British Raj and wanted Orwell to shoot it. Before Orwell shoots the elephant, he says “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the armed native crown-- seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to
Throughout the story, Orwell described how he was heavily pressured by the Burmese into shooting an elephant, stating that he became "... an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind" (Capote 583). Through Orwell's diction it became known that Orwell was hated by the majority of his residing village since he upheld the position of a sub divisional police officer for the British Raj in colonial Burma. Orwell was driven to killing the animal out of desperation of the public dropping all forms of hatred towards him. Although killing the elephant was against his will, Orwell went through with the deed earning a new profound identity known as the elephant
This vacation spot White describes through memories of his boyhood days always seemed to be so wonderful no matter what had gone wrong. White recalls the time when "[his] father rolled over in a canoe" and another time when "[they] all got ringworm" but none of this mattered in the long run, after all, this was the best place on earth. To White the mountain lake is seen as "constant and trustworthy", and on the trip back there with his own son, White wondered if "time would have marred" the appearance of the lake. Thoughts of the time spent there summer after summer continued to revisit White throughout the trip and everything from thunderstorms to the stillness of the water
Yet throughout White’s essay you see how peaceful he keeps the tone the entire time. With the subtle approach White has on the parts of his memories he thoroughly explains to this audience. Look at the melodrama of the storm White uses. While in The Pond the tone is more spiritual and religious. For example in The Pond, Thoreau is using The Pond as a spiritual symbol. Then there is the dominant impression. In both The Ponds and Once More to the Lake they share something. The way they share their views. The views of the memories, environment around them, and the way they felt throughout the entire thing. Once More to the Lake is on the memories surround the lake White has always known of as a boy and that is his dominant
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.
White describes and reminisces on the trips he took to a lake in Maine with his father as a child in the first paragraph. He then explains that he decided to take his own son, who had never been in a lake before. White realizes how similar the lake is to how it used to be shortly into the essay. The strange occurrences of his ‘dual existence’ begin the first morning, when White and his son go fishing, “I looked at the boy, who was silently watching his fly, and it was my hands that held his rod, my eyes watching. I felt dizzy and didn’t know
In E.B. White's personal essay, 'Once More to the Lake,' the lake serves as the setting for both the author's past and present. In his younger days, White tells that his father would take him to the lake every summer. As he grew up, he had a son and explained that he also took him to the same lake as did his father took him to long ago. In the essay, White explained many things about the lake and what changed has overcome it since he has last been there when he was a boy. Such as, the lake's motion, how it looked around the shores, and how it felt to the touch.
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.
"Everywhere we went I had trouble making out which was I, the one walking at my side, the one walking in my pants." (White, 184). It is hard to assimilate and get accustom to the life of an adult. The responsibilities, the loss of freedom and the end to the adventures youth offers it's what makes the transition to adulthood so hard. In the essay Once More to the Lake, White describes his struggle between being a man and wanting to be a boy. He is not able to connect with the man he has become; he lives in his old childhood memories of his trips to the lake.
The illusion of time, particularly the loss or stoppage of time, is apparent in both Peter
Orwell speaks of how he is so against imperialism, but gives in to the natives by shooting the elephant to prove he is strong and to avoid humiliation. He implies that he does not want to be thought of as British, but he does not want to be thought the fool either. Orwell makes his decision to shoot the elephant appear to be reasonable but underneath it all he questions his actions just as he questions those of the British. He despised both the British Empire as well as the Burmese natives, making everything more complicated and complex. In his essy he shows us that the elephant represents imperialism; therefore, the slow destruction of the elephant must represent the slow demise of British Imperialism.
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
First, White uses imagery throughout his essay to create an effective visual of his experiences at the lake. To start his essay, White reflects on his childhood memories of the lake when he and his family visited every summer: “I remembered clearest of all the early morning, when the lake was cool and motionless, remembered how the bedroom smelled of the lumber it was made of and the wet woods whose scent entered the screen.” This passage enhances
He explains that even if he feels that he is reliving his childhood at the lake, time shows its effects by introducing technological advancements. He does that when he describes a path to a farmhouse. White explains that the center path, the one marked by horses and their droppings, was no longer there (300). In addition, he does that when talking about his servers at the farmhouse. White says that although they were practically the same young women, they had seen women in films and had been influenced to clean their hair, and that was the only change that he could notice (301). Furthermore, he goes into great detail explaining motorboats, saying “they whined about one’s ears like mosquitoes” (302). This is an important aspect of the story because it shows that some people have great problems with change. White’s son may remember the sound of the motorboat as a soothing sound that brings him back to the lake. It shows that there are different perspectives on change, and that maybe the sound of the motorboat only disturbs him because it doesn’t fit his childhood memories of the
The character, himself, is part of the British rule and is supposed to have all of the power. The Burmese, though, dangle the power in front of him. He is weak and unsure of himself, stating that he “wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it” (60). The character is not able to stand up for what he believes in -- that is, not shooting the elephant. There is a back and forth struggle in his mind about whether or not the elephant needs to be killed. Orwell’s character is fully aware that it is wrong and immoral to shoot an innocent creature, but eventually secedes to the demands of the Burmese, attempting to prove his cooperation and loyalty to those watching. In a way, the Burmese represent the pressures of society. Because of this, the audience can sympathize with the main character. There are always times when we, the readers, are unsure of ourselves, but we eventually make a decision. Whether we make the decision for ourselves or are assisted by others, in the end, we must take responsibility for our own actions. In a broader sense, Orwell’s character represents the internal conflict that everyone faces: should we conform to society or should we be our own
"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.