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Shooting an elephant by george orwell explanation
Theme of shooting an elephant
Shooting an elephant narrative essay
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If someone told you to shoot an elephant would you do it? Would you kill an elephant just to avoid looking like a fool even if it’s wrong? In the narrative “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell the narrator is pressured into shooting an elephant by his town. The narrator is trapped under the influence of the people around him. George Orwell does a great job in delivering his essay and illustrating his theme of imperialism.
The short story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell take place in Moulmein, in Lower Burma. The narrator is hated by the people in his town because he is a police officer. He hates his job because he works under the empire and hates the british. One day at work he
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Orwell uses exposition at the beginning to help you understand the narrator’s situation. He uses exposition to give background information about his job and about his views on the british empire. The background information is used to help develop the narrator’s point of view on imperialism and gives the reader an insight as to why the narrator was conflicted about shooting the elephant. Orwell uses diction to emphasize the narrator's reaction in the essay. According to Orwell’s narrator in “Shooting an Elephant “ I had halted on the road. As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him”( 219). He uses the word halted to show the sudden realization that the narrator had to shoot the elephant. This is effective because while reading the essay it makes you pause for a moment and think about what is happening. The word halted helps get Orwell’s point across that the narrator is conflicted with an issue. Orwell also uses metaphors throughout his essay. According to the narrator in “Shooting an Elephant” “peacefully eating ,the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow” (Orwell 219). Orwell uses a metaphor to compare the elephant to a cow to show that the elephant didn’t look harmful. The quote helps establish the narrator’s view that he shouldn’t shoot the
The essay “Shooting an Elephant,” was written by George Orwell. Orwell was a British author best known for his essays and novels. In “Shooting an Elephant,” the title essay of his 1950 collection, Orwell is a British Police Officer in Lower Burma. After an elephant comes rampaging through the village in must, killing an Indian man, Orwell is looked upon to take care of the problem. The intense scene causes Orwell to make a crucial decision, reflecting on the vicious imperialism with the military in Burma during this time. The author portrays his feelings through the theme of the narrative with feelings such as, guilt, hate, and pressured.
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.
In the short story, “Shooting an Elephant” the author, George Orwell, uses figurative language supporting his points telling a story in which he shoots and kills an elephant that was out of control in Moulmein, located in lower Burma. (Orwell, 1950) Orwell is a sub-divisional police officer of the town, which was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. He explains in the story how he was influenced with peer pressure, and forced to kill an elephant even though he did not feel it was right. (Orwell, 1950) He displays his view of imperialism explaining his thoughts of the death of the elephant. Orwell’s purpose of writing the essay is to show the evil of imperialism and how it made up his mind that imperialism was an evil thing. (Orwell, 1950) Orwell implies in the short story, he recognizes humans can be easily influenced and the harm of imperialism of other humans and how humans will act in activities to avoid looking foolish or embarrassed in front of others. Orwell uses the death of the elephant as a metaphor of British imperialism in Burma to symbolize Burma’s struggle under the Britain control. (Orwell, 1950) The
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...
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell is an essay about his experiences in Burma as a sub-divisional police offer while working for the British Empire in the 1920’s where it had imposed its power onto the Burmese. Orwell felt this strong disagreement with imperialism because how oppressed the Burmese were, but in a way of guilt and sympathy. To better understand what imperialism means we must get a clear definition of it; imperialism is the policy of extending power of a nation over another nation; with the addition of the possibility of economic and political gains through control. With Orwell having the position of being a police officer, he plays the role of being an oppressor and; and because of this, the Burmese look at him and make him – and other Europeans ¬– a target of hatred and frustration. And Orwell also uses a plethora of rhetorical strategies to explain his own sympathies and frustrations with the Burmese, but uses the elephant
George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant” reveals the epiphanic event he experiences in Moulmein, Burma. It highlights the guilt and rage he feels for being trapped as a British police officer in the British-conquered country. Orwell’s purpose is to write an absolute anti-colonial piece of literature and clarify his struggle of going against the oppressors. He does this in order to expose the sufferings that he tolerates there. Rhetorically, Orwell narrates and depicts various literary elements which hint to an ironic representation – his hatred towards imperialism and he himself being a puppet of the tyrants. Orwell succeeds to persuade the audience about the negative affect of imperialism with an intense description of shooting the elephant and his emotional appeal to readers.
In his short story account of shooting an elephant, George Orwell challenges the negligent ideas of imperialism, peer pressures and pride. In Shooting an Elephant Orwell uses diction, and symbolism bring forth the idea that the subjugation of other beings is morally wrong.
In the essay, Shooting an Elephant, the author, George Orwell, uses simile, oxymoron, and metaphor to develop a regretful yet reflective tone regarding the shooting of the elephant to create a bigger picture of imperialism and the horrors of it and human nature.
1. orwell reported to the readers all the accumulated remorse naturally felt by the people who were repressed by the British colony. Despite the fact Orwell was opposed to this system, He acted against their beliefs and wills. Furthermore, he was trying to be respected and consider as an authority. Orwell not only played the role of a police officer, but he also lived the experience of being part of this system in the flesh. Consequently, shooting the elephant was a scene in which he felt the pressure of the crowd and acted as he was supposed to do; again he was using a mask to complies his duty.
George Orwell the author of "Shooting an Elephant" wrote this story to show the real side of Imperialism. George wanted everyone who read this story of what he experienced and saw from Imperial rule. Now he said " Theoretically — and secretly, of course — I was all for the Burmese (1)", which states he isn't the bad guy the Burmese see him to be. Therefore proves his point that Imperialism makes it seem like every person that is not controlled by it that they must be the white men of the Earth. So that's why he talks about his experiences, because Imperialism takes your life away just like that elephants life was taken away. Because it broke free of its chains holing it in its place.
In "shooting an elephant," Orwell's writes about Burma when it was a British colony.The story told by a first-person narrator who is a British policeman serving in Burma. His relationship with the Burmese natives wasn't that good; he was hated by everyone because he was a foreigner and a authority figure of white English society. The action of the story starts with a rogue elephant that has killed a Burmese man. The narrator finds the elephant standing peacefully in a field. He does not want to kill the elephant, but he knows the large crowd of people who have followed him to the field expect
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
It is understandable how a animal used for labor can be used to portray the working class that were being abused and provoked just how some animals are taken advantage of. Now, although the officer had a sense of authority and military sovereignty, he was far from gaining respect from a country that was being overworked and stripped from their freedom. I also found it interesting that Orwell focused on the officer’s thoughts and his perspective on how he viewed the struggle. The officer knew morally and politically that the British Empire was in the wrong, but like many citizens that live in dictatorship countries, they really don’t speak up or go against their country simply because it easy for them to be imprisoned. In this short essay, Orwell demonstrates that it is inhumane for someone to kill an elephant. In addition, the British Empire can be seen as being inhumane for colonizing Burma and how they went about things. Furthermore, the officer’s elephant assassination exemplifies the way a forceful settling cycle can be placed upon a silenced country that no interest in being manipulated or abused. In conclusion, Orwell ends the story by writing about how the officer fires several shots into the elephant that after so much pain and agony the poor animal dies hours later. Orwell tries to explain that the animal was just trying to fight back after so many wrongs were done to
As little kids, we learn lying is not okay and that we should never turn away from what we know is right and wrong. But as we get older, we find out that we end up doing what we promised to never do. In "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, Orwell is faced with a problem to shoot or to not shoot an elephant on the run; he is a British officer in Burma and is looked up to as a tough, stern, and harsh man. Orwell has no intentions to shoot this poor elephant that has done nothing wrong, but peer pressure and other thoughts that Orwell has convinced Orwell to shoot it. These thoughts that arise are as Orwell puts it, "when the white man turns tyrant it is own freedom that he destroys", and "he wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it" (288).
"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.