Similarities Between Shooting An Elephant And George Orwell

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James Baldwin and George Orwell Comparison The essay “Stranger in the village” by James Baldwin, and “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, share a similarity in their experience in a new environments. Orwell a British officer he was not warmly welcome, the Burmese people hated. As for Baldwin it is more of racism than hated. Both essays happen in unfamiliar places where there were racism and discrimination. They do not fit in with the natives and is judged because of their nationalities. However, the themes of these writing differ. Baldwin being visits an unfamiliar place that was mostly populated by white people; they were very interested in the color of his skin. The villagers had never seen a black person before, which makes the villager …show more content…

His feels lonely toward the Swiss villager. After leaving the village during the summer, he returns in the winter to find out that he is still a stranger to the villagers, like Baldwin says, “I remain as much a stranger today as I was the first day I arrived, and the children shout Neger! Neger! as I walk along the streets” (1). The children who shout the word was disrespecting Baldwin but he knows that the children did not mean to be unkind to him. Some of the villagers were afraid of him as Baldwin describes “gingerly put his fingers on my hair, as though he were afraid of an electric shock, or put his hand on my hand, astonished that the color did not rub off “(2). The villagers thought he was not a human being or was just “simply a living wonder” as he describe how people look at him. He feels discriminated and racism, and feels that different from everyone else because of the color of his skin. The truth is everyone is the same the only difference, is our customs and …show more content…

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

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