Throughout his essay, Marrakech, George Orwell utilizes a variety of stylistic and literary elements to convey a seemingly political message. Orwell’s clever use of vivid imagery, as demonstrated through his explicit word choice and sense of irony throughout the entire essay, serves to unveil the inhumane and dehumanizing effects of colonialism in Morocco. The various literary techniques used by Orwell, combined with the central theme of invisibility and noticing the commonly unnoticed, offers readers a thought-provoking piece of social and political commentary regarding the issue of colonialism and the consequences of turning a blind eye to its dehumanizing and long-lasting effects on the countries and populations it permeates. The essay, written from a first-person point of view in the dawn of World War II, leaves readers to believe that it is Orwell making the seemingly prejudiced observations and politically charged opinions regarding the noticeably invisible colonized people of Marrakech, himself. This stylistic choice of Orwell’s makes the overall tone of the …show more content…
Firewood was passing- that was how I saw it.” Here, Orwell appears to realize his own failure to notice the invisible people, falling victim to the dominant cultural norm of blindness and normalized disregard for the basic humanity of the colonized populations in Marrakech. In doing this Orwell, offers readers a chance to notice their own potential blindness to the effects of colonialism, racial discrimination and poverty that may be prevalent in their own
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
In Orwell’s reflective narrative, “Shooting an Elephant”, he reveals the truth on imperialism. Through the utilization of irony and the method of appeals, Orwell shows the reader that imperialism is just a definition because the people are in control, not Britain.
The time frame of this article is in 1946, a year after World War 2 has ended. Orwell takes the current situation into consideration when he appeals to his audience. Therefore, he addresses areas of politics in combination with recent events to try to persuade his audience while inducing a connection between the reader and his article. Orwell writes, “Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face…”. The reader makes a connection with the article because they can remember the previous experience of the topics in their time frame. However, Orwell uses pathos to finally convince the audience of his argument when he writes “Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, and the huts set on fire with incendiary bullets”. This technique is highly effective because readers automatically feel a sense of pity and sadness which in turn persuades the audience of the argument and convinces them to agree with Orwell’s
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavas Vassa, the African, Written by Himself, recounts the story of a child who is born in West Africa, but is kidnapped and thrown into a Western world completely foreign to him. Equiano is a slave for a total of ten years and endeavors to take on certain traits and customs of Western thinking. Not only is it an in-depth account of his life in enslavement and as a freedman, but also it is the first autobiography to ever be published by a former slave and becomes apart of a broader Humanitarian Revolution. It is during the eighteenth-century, in the awake of the Enlightenment movement that new concepts are created; concepts such as: human rights, equality, progress, and tolerance.1 These concepts are what lead the success of Olaudah Equiano’s Interesting Narrative, and point to a larger transition in European views about slavery in the last decades of the eighteenth century.
The beginning of colonization also marks the beginning of decolonization. From the day the colonists start exploiting the colonized people and belittling the colonized people for the colonists' self-aggrandizement, the colonized ones have been prepared to use violence at any moment to end the colonists' exploitation (Fanon, 3).Decolonization is violent, there is a necessity for violence. This is a point that is repeated again and again throughout The Battle of Algiers and The Wretched of the Earth. Here, the focus will be on The Battle of Algiers to discuss the violence of
Magill, Frank N. Ed. “Nineteen Eighty-Four” Masterpieces of World Literature. New York NY: Harper Collins Publishers, 1989. 582-585. Orwell, George.
The narrator portrays her degrading identity through her cultural detachment from Europe and Africa. The novel does not only tell the story through the exile she has suffered. At times, the narrator’s nocturnal writing offers the reader her inner thoughts, but it also displays her initiative to confide within her exile through nostalgia and lyricism. An analysis of multiple passages - regarding writing and geogra...
In the essay ?Shooting an Elephant? by George Orwell, the author uses metaphors to represent his feelings on imperialism, the internal conflict between his personal morals, and his duty to his country. Orwell demonstrates his perspectives and feelings about imperialism.and its effects on his duty to the white man?s reputation. He seemingly blends his opinions and subjects into one, making the style of this essay generally very simple but also keeps it strong enough to merit numerous interpretations. Orwell expresses his conflicting views regarding imperialism throughout the essay by using three examples of oppression and by deliberatly using his introspection on imperialism.
At the turn of the 20th century, African states had been colonized and were being used by the European nations with imperialistic ideals. With imperialism came the praise and promotion of the imperialistic ideas. However, unlike other times in history where a nation had taken over another, there was criticism written by some of the writers living in the imperialistic countries. Two of these writers were Joseph Conrad, who wrote Heart of Darkness, and George Orwell, who wrote “Shooting an Elephant”. Both of their pieces comments on the dark side of imperialism and the effects it has on the colonized states and the people of the states.
Many of the lower class band together to survive in an inhospitable world. While in poverty, Orwell experiences first hand the b...
Orwell is an unhappy young policeman who lives in mental isolation. He hates British imperialism, he hates Burmese natives, and he hates his job. He is completely alone with his thoughts since he cannot share his idea that "imperialism was an evil thing" with his countrymen. Orwell sees the British rule as "an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down. . . upon the will of prostate peoples" because he observes firsthand the cruel imprisonments and whippings that the British use to enforce their control. Nor can he talk to the Burmese because of the "utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East." This "utter silence" results from the reasoning behind imperialism that says, "Our cultures are different. My culture has more power than your culture. Therefore, my culture is superior in every way, and it will rule yours." If one is a member of a superior culture, one must not make jokes, share confidences, or indicate in any way that a member of the inferior culture is one's equal. A wall, invisible but impenetrable, stands between the British and the Burmese. His hatred for...
History has been told through various forms for decades. In the past, history was more commonly expressed through word of mouth, but more recently in the past century, through written text. While textbooks and articles give formal information with little to no bias, novels give a completely new perspective from the people who experienced it themselves. The Novels, God’s Bits of Wood, written by Sembene Ousmane, and No Longer at Ease, by Chinua Achebe give a more personal account of the effects of colonization. These two novels tackle the British and French method of colonization. God’s Bits of Wood takes place in the late 1940s and sheds light on the story of the railroad strike in colonial Senegal. The book deals with different ways that the Senegalese and Malians respond to colonialism during that time. No Longer at Ease is set in the 1950s and tells the early story of British colonialism and how the Nigerians responded to colonization. Comparing the two novels, there are obvious similarities and differences in the British and French ways of rule. African authors are able to write these novels in a way that gives a voice to the people that are most commonly silenced during colonialism. This perspective allows readers to understand the negative ways that colonization affects the colonized. Historical fiction like God’s Bits of Wood and No Longer at Ease are good educational tools to shed light on the history and effects of colonization, but they do not provide a completely reliable source for completely factual information.
Orwell highlights how powerful the use of language and propaganda can be when used to control society. One of the first times ...
“Marrakech” written by George Orwell has many impacts towards how poverty and discrimination reflected the society during World War II. World War II was an event that involved the conflict of several disputes between nations and a massive racism from the Europeans towards the Jews that Adolf Hitler made. They believed that Jews were inferior in the human race and were just like a plague. “Marrakech” is a narrative that takes place in Morocco where Orwell describes the deficiency and misery the Jews and the Black people suffer during a period of an eminent discrimination. Women also underwent the experience of discrimination by men. Orwell talks about the immense poverty, which is the lowest social class that several Europeans, Jews, Arabs, and black people experienced. The definition of discrimination is very objective. Discrimination is when a person or a large group of people judge people in an appalling way just because they are from a different color, ethics, physical attributes, beliefs, etc. Poverty is another key concept that is managed throughout “Marrakech”. Poverty is the despising misery that a human can be subjected to. Orwell reaches its effectiveness in his essay in a manner that he makes the reader know about his main purpose of how society reflected the misery of the human being during a time where equality did not really exist. Coming further, poverty and discrimination during the society where Orwell lived and perceived will be explained in detail. The efficiency of Orwell’s essay will be justified in a clear way.
The narrator’s life in Europe was very different in many ways. When he grew older and couldn’t meet his children more than once or twice a month, he went to Europe and starting working there as a journalist (Ṭāhir 10). He worked at a newspaper that provided him a low salary and would only publish 300 words a week of all what he wrote. Next he worked at another newspaper in Egypt, writing articles that reflect The British’s reactions towards the events happening In Egypt. After Ibrahim lived many years in Lebanon, he took a week of to observe London’s view of everything. When Ibrahim met the narrator as well as many other people at the Pedr...