Shooting An Elephant

“Every experience, no matter how bad it seems, holds within it a blessing of some kind. The goal is to find it.” This quote from Buddhism depicts the idea of the short story, Shooting an Elephant, by George Orwell. In the story Orwell committed the crime of shooting an elephant, which legally he had the right to do, but morally felt guilty about killing an innocent animal. According to Everything's an Argument, a correct causal argument needs to have a claim, warrant, and evidence. Even though Orwell did commit the crime of shooting an elephant, throughout the story he used ethos, pathos, and figurative language to convince the audience if given the opportunity he would never shoot an elephant again because the elephant represents the innocence of people.

First of two start of, the most rhetorically influential element of this story is the authors background. While George Orwell is a well-known for being an English author and journalist, he is very famous for being a political satirist. In this story, the audiences can see Orwell’s personal opinions on social and political views. In “Shooting an Elephant,” readers detected Orwell’s opinions on imperialism through the narrator’s display of pathos. Throughout the story, the narrator shows feelings of hatred, doubt, fear, anxiety, and distress at the fact that he is in a position of mocked authority.

Orwell paints the image of the officer hating the thought of destroying the elephant yet anyway from the push of the surrounding Burmese. The masses, despite the prejudices created by imperialism, still

George Orwell’s personal narrative, “Shooting an Elephant,” invites readers to experience his powerful story of conflicting ideas and harsh decisions. “Shooting an Elephant,” tells the tale of George Orwell, and imperial police officer in Burma, and the choices he needs to make about an elephant that has gone must. Orwell’s choice of wether or not to shoot the elephant is a battle of morality and could potentially risk his position and respect as an imperial officer. Orwell’s personal narrative recounts his struggle of making a decision for himself, society, and the push and pull of British Imperialism. Upon seeing the elephant that has gone

“with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing -- no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man's life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at"(Orwell 299). However, Orwell eventually shoots the elephant so that he does not look like a

This narrative piece is an effective expository technique that describes the narrator’s thoughts and tone. Orwell uses oxymoron such as “grinning corpse” and paradox phrases such as “the story always sounds clear enough at a distance, but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes”. Another paradox statement is shown in “I perceived this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys”. Orwell’s decisions were briskly altered as he was deciding on whether to kill the elephant or not. His mind altered from “I ought not to shoot him” to “I had got to do it” and also to “But I did not want to shoot the elephant”.

Advaitha Nair 10KBOU AP English Shooting an Elephant: Rhetorical Analysis Essay Draft English novelist George Orwell’s personal narrative “Shooting an Elephant” was written in 1936, during the British Imperialism of Burma. This personal narrative contains the subject of imperialism and of what the both the British and the Burmese went through during this period of time. The occasion is the British Imperialism of Burma with the setting being in Burma (because Orwell mentions it) and a particular event where a British official (the author) is forced to kill the elephant in front of the Burmese. The audience is for people who want to know what is like for the people experiencing imperialism first-hand. The purpose is to inform people about what imperialism is like and what

Hannah Edmiston Boudreau AP Language Friday 25 September, 2015 Shooting an Elephant Analyzing Rhetorical Devices Shooting an Elephant, written by George Orwell in 1936, describes his experience working as a British officer located in Moulmein, Burma. He writes his essay to reveal the cruelty and disastrous outcome of imperialism he witnesses. Orwell uses strong resource of language such as symbolism, metaphors and imagery to express his disdain for British imperialism. Orwell uses symbolism to connect the character of the elephant to the effects of imperialism.

In George Orwell 's short story titled “Shooting an Elephant” presented an event that changed a countries civilization. George’s life in Burma, and the prejudice placed by the people he oppressed inspired his writing through the uses of setting, style, and theme. In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell no specific event influenced this piece rather it was an accumulation of many small events of prejudice and hate by an opposing group of

In the short essay, Orwell depicts a flaw in human nature-the disability to overcome peer pressure. Peer pressure causes people to follow the majority. Decisions caused by peer pressure may not end well. For the police officer, peer pressure caused him to inflict suffering upon the elephant. Personally, the short essay caused me to reflect on many decisions I have made.

Throughout “Shooting An Elephant” , Orwell’s narrative style brings out internal and external conflicts that are relatable in society today. The narrator faces multiple internal and external conflicts. One external conflict being the Burmese and how they mock him because he is a representative of the British Empire, but he will do what it takes to show them he is not a fool. "I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.

Well known author and journalist, George Orwell, in his essay, Shooting an Elephant, describes his experiences as a Policeman in Moulmein, Burma during European Imperialism. Orwell’s purpose is to convey the ideal that what is right and what is accepted don’t always align. He adopts a remorseful tone in order to convey to the reader the weight of his actions. By looking at George Orwell’s use of imagery and figurative language, one can see his strongly conflicting opinions on Imperialism. Orwell begins his essay, Shooting an Elephant, by explaining the actions of the Burmese people and by expressing his contempt for imperialism.

Whenever you want during this dangerous occasion Orwell could have created the decision to do as opposed to what the mob of Burmans desired. When he was experienced with the choice of whether or not to capture the elephant he could of created the decision to not to capture it. In reality, that is exactly what he desired to do: “I did not want to kill the elephant.” Actually, his choice to pay attention to the mob and not to his own moral sense was, in itself, an act of freedom. Totally freedom is unbreakable and existing in all choices.

" Shooting an Elephant " written by George Orwell describes an ugly nature of imperialism. The story is about one European police officer who served in Moulmein, in lower Burma. While he was doing his job he faced many difficulties because of local people's anti- European attitude. This negative attitude overcomplicated his job. He had already realized that he wanted to get rid of his job as soon as possible.

George Orwell held a unique perspective on Britain’s involvement in Burma. Through his own experiences in Burma, he developed an inner struggle between following orders and opposing imperialism, that he expressed in the story Shooting an Elephant. Orwell was born under the name Eric Blair in colonial India. As an adult, he joined the Imperial Police stationed in Burma, where he soon discovered a conflict brewing within himself. He was naturally a reflective person, analyzing what he saw to be obvious disparities in the two sides of an Imperialistic relationship.