ipl-logo

Shooting An Elephant By Geoge Orwell

559 Words3 Pages

“Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by Geoge Owell in 1936 that describes a specific experience he had while serving as a police officer in Burma. Orwell wrote about this encounter because it was extremely memorable and made him question his morals and position of power. This essay uses Orwell as the narrator and describes the instance where he was faced with killing an elephant to please the public despite his personal beliefs. The essay begins by explaining Orwell’s job as a police officer and the hate he recived for being in that posiiton. He desperately wanted out of his job because he saw the terrible things that the government did to people and the constant imperialism he disagreed with. The main plot line of the story begins when Orwell received a call from the police station that told him an elephant was wrecking havoc in the village and called on him to go take care of it. …show more content…

Once he finds the animal, its harmless and eating grass, so he decides to watch it for a while to make sure it stays peaceful. Once the crowd of people find Orwell and the elephant they pressure him to kill it to avenge the village. Over the next few moments, Orwell has a mental battle between what he thinks is right and what public wants him to do. After heavily debating, he chose to kill the elephant to uphold the colonial power he represents. The climax occurs when he pulls the trigger and he heard “the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd” (Orwell paragraph 11). In the end, he didnt regret killing the animal, but felt sorry for

Show More
Related

  • Compare And Contrast Back To My Own Country

    453 Words  | 2 Pages

    The essay explores an apparent paradox about the behavior of Europeans, who supposedly have power over their colonial subjects. Orwell focuses on one important incident. (shooting the elephant) The whole essay is more than Orwell’s killing of the elephant: the whole incident was, he tells us, a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had before of the real nature of imperialism – the real motives for which despotic governments act.’ He cared how people would see him if he did not kill the elephant.

    Read More

  • What Is The Quest Motif In Shooting An Elephant

    970 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the short story Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell a Police Officer who is not from Burma is forced to go out and kill a wild elephant. Orwell whom is the main character is not from Burma and when he goes about his quest to hunt down and kill the elephant he goes about the actual killing of the elephant. The local people begin to dislike him because of the way he went about putting the animal down. This story is often interpreted as an interpretation of how orwell viewed the Indian Imperial police. This story Follows the quest motif to the letter; every aspect of this story seems to fit in with the motif.

    Read More

  • Eric Fromm's Disobedience As A Psychological And Moral Problem

    1459 Words  | 6 Pages

    After some time, however, Orwell realizes that he might have to kill the elephant. Orwell is overcome with pressure by the Burmese and fears that if he does not shoot the elephant ”it was quite probable that some of them would laugh'' (Orwell 1258) and after he shoots the elephant, Orwell "[wonders] whether any of the others

    Read More

  • Ethos In Shooting An Elephant

    629 Words  | 3 Pages

    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 and foremost, Orwell establishes his ethos. As stated in Everything’s an Argument, ethos is described as the author's credibility. He establishes his ethos right from the beginning of the story when he states he works for the British but he despises them.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Frederick Douglass And Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

    905 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pg 269 The feeling i get from George Orwell’s shooting an elephant is that when he started out working as a civil servant for the British Raj that he didn't hate the Burmese. It feels like when he first started out, he got into it with good intentions and that this job wore him down. He has very strong thoughts on the empire and his distaste for it but then he turns around and has an uncontrollable rage for the Burmese.

    Read More

  • Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

    609 Words  | 3 Pages

    We are constantly fighting an internal battle—a battle between our beliefs and what is expected of us. In the essay "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, we follow the story of a man who must make a critical discussion between what he is expected to do and what he wants to do. This piece tells us the demanding situation he is put in and how he must fight internally for what he is expected to do and what he wants to do. George Orwell writes about how he was a police officer in lower Burma, a job he hated. The city's people were bitter towards him, disrespectful, and played jokes on him.

    Read More

  • Values In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant And Peter H. Lee

    1044 Words  | 5 Pages

    Orwell acknowledged both the practical advantages of the living elephant as well as the ethical significance of life. Because of this, he “had no intention of shooting the elephant” (Orwell 5) and believed it would be unjustified to do so. Despite this, Orwell felt the urge to shoot the elephant because of his desire for public acceptance from the Burmese. Orwell’s views shifted as he attempted to please the public that he was supposedly in control of. This made him feel as if he was “an abused puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind” (5).

    Read More

  • Imagery And Figurative Language In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

    849 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Devices In Shooting An Elephant

    716 Words  | 3 Pages

    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”.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant

    836 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the beginning of the essay, the elephant manifests an unbending tantrum. The rampage kills a local man and destroys much of the village. Orwell, by using a tumultuous elephant destroying the village, is a reference to imperialism and its disastrous effects. Orwell writes, “He was lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side… (Most of the corpses I have seen looked devilish.)” to show how imperialism’s devastation was the opposite of the initial extension of Britain 's influence through colonization. You can see in Orwell 's writing the diction he uses such as “crucified” and “devilish” in the essay show that the religious influence of imperialism takes a large toll on the culture of the Burmese people and British officers there.

    Read More

  • Internal And External Conflict In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

    1926 Words  | 8 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

    3335 Words  | 14 Pages

    Orwell stated, “... when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys… He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy… he shall spend his life in trying to impress the “natives” and so in every crisis he has got to do what the “natives” expect of him (3). The significance of this concept within Shooting and Elephant reveals to the reader that imperialism, due to the way it is set up, causes the British individual to lose free will and follow the pressure that comes with this type of rule. Orwell stated, “As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters” (1).

    Read More

  • The Power Of Peer Pressure In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

    1480 Words  | 6 Pages

    There are numerous themes in this short story such as British imperialism and colonial resentment however the most prominent theme in this story is fear of humiliation and the effect peer- pressure has on an individual. The setting of Burma helps work with this theme as it provides an area for the plot to take place and develop. After marching miles to the destination of the elephant, a crowd had surrounded George Orwell and encourages Orwell to kill the elephant. George Orwell is compelled to kill the once ravaging elephant due to the fact that Orwell wants to avoid looking like a fool. George Orwell is willing to sacrifice his role of doing the right thing and fulfilling the Burmese wishes in order to save himself from

    Read More

  • Shooting An Elephant Essay

    1003 Words  | 5 Pages

    It played one of the important elements because it can allow the readers to know more about the real and conflicted point of view of a British police officer living in Burman. At the very end of the story, Orwell spoke out his complicated thoughts, “And afterwards I was very glad that the coolie had been killed; it put me legally in the right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant. I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” (Orwell, 1936) He wondered if he made the right decision when he decided to kill the elephant or if he just did it because he did not want to get more hate.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of George Orwell's Essay 'Shooting An Elephant'

    393 Words  | 2 Pages

    In his essay, “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell describes his experience of killing an elephants when he was an officer in Burma. He explains how the local Burmese hated him and saw him as the authority of the repressive white British. He mentions that he also had the same feeling about the local Burmese. Even though he hated the Thyestean imperialism but he also hated what he called the yellow-faced and evil-spirted Burmese people. One day, he was told that an elephant was destroying the bazaar and killing people.

    Read More

More about Shooting An Elephant By Geoge Orwell

Open Document