Shooting In Elephant By George Orwell Essay

A person who is getting peer pressured to do a deed, is often most likely to commit it. This is often because the person doesn't want to seem weak, or any of those sorts, and wants to appear the opposite. People have their own reasons, and sometimes selfish, to be motivated to do something. In Orwell's "Shooting in Elephant," Orwell himself acknowledges and shows evidence of this through the instances of his self consciousness, and my own personal observations. Orwell accepts that humans have their own selfish reasons to be motivated to do an act through the fact of his self consciousness. Most people have their own morals and they mostly follow them, but sometimes they do not. Orwell is a good example of this. He doesn't want to shoot the elephant, and believes he shouldn't unless it attacks him. However, he shows to care what people think about him and his future actions, "Moreover, I did not in the least want to shoot him... But at the moment I glanced round at the that had followed me (Orwell 288)." Here, Orwell is most likely self consciousness about what he is about to do. The crowd doesn't know they are making him nervous about his decision, but yet they expect him to do something that is morally wrong to Orwell. He knows that because he is self conscious, he is willing to please them in any way he can, "Here was I, the white man with his gun... seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only

Unfortunately, society has been always corrupted. In addition, people know about this, yet they get peer pressured to do what's against their values and morals. If the majority of society weren't swayed by their decision, people wouldn't have to be afraid or self conscious of themselves. No one would care of what others think of them, based on a decision in a dilemma or