The Perception Of Power In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

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.

George Orwell is an extremely talented artist. I say artist not only because of his creative writing skills, but for the way he turns a simple story into a vivid motion picture. It isn't easy to describe a tale in such a way that it makes the reader feel as if they are present to the event; especially without using long, descriptive words that seem to create a cluttered mess of the sentences. Orwell's description of the elephant's death was excruciating and extremely hard to read. It felt entirely too real. I believe he did this to emphasize on the inhumane brutality at hand and the severity of his actions. It puts things in perspective on how the Burmese are being treated by British imperialism.

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.

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.

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”. All of those depictions related to the “immense” crown that had followed the narrator expecting him to kill the elephant. This can be analyzed from his own words: “I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind”. “And he also realizes that to shoot the elephant would be not only unnecessary but quite immoral. But he is not a free agent; he is part of the impartial system (Ingle,

The speaker George Orwell, who was a member of the British Imperial Police for five years and discovered he did not like many aspects of British Imperialism. The tone is of negative and remorse towards the shooting of the elephant and also negativity towards imperialism. By looking at “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, one can see his strong use of imagery and metaphors, which shows us detailed and vivid descriptions of what imperialism is like, which is important because it helps people understand what imperialism felt like up-close and what the people went through. This personal narrative incorporates a great deal of ethos, since the author writes about his emotions and feelings of going through such an event. This narrative also contains pathos, since Orwell is a writer who has had first-hand experience in being in the place while British Imperialism was going on in Burma. This affects the overall consequences of the narrative as it enables the reader to visualize and think more about how the author must have felt while the events of the narrative were unfolding around him. It also enables

Orwell uses symbolism to connect the character of the elephant to the effects of imperialism. 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. These two words both represent the symbols of abominable occurrences in the Christian bible. “Crucified” being the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the most

He writes that he “did not in the least want to shoot the elephant.” (Orwell, 2014, p. 233). However, as the narrative continues, Orwell does end up shooting the elephant after feeling “(the natives’) two thousand wills pressing against (him).” (Orwell, 2014, p. 234). Orwell’s actions further demonstrate the power multitudes of people have on an individual. Separately, the Indian people pose no threat; however, together they become capable of dictating the actions of their superiors.

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

Both authors, Langston Hughes and George Orwell portrayed a sense of pressure and uneasiness from the crowds that watched on.

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."(Orwell). In

The entire mood of the essay is determined when Orwell first proclaims the setting to be a “cloudy, stuffing morning at the beginnings of the rains” (1). This line foreshadows the entire situation to be weak and discomforting as drab weather. Later, when the narrator looks back on the natives standing behind him, he sees a “sea of yellow faces,” with “two thousand wills presing [him] forward, irresistibly” (2). This image of an uncontrollable sea pushing the narrator forward like an indominable wall creates a sense of power behind the actual image of powerless natives. Through this imagery, Orwell is able to highlight both the uncontrollable nature of mob mentality, but also the helpless nature of an imperalist conqueror. In this moment, when the “white man turns tyrant, it is his own freedom he destroys” (2). The narrator realizes that he is forced to put on a façade of power when the people demand it. As Orwell mulls over the critical decision, he comes upon the realization that the “white man” must display strength and authority when the people demand it. In this scene, Orwell also juxtaposes the powerful “white man” against an “absurd puppet… a hollow, posing dummy… about to perform a trick” (2). The narrator is equated to a helpless doll forced to move whenever the native demand. He becomes a symbol of false authority. By using these paradoxes, Orwell is able to show the

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.

Have you ever looked at something or someone and started reminiscing negative comments in your head about them? What about cared what others thought of you and tried to play hero to get them to like you? George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant”, is a great example of this scenario. This essay secretly hid three key points that most written documents may or may not pinpoint on. It explains how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, animals should be treated just as equal as humans, and always be yourself.

In his essay Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell uses diction effectively to convey an ambivalent tone that displays his complex attitudes toward the Natives. Orwell uses “evil-spirited” (285), “beasts” (285), and “crucified” (287) to describe the Burmese, and the word choice demonstrates the variety of connotations against the Natives. George Orwell states that he is “all for the Burmese and still against their oppressors, the British” (285), however, he characterizes the Burmese by using animalistic words which dehumanize them. Throughout the essay, George Orwell chooses his word choice to demonstrate a negative and positive attitude toward the Natives.