ipl-logo

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

1480 Words6 Pages

The power of peer pressure can evidently raise an error in judgement as it allows you to act in a manner to please others before pleasing yourself. Peer-pressure is an influential demonstration of how someone can neglect the morals of themselves in order to please others around them. This dilemma was evident in George Orwell 's “Shooting an Elephant” as the power of peer pressure forced George Orwell to shoot an elephant he originally didn’t want to shoot. Nevertheless, the power of peer pressure forced him to act out the will of others around him. This is an influential demonstration of how peer pressure can make a person neglect their own morals and consciousness just to please those around them. 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 …show more content…

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

Show More
Related

Rhetorical Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

555 Words | 3 Pages

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.

Read More

Critical Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

921 Words | 4 Pages

Literary texts can depict many problems and situations resonating with its readers. The English author George Orwell addresses situations like governmental control, historical periods marked by oppression and social problems like conformism. These topics are depicted in his works such as the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and the essay “Shooting an Elephant” that is read by many students worldwide. Using these topics as an example, why should secondary students read these works by George Orwell? Firstly, though published 68 years ago, the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four can give students in secondary school a greater understanding of today’s government.

Read More

Focalization In Shooting An Elephant

995 Words | 4 Pages

Shooting an elephant, by George Orwell (1936) The internal struggle of George Orwell in regard to his conscience in terms of his stance towards the British Empire and the native Burmese is one of the main characterstics of Shooting an elephant. Orwell himself opposes the British empire, but due to the role he is required to play, as a police officer, his physical appearance indicates that he opposes the native Burmans. His role as a police officer disables him to interact with the Burmans on an equal level; the narrator is required to keep the Burmans in their subordinate place.

Read More

Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell Essay

606 Words | 3 Pages

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

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

Similes In Shooting An Elephant

325 Words | 2 Pages

In the story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, there are many uses of literary devices. Orwell uses similes as key component throughout the story. Similes help the reader understand the tone and grasp what is actually occurring at a certain moment. For example, when the elephant took somebody`s life in the story, Orwell states,“The friction of the great beast's foot had stripped the skin from his back as neatly as one skins a rabbit” (Orwell 2). This simile gives the reader the impression that the elephant took the skin off the man's body as easy and clean as cutting the skin off of a little rabbit.

Read More

Shooting The Elephant Analysis

1657 Words | 7 Pages

This story was talking about a British police officer in Lower Burma got the information that there is one elephant was causing damage in the town, and the officer killed the elephant in the end. The symbol of this story I will identify as the ‘Elephant’. The elephant can be represented as a symbol of the people oppressed by the British Imperialism and also the British Empire. (Viswanathan, Apr 19) George Orwell used the elephant as the symbol is because the elephant is a very strong and huge animal on the ground, and at that time, a live elephant can make big money and very valuable and expensive.

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 In Elephant By George Orwell Essay

780 Words | 4 Pages

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.

Read More

The Image Of An Elephant By George Orwell

915 Words | 4 Pages

Why was the elephant shot? Why do the British insist on ruining countless Burman lives? The answer, it seems, is that there is no reason, at least, no good reason. By extending the shooting scene, Orwell makes the elephant’s death more meaningful than it’s life and that is what has happened in Burma. The people there are valued more for doing what the British want rather than what they are good at; not being able to do what you’re good at is a kind of death.

Read More

Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

615 Words | 3 Pages

With all of his experiences he wrote many good texts that made him famous today. “Shooting an Elephant” was one of the amazing poems George Orwell wrote. In the poem it gave many good messages. The three messages that stood out to me was, peer pressure is tough, stick to your gut feeling, and you have to do things you don't really want to do. First of all, one good message from “Shooting an Elephant” by George

Read More

George Orwell Intend To Kill An Elephant

278 Words | 2 Pages

As a matter of fact, George Orwell did not intend to kill the elephant. Quite the opposite, coming closer to him, Orwell was convinced that there was no danger as such. But, sending for the rifle, that he needed only for self-defense, seemed to give a signal to "natives" that they could expect to see an unprecedented show. So, after seeing a huge crowd of people behind, he already knew for sure that he would have to kill an elephant anyway. “The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly”, he says.

Read More

Killing An Elephant Essay

499 Words | 2 Pages

As the hero embarks on his or her journey, the trials and tests they try to overcome do not always go as planned. The journey physically and mentally prepares the hero or heroine for the end of their quest and the holy grail, but somehow along the way the temptation and challenges get in the way of one's consciousness and causing the hero to fall into the expectations of society which causes them to fall into the wasteland. In George Orwell’s “Killing an Elephant” a Burman Policeman discovers his call to adventure to take care of a rogue elephant in the streets of Burman. As a military occupier the majority of the village does not necessarily approve of him. Colonialism, in Orwell’s short writing, acts as a metaphor explaining for his experience with the institution of

Read More

George Orwell's Power: How Does Power Affect The Group?

643 Words | 3 Pages

George Orwell, a British Writer famous for “Animal Farm”, “Shooting the Elephant”, and “1984”. George Orwell usually focuses his writings on social injustice and intense opposition of totalitarianism. Last semester in Morrison academy, I led a discussion about the book “Shooting an elephant”; focusing on imperialism and oppression of the colonist. In this short story, George Orwell was a police officer in Burma. Furthermore, he hated how the colonists were treated.

Read More

George Orwell Shooting An Elephant Summary

1118 Words | 5 Pages

It always seems as if life turns out to be much easier when people model their lives after the expectations of any kind of majority. George Orwell’s experience in Shooting an Elephant suggests that this isn’t always the case. In the essay, Orwell happens to be the police officer that gets tasked to re-gain control of a rampaging elephant that is destroying Moulmein, Burma. Orwell soon learns that the elephant is merely going through a period of “must” and is hesitant to kill the elephant. Orwell eventually kills the elephant with his special rifle after he was baited into doing the action by a large crowd of residents.

Read More

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

Open Document