•George Orwell, who is also the narrator, is a British police officer.
•Burmese people cannot stand the British, but the Burmese need their help.
•Orwell gets sent to Burma to kill an elephant.
•The elephant has destroyed most of the town and also killed a man.
•Being pressured, Orwell had to shoot the elephant.
•It took several hours to finally die.
•The owner was deeply upset, but nothing could be done.
•George Orwell, who is also the narrator, is a British police officer.
•Burmese people cannot stand the British, but the Burmese need their help.
•Orwell gets sent to Burma to kill an elephant.
•The elephant has destroyed most of the town and also killed a man.
•Being pressured, Orwell had to shoot the elephant.
•It
George Orwell began the essay with his perspective on British domination. He stated that it is evil and alongside of that it is oppressive. He felt hatred and guilt toward himself and the Burmese people. The people of Burma did not feel threatened because the narrator of the story had killed the elephant. The Burmese people have lost their dignity and integrity while trying to fight off the British imperialism. Orwell uses allegories to describe his experience of the British imperialism and he had his own view of the matter of slaying the elephant. He successfully used ethos, pathos, and logos by attracting the audience to read his story. He had to make a scene in the story to make the people of Burma feel the same emotion. The elephant was the one reason why it makes this story emotional. He used logos to show that he can kill the elephant even if he does not want to so that it does not make him look fool.
Although, the Burmese people did not know this, they made him a target to be mocked and insulted. Orwell, was an imperial officer who felt that he was stuck between the Burmese and the inhumanity of colonial rule by the British. “All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.” Orwell had to respond to an elephant that was on the loose and had already killed a man. He brings a Winchester in hopes of frightening the elephant, but never had the intentions of actually killing it.
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell is an essay mainly describing a white British imperial police officer’s experience in Burma when he encounters a ravaging elephant while he was on duty. The story is set in the British-conquered Burma. Throughout this essay, the narrator describes his encounters with the natives and the way he feels towards them and how they they respond to the Europeans. Through the description and portrayal of imperialism the narrator attempts to convey that being a conqueror does not necessarily mean having total control, as the conquered might have control over the conqueror, but in a different way.
In the essay, “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell reveals the effect of imperialism towards the white man. He demonstrates how government should not be rule through his own experience when he looses individual rectitude while working as an Imperial police. The narration begins with a domesticated elephant on the loose in a Burmese village. Orwell, as an Imperial police, is obligated to take care of the situation in the crisis. However, he becomes internally conflicted, as the Burmese want him to kill an innocent animal.
Orwell was called by sub-inspector, from the other side of the town, to come take care of the elephant. At the end, Orwell ends up shooting the elephant when he really does not want to. To begin with, Orwell shot the elephant because he was pressured in doing so. After the laborer was found dead, one of the Burmese told Orwell that the elephant was by the paddy fields. Once the Burmese heard Orwell ask to be brought a rifle, they were excited and followed him to the paddy field.
Second of all, all of the characters experienced becoming a victim. To the Burmese, The British are in sway of them; However, Orwell feels it is in reverse. When he shot the elephant, the elephant became the
Orwell uses this metaphor of an elephant’s rage and destruction of homes, theft of food shelves, and even killings as an example to the inner working of imperialism. Metaphorically, Orwell expands his argument about how imperialism is tyrannical towards to the Burmese people by comparing an elephant’s rage to the British Empire’s invasion of Burma and its destruction of the native life. Similarly, the elephant’s theft of food represents the oppressed of the British Empire’s imperialism has brought upon the Burmese people. They try to implement their aim of domination upon Burma without any care upon the Burmese way of life. This event not only makes the oppressed country become the victims of the imperialism, but it also is the foundation of Orwell’s dilemma regarding the killing of an elephant or the peer pressure he feels towards killing. In short, the use of metaphorical devices found throughout Orwell’s narrative help emphasizing the similarities of imperialism to that of an elephant ravaging through a town, illustrating the true effects it has upon the Burmese people.
George Orwell show the effects of imperialism and the development of tyranny in an imperialistic society, as a result of dehumanization and the forcing of ideals upon a population, and also how it executes the way the oppressors perform their tasks. In “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell shows he is reflecting on his writing in Politics and the English Language”, because he is honest. Orwell shows that the oppressor is doing what the Burmese people want, so he will not look a fool. Orwell goes against his sympathy for the elephant and shoots him. Some may criticize that this is a form of animal cruelty, but he tells the truth that it is much worse to be humiliated and laughed upon. Like in most of his writings, Orwell likes to get straight to the
George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, narrated the story of him shooting a “must” elephant when he was a police officer in Burma. He was both, furious of the Burmese men and hated the British imperialism. The locals always mocked him and cheated him as he was an European. Orwell, one day, was told of an elephant which had been rampaging across the “bazaar”. He took his rifle along with him and set out to the town, to find more details and to analyze the situation. On his way, he learnt that the “must” elephant had broken its chains and escaped on the previous night. The elephant’s caretaker who had gone in pursuit of the elephant had taken the wrong direction and was twelve hours away. He also came to know that the elephant had caused so much damage, which also included the destruction of a hut, stall and
Orwell abandons his morals and kills the elephant to garner the approval of the Burmans. He feels compelled to shoot the animal because the Burmans "did not like me, but with the magical rifle in
The story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell seeks to show the audience how easily people are influenced by the expectations of others. He accomplishes this by exploring the effects of British imperialism on the people of lower Burma. Orwell acts as the narrator in this story, telling of experiences he had while working as a sub-divisional police officer in Burma. He explains how he secretly hated his job and supported the Burmese people who where being oppressed. One day, an elephant is found loose wandering around the town causing ruckus, and even killing an Indian coolie. Orwell was ordered to respond to this incident and take control of the situation with whatever means necessary. When he finally finds the elephant, he realizes that it is no longer endangering anyone, and there is no need to shoot it. However, the Burmese people soon gather around and shout excitedly, causing Orwell to change his mind and shoot the elephant to avoid humiliations. The death of the elephant is described with excruciating detail, showing how the elephant suffered as it endured a slow death. At the end, Orwell explains how neither the natives nor his fellow British police officers
From the start the author, George Orwell, initiates that the power in Burma is not well organized and not at all safe. Orwell holds a high position of authority and superiority, but still fails to halt the abuse and taunting he receives from the subjugate Burmen. The purpose of Orwell writing the autobiographical essay was to demonstrate the overpowering imperial rule the British enforced as well as to communicate why imperialism is negative to both the oppressor and the oppressed as it obtains freedom. Orwell conveys how persuasion can influence actions since he was basically swayed into killing the elephant. Orwell applies his experience of shooting an elephant as a metaphor for his background with the practice of politically controlling another territory, or imperialism.
The short story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell is a memoir dealing with the relationship between two groups of people, the British Empire and their previous colony, Burma. In the story Orwell executes an Elephant, who on accounts of the local Burmese people had killed a Burmese man. Throughout the story Orwell represents the two main groups of people in very different ways. The Burmese are seen as spiteful people that are wrongly oppressed and made to rely on the British for everything. These perspective comes from Orwell’s own ethical beliefs as well as being an enforcer of the Empire.
Hello Friends and Family!! I’m proud to announce that our Kickstarter project is up and running for my senior thesis project, Ambulance. As the Producer for this project, I will be taking my knowledge from Chapman University,Warner Bros. Entertainment and STARZ to make this a reality. I've partnered up with my good friend Michael Rich (Director) once again to produce another award winning film.
Creationism vs. Evolution Do you believe the entire universe was miraculously created from a giant spinning ball of dirt, or do you believe that a banana and a human are related? Creationism proves evolution wrong in many ways, such as the Big bang theory, how every living thing has a common ancestor which is a single celled organism, and dating how old the rocks and fossils are. People often debate how the world was formed or created. Some people believe that the universe was miraculously created from a spinning ball of gas and dirt. Then one day it unexpectedly exploded, creating all the galaxies and living creatures over billions of years.