Shoot an Elephant
Nguyen
Professor Jeffrey Oderlin
English 1
23 June 2014
The Importance of the Elephant’s Gender After the quick and enjoyable read of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, I’ve been concerning about the elephant’s gender in this short story and have one question in mind. “Why must this significant beast of an elephant be a male and not a female? During this time, the Britain was the most powerful empire with the given authority to oppress countries like India. Since this story is focusing on the incredible and unstoppable power of the British imperialism, the males were the only ones who were allowed to be involved in politics, as oppose to the females during this time, their roles were to bear children and be housewives. Also, I think that women are often looked down upon as weak beings so by showing that the elephant is symbolizing the great empire of Britain, it must be a male. Just say that if the elephant were to be a female beast, its strength would not be as great and fearful. “The elephant…caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and ground him into the earth.” As seen here, this sinister beast is heartless and kills the poor man by using its heavily large body mass to squish him as if he’s an ant. In contrast, I also believe this is how the British Empire treated other countries that they governed when those countries gone berserk, by delivering “an expression of unendurable agony” to them. Another concern I have with this story is despite the fact that the “natives” hate him and just want to see him suffer; he still tries his best to gain their acceptance. Even when he doesn’t want to kill the elephant because he is afraid and has never kill anything this large before, he manages his fear and deliver the final blow to the beast anyway. The final question is: “What drives him to go this far for these people?
Professor Jeffrey Oderlin
English 1
23 June 2014
The Importance of the Elephant’s Gender After the quick and enjoyable read of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, I’ve been concerning about the elephant’s gender in this short story and have one question in mind. “Why must this significant beast of an elephant be a male and not a female? During this time, the Britain was the most powerful empire with the given authority to oppress countries like India. Since this story is focusing on the incredible and unstoppable power of the British imperialism, the males were the only ones who were allowed to be involved in politics, as oppose to the females during this time, their roles were to bear children and be housewives. Also, I think that women are often looked down upon as weak beings so by showing that the elephant is symbolizing the great empire of Britain, it must be a male. Just say that if the elephant were to be a female beast, its strength would not be as great and fearful. “The elephant…caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and ground him into the earth.” As seen here, this sinister beast is heartless and kills the poor man by using its heavily large body mass to squish him as if he’s an ant. In contrast, I also believe this is how the British Empire treated other countries that they governed when those countries gone berserk, by delivering “an expression of unendurable agony” to them. Another concern I have with this story is despite the fact that the “natives” hate him and just want to see him suffer; he still tries his best to gain their acceptance. Even when he doesn’t want to kill the elephant because he is afraid and has never kill anything this large before, he manages his fear and deliver the final blow to the beast anyway. The final question is: “What drives him to go this far for these people?