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shooting an elephant
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”; Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost
(excerpt); Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s Story (excerpt)
A. “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell
1. How does Orwell express his disillusionment with imperialism in this essay?
2. What do you think he means by this sentence?: “One day something happened which in a roundabout way was enlightening. It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism – the real motives for which despotic governments act.”
3. What does he mean by “I did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant
[replace]it.”? Do you agree?
4. Why does he have to shoot the elephant?
Empire operated?

What does this tell us about the way the British

B. “The Wood That Weeps”, King Leopold’s Ghost by Adam Hochschild
1 Why did life get much worse for the Africans of the Congo in the 1890s?
2. How can this be seen as an example of globalization?
3. How do you think Europeans such as King Leopold would or could justify this kind of imperialism? C. Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s Story (1898)
1. How does Queen Liliuokalani appeal to Americans to oppose the annexation of Hawaii?
Do you see reasons why her rhetoric would or would not be effective in persuading
Americans?

George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”; Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost
(excerpt); Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s Story (excerpt)
A. “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell
1. How does Orwell express his disillusionment with imperialism in this essay?
2. What do you think he means by this sentence?: “One day something happened which in a roundabout way was enlightening. It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism – the real motives for which despotic governments act.”
3. What
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