Preview

A reaction to shooting an elephant

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
518 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
A reaction to shooting an elephant
Reaction to shooting an elephant
This time tables are turned for Orwell. In A hanging Orwell was the oppressor but in shooting an elephant I felt that Orwell was oppressed by the Burmese people as he mentions that "In Moulmein, in lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people" and he emphasizes on that fact by adding "As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so" and was also oppressed by the empire as he was forced to do a job that he doesn't want to do; he mentions that "Theoretically and secretly of course-I was for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British. As for the Job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of the Empire at close quarters". In shooting an Elephant, Orwell tell us a story on how an elephant went wild and that the sub-inspector at the police station called him "to do something about it". He went to the quarter in which the Elephant has been seen in and started investigating the incident that happened, during this time thousands of Burmese people gathered around him and started following him since he saw the man killed by the elephant and ordered a rifle. The Burmese seemed to be having "fun" and seemed excited to witness the shooting of the elephant by Orwell. On the Other hand, Orwell didn't want to shoot the elephant as he mentioned "It's a serious matter to shoot a working elephant-it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery-and obviously one ought not to do it if it can possibly be avoided". He keeps restating the fact that Burmese were pressuring him to do it " I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly", this continues to prove how he has such a weak personality and shows how he is always unable to protest against the state that he is in..(his work, the empire and the fact that he finds the elephant innocent and should not be shot).He then

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    In stories, "Fourth of July" and "Shooting an Elephant", the main characters' experience a conflict within themselves. Without these conflicts, it would be hard for the authors' to support their narrative point.…

    • 607 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On the other hand, the story "Shooting an Elephant” was wrote by George Orwell base on his personal experience in Moulmein, in Lower Burma .He served his country, "British Empire as a colonial administrator. The author described the effects on the oppressed Burmese Indians and theirs oppressor British Empire. The internal conflict of British men, his feelings and convictions linked to his pride from of the angry crowd. Shooting an Elephant is more than a personal experience story, is a reflection of the dilemmas of morals standards in real life and the costs that it represent as a human been and his nature as well .…

    • 579 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Orwell hated the British Empire but sympathized with the Burmans because of how they are being treated by them. After killing the elephant Orwell’s thoughts seemed to be like that of the British. He was selfish in decision to kill the elephant. Orwell did not want to kill the elephant at first but there were many opposing forces that made him do it. He was faced with obligation.…

    • 935 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Yup This is IT

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages

    George Orwell was “disgusted by the inhumanity of colonial rule that he witnessed while stationed in Burma” (2835 Orwell). Using his writing to confess the inner conflict of an imperial police officer, he wrote an autobiographical essay titled Shooting an Elephant. He notes that the Burmese civilians were not allowed to own guns during his stay – a testament of British control over Burmese resources. Feeling “stuck between his hatred of the empire he served and his rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make his job impossible” he knew that “the sooner he chucked up the job and got out of it the better” (2844 Orwell). Orwell repressed his emotions because acting out as the only white man would have been foolish. If he betrayed his country, he risked treason. If he sided with the Burmese, he would never fit into their culture. Every white man’s life long struggle in the East was to not be laughed at, so the safest choice for a man like George was to live without action. However, when a sexually aggressive elephant gets loose Orwell is called to take action.…

    • 516 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In 1936, author George Orwell wrote an essay titled “Shooting an Elephant”. In the essay Orwell describes a scene of a British police officer who is stuck between having to shoot an elephant. The story takes place in Burma, India where then, they were under British imperialism. Imperialism is a policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy or military force. It humiliates the occupied people, reducing them to an inferior status in their own country. Analyzing Orwell’s work, I realize that Orwell feels Imperialism is not good for both the people subject to and the people of the imperial power. The fact that the main character of the story is an officer of the imperial government, but also in opposition to imperialism…

    • 662 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is an essay about a British police officer living in Lower Burma who goes through the trial and error process of making the right decisions while still trying to maintain an image and position of authority. The officer is hated by the Burmese people, which is clearly shown when he would play football. The Burmese were extremely unfair to the officer due to the fact he was part of the Imperialist group which was oppressing Burma. (para. 1) Although the officer is hated he feels "Imperialism, [is] an evil thing" and he "[is] all for the Burmese and against their oppressors, the British," his own kind. (para. 2)…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant,’ is an essay which takes place in imperial Burma where he is a police officer working on behalf of the British Empire. He is resented by the people who pressures him into shooting an elephant, where he describes himself as being a meaningless puppet in front of the Burmese crowd. Throughout this essay he also delivers his strong personal beliefs towards his hatred of imperialism, despite working for the colonies, he mentions several times of how much he despises it and sees it as ‘evil.’…

    • 865 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In “Shooting an Elephant', George Orwell described the onus of serving with the imperial police in Lower Burma, during a time where the British police were hated by the natives. Orwell expressed his views towards the Burmese, saying “Theoretically—and secretly, of course—I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.” Though he felt that way, they did not feel the same towards him. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” He hated his job and felt that the sooner he got out, the better. Imperialism was something that he clearly despised, yet he was caught right in the middle of a cycle of oppression. One day, an event occurred that left Orwell battling with a decision between his own moral beliefs, and gaining the approval of the…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shooting an Elephant

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the short story by George Orwell "Shooting an Elephant" the author unveiled to his audience the bureaucracy and his struggled with himself. As in so many other countries, bureaucracy and prejudice maybe found. However, in East Burma those days it was regiment. it appeared to be do as one says or pay the consequences of not doing the preferred choice.…

    • 418 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shooting an Elephant

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Orwell’s experience of the government I believe he learned that even though he may be a police officer, the Burmese people will not treat him with authority unless they are in need of help, as was shown with the elephant accident. The people would treat him terribly until they were in of his help and then they looked to him as a hero for that brief moment.…

    • 723 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shooting an Elephant

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages

    A price is payed to save oneself from humiliation, but, being pressured into doing something that one doesn't want to do, makes people feel lost and pushed into a big problem. In the story "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, he himself goes through a struggle in being the one to shoot an Elephant. In the beginning he knew what he had to avoid of being laughed at from the Burmese people that surrounded him, since he is an imperial policeman. Throughout the story, Orwell uses rhetorical tools such as: metaphors, connotation, and irony to give his readers a better perspective in what's going on in the story. Seeing different forms of writing can help readers see the relationship between these tools and what Orwell is saying about imperialism.…

    • 594 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Burma was a relatively happy country for most of the nineteenth century. The Burmese fought the British Empire for years to maintain their independence but the superpower didn’t care that their future subjects desired to be free, and finally conquered them in the late 1800’s. England redrew the borders of Burma and made it part of India, even though Burma was a totally separate country with its own cultural and political identity. After years of oppression under a government that ignored their well-being, the Burmese of 1920 were sick of and dying under foreign rule. As a young officer in Moulmein, Burma, George Orwell was “an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. When a nimble Burman tripped [him on a football field] and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter.” (216). After enduring bullying at the hands of the Burmese, Orwell’s main purpose as an officer was to appear strong and wise in front of the Burmans. This resulted in Orwell violently murdering an elephant to maintain an air of superiority. In sum, because the British government didn’t care about the Burmese, tensions ran high which led to…

    • 1207 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shooting an Elephant

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In the reading, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell is narrating about his feeling and pressure shooting an elephant. A little about the writer, Orwell, is a British police officer who was born in India. He was hated by large numbers of people in Moulmein, in Lower Burma as the British had colonized Burma.…

    • 678 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shooting An Elephant

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, the main character had gone threw a big change throughout the story. The changes that he had encountered may have not been intentional, but peer pressure has its way of influencing people to do things they don’t want to do. In this story a tamed elephant turns for the worse and the main character is called into take care of the problem.…

    • 753 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shooting An Elephant

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell is an essay surrounding the difficulties of doing what you are supposed to do versus what others want you to do. For Orwell the problem boiled down to whether he should leave an elephant ,that went on a rampage but was now calm, alone or to shoot it because that was what the locals wanted him to do. Orwell didn't feel like it was necessary to do it but the pressure from the mob made it seem like the only choice he had. So he chose the words of others over his own morals.…

    • 515 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics