"How Free is the Will of the Individual Within Society?"
A question someone would ask may be, "How free is the will of the individual within society?" Does society force individuals to do certain things and deal with certain people or does the individual have a say in what they do and who they encounter? Going further, free will is the ability to do something without being forced upon on doing so. Free will is by far a very beneficial aspect since if allows you to determine the outcome of an event or situation. Of course you would have to make decisions on your own, but you would not be forced to anything; you would overall make smart choice to better yourself and even others around you.
The essay, Shooting an Elephant, by George Orwell vividly allows one to analyze the question, "How free is the will of the individual within society?" Orwell presents the issue of whether or not a police officer should shoot an elephant. Various reasons go along with this, allowing one to determine whether the shooter is “free” or if he is …show more content…
First, he claimed that he was not afraid of killing a small animal, such as an ant or spider; however, when it came to killing large animals, he was not very fond of that (Orwell 725). When an ant is killed, it is done and over with quickly, but when an elephant is killed, the body is still in sight. Secondly, he said an elephant is worth more when it is alive; when it is dead, it is just a useless sack of weight and when it is alive it can be benefitted from by carrying things on its back, etc (Orwell 725). After all said and done, he shot the elephant under the fact that he had zero to no free will (Orwell 726). He was being heavily influenced and taunted by the Burmans to shoot the elephant and so he
A question someone would ask may be, "How free is the will of the individual within society?" Does society force individuals to do certain things and deal with certain people or does the individual have a say in what they do and who they encounter? Going further, free will is the ability to do something without being forced upon on doing so. Free will is by far a very beneficial aspect since if allows you to determine the outcome of an event or situation. Of course you would have to make decisions on your own, but you would not be forced to anything; you would overall make smart choice to better yourself and even others around you.
The essay, Shooting an Elephant, by George Orwell vividly allows one to analyze the question, "How free is the will of the individual within society?" Orwell presents the issue of whether or not a police officer should shoot an elephant. Various reasons go along with this, allowing one to determine whether the shooter is “free” or if he is …show more content…
First, he claimed that he was not afraid of killing a small animal, such as an ant or spider; however, when it came to killing large animals, he was not very fond of that (Orwell 725). When an ant is killed, it is done and over with quickly, but when an elephant is killed, the body is still in sight. Secondly, he said an elephant is worth more when it is alive; when it is dead, it is just a useless sack of weight and when it is alive it can be benefitted from by carrying things on its back, etc (Orwell 725). After all said and done, he shot the elephant under the fact that he had zero to no free will (Orwell 726). He was being heavily influenced and taunted by the Burmans to shoot the elephant and so he