In “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, the author writes about his experience with dealing a rampant elephant in British Colonial Burma. Privilege is usually viewed as a positive attribute, however Orwell explores all of the negatives that privileges can bring, which can be applied to modern day social expectations and politics. In order to highlight its effects on a personal and a widespread level, he uses the rhetorical device of figurative language. The figurative language__________ Throughout the text, the author reveals the notion that privilege is a double edge sword which causes personal conflicts and the illusion of power. Orwell uses imagery to show personal conflicts in the main character.
George Orwell uses figurative language …show more content…
The author’s conflict is shown when he says,“With one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down [...] upon the will of prostrate peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts”(1). He is conflicted on sympathising with the native or to seek revenge for the way he was treated due to his authority. The rhetorical device is used by creating a contrast by using attributing joy to killing a buddhist priest while attributing tyranny to the British Raj. His decision to shoot the elephant is also shown throughout the essay, fluctuating due to the expectations. Initially the author doesn’t want to shoot him as “the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow”(2). Even after the the crowd pressures him, he won’t shoot the elephant due to “that preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have.” However the imagery of him “pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill”(3), causes him to say that there is only one alternative. The final alternative is to shoot the elephant, although he personally wouldn’t want to. The conflict on his feelings for the natives; whether sympathizing them while wanting to torment them and his actions of shooting the elephant while not wanting to, shows how expectations are able to corrupt one’s morality. This is infact specifically highlighted in the essay as the author concludes with the idea that “ [He] often wondered whether any of the others grasped that [he] had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” He only killed the elephant to avoid looking like a fool to the natives, at the expense of his own moral
George Orwell uses figurative language …show more content…
The author’s conflict is shown when he says,“With one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down [...] upon the will of prostrate peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts”(1). He is conflicted on sympathising with the native or to seek revenge for the way he was treated due to his authority. The rhetorical device is used by creating a contrast by using attributing joy to killing a buddhist priest while attributing tyranny to the British Raj. His decision to shoot the elephant is also shown throughout the essay, fluctuating due to the expectations. Initially the author doesn’t want to shoot him as “the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow”(2). Even after the the crowd pressures him, he won’t shoot the elephant due to “that preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have.” However the imagery of him “pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill”(3), causes him to say that there is only one alternative. The final alternative is to shoot the elephant, although he personally wouldn’t want to. The conflict on his feelings for the natives; whether sympathizing them while wanting to torment them and his actions of shooting the elephant while not wanting to, shows how expectations are able to corrupt one’s morality. This is infact specifically highlighted in the essay as the author concludes with the idea that “ [He] often wondered whether any of the others grasped that [he] had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” He only killed the elephant to avoid looking like a fool to the natives, at the expense of his own moral