Shooting an Elephant

“Shooting an Elephant” is filled with conflict displayed from beginning to end; conflict is a vital tool for literature, which helps construct the stories plot. Conflict draws the reader in to hear more and to keep reading. The sub-divisional police officers inner struggles, “The only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me,” are the first signs of conflict arising (Orwell 619). It is clear, from this quote, the sub-divisional police officer has never felt…

In relation to the English cop in George Orwell’s writing, “Shooting An Elephant”, I've also experienced a great deal of pressure from my peers. Every time I make a presentation, I always feel like the people watching genuinely don't care about my opinions and actions. They sit there with their mouths drooling and their eyes everywhere, but on me. Needless to say, it gets my heart racing and my mind endlessly imagining the outcomes. I question myself with “Are they going to like it?” In general,…

will act to avoid looking like a fool or for personal gain. In both essays, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell and “Dog Lab” by Claire McCarthy, they are caught in situations where they must make a choice. Outside factors will influence the choice they make, which goes against their moral beliefs, ending in unjust behavior. Two thousand people gather around, all focusing their eyes on two things, the peaceful elephant and the motionless killer. One harmless call, and George Orwell is…

A Rhetorical Analysis of “Shooting an Elephant” Caught between a rock and a hard place Mr. George Orwell is in “Shooting an Elephant”. Orwell’s features an entertaining and informative style of the characters and how they feel tend to draw us into Burma. Orwell utilizes the use of ethos throughout the story making you sympathize with the main character. In "Shooting an Elephant", Orwell tries to gain the sympathy of the Burman folk by expressing his feelings as an English man in Burma, yet he…

essay shows what a lot of people are going through in this days generation; having the hard time what to do is right in terms of moral when the world complies us to uphold. As has been mentioned, Orwell literally abandons his morals and kills the elephant to have the approval of the Burmese and not to be laughed at be looking like a fool. Orwell speaks of himself when he says, “it is the condition of rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the natives” (515). In the same way,…

Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is an autobiographical account of his experiences as a sub-divisional police officer during British rule in Burma. Orwell builds his argument through the two main characters, the elephant and its assassin. The British officer, the assassin, acts as a symbol of the British Empire, while the elephant symbolizes the victims, Burmese. Together, the narrator and the elephant turns this incident into an attack on Imperialism. As a British officer, he is hated by much of…

In Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, the narrator has to deal with an elephant that killed a man in a market in Burma. He also has to uphold his British culture while showing the locals that the British are powerful. In Lessing’s “No Witchcraft for Sale”, the main character has to deal with two conflicting cultures, the Farquar’s, and his African roots. “When a nimble Burman man tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with…

Where is the Change? An essay inspired by Shooting an Elephant I would like to thank George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant for providing inspiration for the essay you are about to read, and for teaching students around the world an important aspect of the human condition. I sat on the edge of the river bank, watching the ripples float past. As I looked out into the water it was then that I saw it, floating past with the grace of a swan. The only evidence of its path being the trail of…

figure today in literature. According to Matthew Price, Orwell is continuously resurrected by his many supporters and is hard to keep in the grave (Price, 2003). Two of Orwell’s earliest writings include “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant.” Orwell’s “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant” both have similarities and differences that can be examined by further analyzing each text. First, the background of each story needs to be examined to compare and contrast both pieces. Both writings are…

rumblingsea, tossing and turning with excitement, creates a sense of power behind the façade of the oncehelpless natives. Indeed, during the course of the next few scenes, Orwell feels this power as anunyielding force pressuring him to shoot the elephant. As Orwell mulls over the critical decision,he comes upon the realization that the “white man” must display strength and authority when the people demand it. Ironically, Orwell juxtaposes the role of the ever-powerful “white man”against an…