white officer for miles to come. You are in a foreign land still learning the language, and constantly mocked by the locals, but then an opportunity comes so that you can become a hero. George Orwell had the same exact experience and shares it in shooting an Elephant where he is forced into a situation that can cause him to be praised or hated. In this story we see how Orwell is placed into a situation where he torn between pleasing the people of Burma, his personal morals, and the safety of…
person, does not mean the others agree with them too. For example, in “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, the speaker ponders whether he should kill the elephant to please the people. Whether he shoots it or not, not everyone would be pleased with his decision.In addition, the speaker of “Shooting an Elephant” is a sub-divisional police officer and a lot of people hate him, thus leading him wanting to please the people by shooting the elephant. Orwell persuades the readers that under…
motives for the way imperialist governments act; "I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind” (Orwell 299). He realizes that by enforcing the rule, he had lost his freedom to think for himself. After the shooting, we are told how the older European men said he had legally done the right thing and the younger men said it was a “damn shame” (Orwell 302) that a valuable elephant had to be shot because it had killed “a coolie”(Orwell 302). These words seem…
Tempest (1611) by William Shakespeare and the short story, Shooting an Elephant (1936) by George Orwell, these texts effectively portray the power of discoveries, capable of altering one’s perspectives. Discoveries may be difficult to overcome as there are often barriers preventing the individual from accepting their unexpected discoveries. In The Tempest, Prospero conjured up a storm, bringing…
George Orwell’s short story “Shooting an Elephant” offers insight into the ideals of leadership within a foreign environment and how it is the majority who influence the leader, not the leader who influences the majority. In “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell demonstrates the power that a crowd can have over an individual by manipulating their ego. In many ways everyone is sycophantic; it is part of human nature, and it is what causes many people to push away their morality when it is needed…
George Orwell saw fist had the good and the bad that comes with imperializing a country. Three important symbols that come together to give a vivid description in Orwell’s “shooting an Elephant” are , the rifle, the elephant, and the villagers. A rifle can be week, powerful, large, or small. The rifle in Orwell’s “shooting an Elephant” fistly represents England 's power. England was losing its power as a rifle can as it ages. A rifle can be improved, it can be fitted with new parts therefore…
did not go as planned so he kept on going. It was a hideous sight, not just with Orwell trying to end this poor creatures life as quickly as possible but also he himself was vicious. Orwell stated that his hits made no impression to the elephant. Shooting the elephant did not kill it right away, however, it did damage to the animal. His technique to killing the elephant made no impression to him, but clearly, it did to the elephant. It added a great amount of discomfort to the elephant. The way…
His dilemma is the same than one that we may confront with work that conflicts with the our ethical excellence or moral values and we always face all these challenges every day even from the past or present. I believe that George Orwell’s 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…
We’ve all heard about killing a mockingbird; a horrible thing. What about shooting an elephant? In Shooting an Elephant, by George Orwell, the main character is a police officer from Great Britain during the Imperialism Era. Stationed in Burma, the main character is hated by nearly everyone. On a seemingly normal day, an untamed elephant was reported running rampant through Burma. In an effort to track down the elephant, the officer finds the latest victim of the elephant, mauled beyond…
similarities, unique differences can be found surrounding the “peer pressure” the characters from both stories feel. First of all, the main difference in both these characters is that one of them gave in to the peer pressure and the other didn’t. In Shooting an Elephant, George gave in to the peer pressure as he felt that the easier way would be the better way to evade the problem. He decided to shoot and kill the elephant just like the Burmese wanted him to, even though his heart wasn’t in it.…