George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant George Orwell writes of his experience in British-ruled India in the early twentieth century as a sub-divisional police officer in the sovereign Southeast Asia state of Burma. His essay presents a powerful theme of inner conflict. Orwell’s strong inner conflict lies between what he believes as a human being and what he should do as an imperial police officer. Orwell immediately claims his perspective on British imperialism saying that it is evil and that he
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People all over the world have to make choices that can‚ and will‚ change certain areas of their lives. Some will be more important than others. They can be defining moments in many’s lives‚ as it was for the narrator of "Shooting an Elephant." He made a decision in the moment‚ one that can be difficult to analyze. One must take the ethics of the action into consideration‚ as well as his motivation and how the action affected him after. Just figuring out the details of his decision can show what
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SG Orwell ’s Relationship with the Burmese in “Shooting an Elephant” The relationship between Orwell and the Burmese in George Orwell ’s “Shooting an Elephant‚” is a complex relationship filled with hatred. Regardless of Orwell ’s personal morals and beliefs on imperialism‚ he still upholds the duties of his job and has desire to show he is not in any shape or form inferior to any Burman‚ while the Burmese show nothing but ridicule and loathe for Orwell. This relationship shared between Orwell
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ghed at.” Seeing as Westerners have been the perpetrators of imperialism for the past several centuries‚ it is to them that his message is directed. Purpose: Orwell’s purpose in “Shooting an Elephant” is to persuade his audience that imperialism is harmful to all parties involved. The harms of imperialism are illustrated with Orwell’s words‚ “I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.” This evidences the harms of imperialism by showing
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In the story “Shooting and Elephant” by George Orwell‚ the essay is based on the authors experience with the Indian Imperial Police. The narrator had begun to question the presence of the British who were located in the Far East. Orwell was for the Burmese and against their oppressors the British. He described himself as being a “young ill-educated‚” who bitterly hated his job. I think that the narrator was writing this story to inform about how the natives hated the British as any country would
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What do you expect? Before reading the essay‚ at the first sight of browsing through the title ”Shooting an elephant‚” it stroke me as an issue discussing the protection of extinct animals and what came to my mind is the impression of how human beings ravage the habitat of animals. With the story moving ahead‚ I assumed that the narrator would not yield to the external pressure he had been given. Nevertheless‚ it turned out that he eventually shot the elephant in a brutal and cruel way. What happens
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7/26/15 ENG 101 Response Analysis The reading‚ "Shooting an Elephant" takes place in Moulmein. He starts of the story in spectacle as to why the locals have so much hatred toward the Europeans when in all reality his main goal was only to help and protect the townspeople from any hurt‚ harm or danger that may come their way. In this story‚ the police officer’s duty was to respond to a report of the death of a man who was killed by a stray elephant. Upon approaching the dead man‚ he finds the man
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SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT (JOURNAL) This story begins in Moulmain‚ in lower Burma. The author speaks about his experiences while he was working as a police officer. In this time‚ Orwell was a young inexperienced soldier. He was in that place to protect the Queen’s interests. He had to do unethical things that made conflicts himself. When he mentions that he killed an elephant I feel his pangs of conscience. The elephant destroyed a village before it died. The villagers were furious about all the mess
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The desire for power can lead to the person’s physical death‚ as shown in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and it can also lead to the death of metaphorical aspects of the person‚ such as their humanity which is revealed in “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell. In “Shooting an Elephant” the greed of the empire leads to its own downfall as well as to the loss of its humanity. The loss of the British Empire’s humanity is shown in the use of words that have animal imagery or connotations in connection to
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The essay is about an officer who must make a decision whether to shoot an elephant or not. From the very beginning the officer is saying that he is hated by a large number of people. He starts off as an honest man in my opinion. Will he continue being an honest man throughout the story? The officer was a subdivisional police officer of a town and the officer describes himself as an easy target. This officer even admits that he does not like his job. Like the officer‚ I too had a choice to make‚
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