“Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell in 1936. “Shooting an Elephant” is written chronologically and is a 1st person narrative. The tone of the essay is discomforting. The story takes place in Burma in the 1920’s. It depicts a situation in which the main character‚ a young Englishman‚ who is serving as a police officer‚ encounters a ravaging elephant while he is on duty. The anonymous narrator is a questioning colonialist that throughout the story struggles with three
Premium British Empire George Orwell Colonialism
Orwell spent the next twenty years as a writer; the essay “Shooting an Elephant‚” set in the Burma of the 1920s and written in 1936‚ is one of his most famous works. In the early twentieth century‚ Burma was still a colony of Britain but anti-imperialism protests and social movements developed very fast‚ causing “great tension between Burmese‚ Indians and English‚ between civilians and police” (Meyers 56). Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant” is based on this historical tension. In this essay‚ Orwell
Premium George Orwell Burma Shooting an Elephant
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
Premium Burma George Orwell Shooting an Elephant
“Shooting an Elephant” In “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell is not liked by the Burmese people because he is the representation of their oppressors‚ the British. He gets his chance to be the hero when an elephant gets loose and causes destruction and the people need him to kill the beast. What would have happened if he didn’t shoot the elephant? Why Orwell feel so awful about killing the elephant? Orwell decides to kill the elephant‚ but does he do it for the right reason? In Orwell’s essay
Premium KILL Burma George Orwell
The Two Salvations Often in modern times‚ spectacular works of writing become splendid works of theater or film. However‚ some directors alter the tale in ways that may better suit a live telling of the story. Salvation is a short film based on the short story “Salvation”‚ written by Langston Hughes as part of his autobiography The Big Sea. After reading the narrative and watching the movie‚ the two tales may seem similar‚ however‚ they are different. Langston Hughes’ “Salvation” starts of with
Premium Film Fiction Narrative
Orwell condemns it and thinks of it as only a façade of power. In ”Shooting an Elephant”‚ he conveys the ironic‚ powerless and evil nature of Imperialism through the experience of himself as a young British officer shooting the elephant against his own will in order to maintain the image of the imperial power in Burma. This is shown specifically through the relationship between the British and Burmese‚ the portrayal of the elephant as well as development of the inner conflicts of the protagonist.
Premium British Empire George Orwell Burma
Shooting an Elephant Summary: Set during the early 1900’s‚ the narrator recount his experiences as an English police officer stationed in Burma. He often describes that the British presence there were greatly despised and that he himself has been a target multiple times by the Burmese people. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” (229) Being there to do the dirty work of the British empire‚ the narrator gets to see what imperialism really
Premium George Orwell British Empire Burma
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
Premium Burma George Orwell Shooting an Elephant
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
Premium Burma English-language films George Orwell
My Interpretation of "Shooting An Elephant" By Christina Harry 06/19/2013 English Composition 111 "Shooting An Elephant" by George Orwell (1903-1950) is to me‚ a memoir of the time he spent in Moulmein‚ Burma‚ as a European sub-divisional police officer of the town. He was sent there to attempt control of the unruly Burmese people by the British Empire. Orwell was a white European and was hated by the people because
Premium Burma George Orwell British Empire