Readers Response to George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant The first time I found myself reading the short story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell was during my senior year of high school. As an animal lover‚ the title was as intriguing as it was unappealing. Why would you want to shoot an elephant? That question is one that the character‚ the author himself‚ asks throughout the story as it’s told. It starts by introducing himself as a white sub-divisional police officer serving in Moulmein
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In George Orwell’s first places hort story‚”Shooting An Elephant”‚ written in 1936‚ George explains his experience of working with the Indian Imperial Police. The story takes place in Moulmein‚ in Lower burma. George is working there as a sub-divisional officer where he is seen as a target due to the fact that he is English and works for the British. He was constantly picked on and had felt guilty about the job since he hated imperialism‚ but he just wanted to get his job over with as soon as possible
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story “Shooting an Elephant‚” demonstrates the total dangers of the unlimited authority a state has and the astounding presentment of “future dystopia”. In the story‚ Orwell finds himself to be in an intricate situation that involves an elephant. Not only does the fate of the elephant’s life lie in Orwell’s hands‚ he has an audience of people behind him cheering him on‚ making his decision much more difficult to make. Due to the vast crowd surrounding his thoughts‚ Orwell kills the elephant in the
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Messages in Short Stories (Three Messages from‚ “Shooting an Elephant” and “No Witchcraft for Sale”) George Orwell was born in India and was extremely familiar with elephants. He joined the police force in 1923 and resigned only after five years. His story‚ “Shooting an Elephant”‚ is his most famous writings and is based on one of his experiences during his career as a policeman. On the other hand‚ Doris Lessing‚ wrote the short story‚ “No Witchcraft for Sale.” Lessing wanted to influence
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1 “The Allegory of the Cave” and “Shooting an Elephant” seems like two completely different stories. Both of them have their own ways of showing enlightenment and ways of perceiving realities. After reading both of these tales multiple times‚ I’ve drawn some conclusions on the different ways of enlightenment that are described throughout each story. In “Shooting an Elephant‚” Policeman Eric Blair is asked to kill the elephant that was ravaging the village. Many times he would describe how he
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Chasity Diaz Shooting an Elephant Feb.18 In the first two paragraphs‚ the reader gets plenty insight into what was happening during that certain point in history. He gives clues into the time period‚ his location in terms of what country he’s in‚ and what the mood of this place is.Through all this context‚ you can infer several things about the narrator and even what is going on. He explains that during the time‚ Europeans were mistreated and he goes on to tell how he gets harassed in public so
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Shooting An Elephant In “Shooting an Elephant’‚ George Orwell described the onus of serving with the imperial police in Lower Burma‚ during a time where the British police were hated by the natives. Orwell expressed his views towards the Burmese‚ saying “Theoretically—and secretly‚ of course—I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors‚ the British.” Though he felt that way‚ they did not feel the same towards him. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever
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The act of shooting the elephant is a culmination of the officer’s ignorance of what he knows should be done. Firstly‚ the officer rationally decides that he should not shoot the elephant because “it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery” (Orwell par. 6). He also decides that the elephant “is no more dangerous than a cow” (par. 6). Secondly‚ the officer knew that shooting the elephant was morally wrong. He personified the elephant by describing it as having
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In the essay “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell is conveying the message that imperialism within a society creates an imbalance in power amongst individuals‚ where Orwell came to realize that he was not on the top of the heap but a tool to oppress the Burmese people. Orwell employs the use of metaphors to enforce his message. When Orwell states‚ “conjurer about to perform a trick”. This way of looking at Orwell is contrary to the way that white Europeans would be looked at in ordinarily. In this
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Name Instructor English 15 October 2010 "Death of an Elephant": Symbolism in Orwell As a former business major‚ whenever I read‚ whether fiction or non-fiction‚ I tend to focus too much on the surface meaning—the facts—and I often miss the subtle symbolism and deeper meaning of a piece of literature. As an English major‚ I am attempting to change‚ but I am often skeptical of symbolism‚ fearing that we may be reading too much into an author’s words. For
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