'Shooting An Elephant' By George Orwell: The Effect On Decision-Making
Sissi Lu
Dr. Rhone
WRIT 101
April 12, 2015
The Effect on Decision-making Eric Arthur Blair, who used the pen name George Orwell, was a British writer whose literature is marked by criticism of social injustice. The essay “Shooting an Elephant” is one of George Orwell’s most well-known works. The essay was wrote in 1936, it describes a story what happened in 1926, while Orwell was working as a British police officer in Burma, where in order to build the role of an assertive police officer and a brave white man, he has to shoot an aggressive elephant. He is conflicted with his character as a white, male officer and the morality deep inside his heart. Meanwhile he has to compare the influences of his act in local culture and his own culture, and he uses the story of shooting an elephant as a metaphor for the relation between the ruler and the colony. In other words, the decision to shoot the elephant was affected by the political condition, the conflicting culture, and his attitude of imperialism. Political conditions motivated Orwell to shoot the elephant. While …show more content…
Elephants meant different things to Orwell’s culture and local culture. In Burma, the elephant was a national symbol. According to mythologies, elephants are the elixir for becoming immoral, Burmese people worship elephants as holy idols. Consequently, the elephant is extremely valuable, and they must be treasured, preserved and protected (“Indian Elephant”, http://wwf.panda.org). In Orwell’s cultural background, however, shooting a living animal was morally wrong. It was illegal to kill animals (Open Government Licence, “Protection of Animals Act 1911”, http://www.legislation.gov.uk) But, Orwell did not shoot the elephant just to be conducive to prove himself, the elephant had killed an Indian man. Therefore, legally he had done the right thing, killed an aggressive elephant for its owner had lost control of
Dr. Rhone
WRIT 101
April 12, 2015
The Effect on Decision-making Eric Arthur Blair, who used the pen name George Orwell, was a British writer whose literature is marked by criticism of social injustice. The essay “Shooting an Elephant” is one of George Orwell’s most well-known works. The essay was wrote in 1936, it describes a story what happened in 1926, while Orwell was working as a British police officer in Burma, where in order to build the role of an assertive police officer and a brave white man, he has to shoot an aggressive elephant. He is conflicted with his character as a white, male officer and the morality deep inside his heart. Meanwhile he has to compare the influences of his act in local culture and his own culture, and he uses the story of shooting an elephant as a metaphor for the relation between the ruler and the colony. In other words, the decision to shoot the elephant was affected by the political condition, the conflicting culture, and his attitude of imperialism. Political conditions motivated Orwell to shoot the elephant. While …show more content…
Elephants meant different things to Orwell’s culture and local culture. In Burma, the elephant was a national symbol. According to mythologies, elephants are the elixir for becoming immoral, Burmese people worship elephants as holy idols. Consequently, the elephant is extremely valuable, and they must be treasured, preserved and protected (“Indian Elephant”, http://wwf.panda.org). In Orwell’s cultural background, however, shooting a living animal was morally wrong. It was illegal to kill animals (Open Government Licence, “Protection of Animals Act 1911”, http://www.legislation.gov.uk) But, Orwell did not shoot the elephant just to be conducive to prove himself, the elephant had killed an Indian man. Therefore, legally he had done the right thing, killed an aggressive elephant for its owner had lost control of