An Elephant-Sized Dilemma Everyone‚ of all ages and time periods‚ faces a moral dilemma. This may be about a smaller problem or matters of life and death that have a far more wide-ranging impact‚ such as imperialism. In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant‚” an unnamed narrator‚ despite his initial reluctance‚ succumbs to collective pressures to shoot a marauding elephant in Lower Burma. Orwell comments on the dangers of collective pressure and the horrors of imperialism in order to explore the
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Shooting An Elephant – George Orwell Orwell begins his essay by describing the intense hatred of the Burmese for their European masters. In Moulmein‚ in Lower Burma‚ I was hated by large numbers of people‚ the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me. Europeans were spit at‚ jeered at‚ and insulted. As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. I feel his sympathies were on the side of the Burmese‚ and
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The character that I identify with the most is Orwell in “Shooting an Elephant” because of his struggle to do what is morally right when society wants him to be or do something different. I think I sometimes struggle to do what is morally right when an entire world pushes me to conform. For example‚ what if I know a friend has cheated on a test but I cannot say anything to the teacher because after all he or she is my friend. Or‚ when a coworker gets reprimanded by our boss for something I did and
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Shooting an Elephant: Imperialism When the word“dictator” comes to mind‚ humans are dolorous and empathetic. A great proof of this fact was observed during the early parts of the 20th century when oppression and iron fisted rule was established as a social normalcy in much of the world. The oppressive days of totalitarianism have passed and were marked by the death of the infamous and grandiose era of imperialism. Nonetheless‚ it left a bad imprint upon the countries and people that were involved
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George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant” In the essay “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell argues that imperialism ruins and hurts not just a countries’ economic‚ cultural and social structure‚ but has other far reaching consequences; oppression undermines the psychological‚ emotional and behavioral development of mankind. Orwell served his country‚ the British Empire‚ in Burma during the early 20’s as a police officer. The country was colonized by the most powerful economical leader in Europe.
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"Shooting an Elephant‚" by George Orwell is a first person view on living and working as a European police officer in Moulmein‚ Lower Burma. There was a bit of tension between the locals and the foreign law enforcement since the British had taken over the country‚ so Orwell was not thought fondly of. The climax of this essay was when a otherwise tame elephant starts rampaging because is had gone into "must" a term used on page 118 that means in heat. The owner loses track of the animal in the
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approval. George Orwell in “Shooting an elephant” and Langston Hughes in “Salvation” deal with the issue of “fitting in” in very different ways. George Orwell describes to us in “Shooting an elephant” the struggle that his character faces when to win the mobs approval and respect when he shoots down an innocent animal and sacrifices what he believes to be right. Orwell is a police officer in Moulmein‚ during the period of the British occupation of Burma. An escaped elephant gives him the opportunity
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April 18‚ 2016 Shooting an Elephant v Group Minds Every decision made‚ will affect us‚ wether it’s in a negative or positive way. Everyone at some point in their lives will experience some form of peer pressure. Peer pressure is a very influential when we are making decisions. Peer pressure encourages other people to change the way they are or values to please those who are influencing us‚ which can be a group or an individual. In comparing and contrasting the essays “Shooting an Elephant” by George
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Orwell’s autobiographical account of shooting and eventually killing an elephant presents the animal and its death sympathetically as it died a slow‚ painful death. Through the language‚ the author evokes sympathy towards the elephant and a slightly more complex feeling towards the author who‚ although he kills the elephant‚ suffers inwardly during the process and appears to be affected by the Burman crowd’s greed to strip the carcass. In the society Orwell lived in‚ hunting was common amongst
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During the time of imperialistic rule‚ rich empires were able to take over those of lesser value and benefit from their resources. This is the exact situation going on in Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell; the British had taken over the Burmese. Through Orwell’s use of stylistic and rhetorical strategies‚ he conveys the inferior attitude he has towards himself and the trapped‚ conflicted attitude he feels towards his position in Burma‚ which both stem from the negative aspects of imperialism
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