Orwell’s short story “Shooting an Elephant‚” is set in Burma during the British rule. The narrator is a white policeman who is forced to shoot an elephant that has gone rogue and is destroying crops and buildings and has killed one person. He gathers his guns and sets off in the direction of the rogue elephant and his following of natives increases as he gets closer to the elephant. The elephant’s owner is not in town so he is forced to make a decision about shooting the elephant. The narrator is torn
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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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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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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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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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“Shooting an Elephant” study questions 1. Describe the nature of the voice in the opening paragraph. Is there any humor and irony? 2. You already came up with some ideas about Orwell’s attitude toward imperialism‚ and now it is time to come up with some examples from the text. 3. What is Orwell’s attitude toward the native people? You also already brainstormed on that‚ but where in the text do you see examples of Orwell’s attitude towards the native people? - Orwell feels hated by the Indian
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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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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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