The essay “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell follows a young man who works as a police officer in Moulmein in Lower Burma. At this time, the British had taken control of Burma and the people of the country were very harsh toward any European. George Orwell uses diction to explain his thoughts about the natives through the tone in this essay Aug 20, · General Studies “Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell. foremost published in the journal New Writing in In this essay. the writer tells his ain narrative about when he was working as a constabulary officer for the Indian Imperial Police in Burma I had no intention of shooting the elephant--I. had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary--and it is. always unnerving to have a crowd following you. I marched down the hill, looking and feeling a fool, with the rifle over my shoulder and an. ever-growing army of people jostling at my heels
George Orwell Shooting An Elephant - Words | Internet Public Library
The environment of Burma had an impact on Orwell and his works. It remained an george orwell shooting an elephant essay influence throughout his literary career. Despite a strong anti European feeling among the natives making him feel guilty and bitter, the author could not help feeling for the helpless local people who did not have better means to express their anguish and disgust over imperial forces, george orwell shooting an elephant essay.
Orwell felt a strong remorse and therefore resigned when he was in England on a leave. However, he continued to publish several literary pieces that showed his strong disgust against the imperial evil in Asia.
The incident portrayed in the essay took place in Moulmein, now known as Mawlamyine. Orwell starts with a depiction of local hatred against Europeans and his bitter experiences. While their European oppressors were successful at suppressing revolts of all form, locals demonstrated their hatred whenever they had a chance. Often feeling that strong and bitter hatred in the form of an angry laughter could be a bone chilling experience for Orwell. What made the hatred against him even sharper was his position of a police george orwell shooting an elephant essay. It was quite likely that several of them hated him enough to kill him if george orwell shooting an elephant essay could dare to.
Nobody dared raise a riot for the fear of strong action from the imperial police force but still if ever a European woman ventured in the market alone, one would spit betel juice on her clothes. Orwell describes how he was tripped up by a Burman on the football field and the Burman referee ignored it while the crowd gave a hideous laugh. The Burmese monks were an even bigger problem, irritating him the most. They had no task but to jeer at the Europeans and these Buddhist monks were everywhere in Burma.
Burma is called the land of Golden Pagodas and there are still around Pagodas there. There has always lived a large population of Buddhist monk on the Burmese land, george orwell shooting an elephant essay. Like the other natives, the burmese monks too were against the imperial rule and Orwell was bothered by the way they reacted to his presence.
It made him loathe his job of a police officer. Orwell draws a stark picture of the cruelties meted out to the local people by their oppressors. In the second paragraph, he describes the job of an imperial policemen and how cruel a job it was, george orwell shooting an elephant essay. The prisons especially presented rich evidence regarding the wrongdoings of the British.
Watching inmates inside locked and stinky cages sitting with cowed faces and scarred hearts filled the author with an intolerable sense of guilt. However, Orwell was caught in a bitter dilemma and while he was feeling unlucky at being a part of the British tyranny, on the other he could not help feeling bad about how locals retaliated with disgust. The stubbornness with which these Buddhist monks could tease him made him feel helpless. However, he calls these feelings a by-product of British imperialism.
Orwell felt undereducated and under experienced which made him all the more perplexed, george orwell shooting an elephant essay. While he was growing bitter of imperialism, something happened that let him understand better why these despotic governments acted the way they did. It was an ordinary morning till he received a call from another sub inspector downtown that a wild elephant was out of control and he must do something because george orwell shooting an elephant essay was ravaging the town.
What followed was both tragic and comic; childish and serious. Orwell was worried he could hardly do anything but then he decided that he must check. He picked his old. Orwell thought that it could be used to terrorise the beast. He had broken his chains and escaped into the town and the mahout who could control it had given the wrong way to chase the beast and could not be back for twelve hours.
The Burmese people felt helpless against the elephant attack. The beast had already wreaked havoc. It had killed a cow, destroyed fruit stalls and stock and even vented its anger on the municipal van.
The sub inspector who had called Orwell was waiting for him with two constables. It was one of the poorest corners of the town filled only with thatched huts.
Orwell could not get any definite information from the locals. Everyone was in a state of confusion. Orwell himself felt lost. He notes that in the East, the more accurate a description seems, the more inaccurate it looks when you approach the real scene.
People were pointing in different directions and Orwell had started thinking it was a prank. Suddenly, he heard some noise on one side where a woman was shooing away some kids. The man had come under the feet of the elephant. The beast had appeared there suddenly and picked the man by his trunk before grinding him with his feet. The corpse looked devilish with its eyes wide open and skin off its back. An orderly brought the rifle with five cartridges and some Burmans informed the author that the beast was in a paddy field nearby.
The locals were excited at seeing the rifle and started following the author. They were interested in seeing the elephant being shot dead. Orwell did not intend to kill the animal but had got the rifle just to protect himself in case the beast went wild; he had already started feeling foolish. The fat beast was stuffing himself when Orwell approached. The crowd behind Orwell was growing bigger. Most of them were following him like they follow a procession. It was a tame elephant and as soon as Orwell saw it, he knew he could not shoot it because that would be like wasting a piece of costly machinery, george orwell shooting an elephant essay.
Elephants did most of the heavy work in that period and losing an elephant meant losing 50 or workers. He thought it could be peacefully brought under control by the mahout. However, the crowd around him had grown. At least two thousand stood behind Orwell. The size of the crowd made Orwell sweat. He thought he would have to kill the elephant because these people were interested in seeing the elephant getting killed. Their yellow faces were eager too see the animal dead and Orwell was under increasing pressure to let them have a nice show.
George orwell shooting an elephant essay was george orwell shooting an elephant essay like a puppet before the crowd of behind him. It made him realise, he will have to act as per the convention. As an oppressor, george orwell shooting an elephant essay does not just lose his image but also trust, goodwill and most of all the love george orwell shooting an elephant essay the masses it tried to rule. It was impossible to stand and watch because that would make him look a bigger fool before the crowd.
He could not shoot the animal because it did not feel right and besides that it was worth at least a hundred pounds. The owner of the elephant stood to lose a lot. The author turned to some experienced looking Burmans to ask how the elephant was behaving. They replied it was calm but getting near it was dangerous. He quickly planned his course of action. He would go near the elephant and shoot if it charged. However, george orwell shooting an elephant essay ground was muddy and Orwell was not an excellent shooter.
If he missed and his luck was poor, he could die like a duck as the poor Dravidian coolie did. However, george orwell shooting an elephant essay, more than his own health, he was worried for the sea of yellow faces around him.
The fear of being laughed at was still making him miserable. At last, left with no alternative Orwell got down on the road and aimed at the elephant. He was not an experienced hunter and did not know where to shoot the animal so aimed for its forehead where he thought its brain was.
The crowd sighed in relief and as he pulled the trigger it cheered. The elephant did not move but seemed to be trying to beat the overwhelming pain caused by the penetrating bullet. Like he had suddenly grown too old to hold his weight, the beast sat down on its knees. With the second shot he tried to get back on his feet and the third shot brought him down but he seemed to be struggling to remain on his feet till at last he fell.
He had trumpeted just once before falling and his breathing continued after he fell. So, Orwell fired the remaining shots where he thought its heart was. The elephant was not dying and so Orwell got his small rifle and poured more bullets into him trying to rid him of the misery he was undergoing in his last moments.
He got away from the scene. Later, he was pained to know it took the animal at least half an hour to die. The Burmans were eager to have its meat. They stripped its bones of all the flesh by afternoon. Heated discussions followed the shooting and the Indian owner was angry but could do nothing. However, Orwell was legally right since the animal had killed a person. The older Europeans thought he had done the right thing whereas the younger ones thought it was not worth it since the coolie was worth nothing before an elephant.
Orwell felt good that the coolie had been killed since it made him legally right to have killed the animal. However, he had done it solely to avoid looking a fool before natives and wondered if any of the Europeans could have guessed that. The essay ends at a comic note but it is difficult to avoid feeling the hidden sarcasm. Orwell shows that while he has been feeling like a fool, it is easy to see others are bigger fools who neither know their own conscience and nor understand the feelings of the natives.
The essay has a comic and sarcastic tone and Orwell uses this interesting incident to explain the situation unfolding in Burma. Just to avoid the situation getting too comic he does something that makes him feel even comic inside.
Goerge Orwell’s Shooting An Elephant ( Part – III )
, time: 34:44George Orwell's Essay on his Life in Burma: "Shooting An Elephant" | NEH-Edsitement
Jul 07, · 7 July 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 blogger.comted Reading Time: 3 mins The essay “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell follows a young man who works as a police officer in Moulmein in Lower Burma. At this time, the British had taken control of Burma and the people of the country were very harsh toward any European. George Orwell uses diction to explain his thoughts about the natives through the tone in this essay Aug 20, · General Studies “Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell. foremost published in the journal New Writing in In this essay. the writer tells his ain narrative about when he was working as a constabulary officer for the Indian Imperial Police in Burma
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