Shooting an Elephant Essays Shooting An Elephant

1. Shooting an Elephant Essays
In the essay, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell illustrates his experiences as a British police
officer in Lower Burma, and reflects it to the nature of imperialism. Since "anti–European feeling
was very bitter" due to the British Empire's dictatorship in Burma, Orwell is being treated
disrespectfully by the Burmese (12). This allows him to hate his job and the British Empire.
However, the incident of shooting of an elephant gives him a "better glimpse ... of the real nature of
imperialism – the real motives for which despotic government act" (13). Through his life experiences
as a British man, Orwell efficiently demonstrates the negative effects of imperialism on individuals
and society. With the usage of effective diction in his...show more content...
He calls himself a "puppet" to prove and emphasize the fact that even the oppressors lose their
freedom and have to live under the pressure of the people they oppress when an imperialist system
takes place in the society. Also, Orwell establishes particular effects in his essay by using different
sentence structures. As Orwell comes to the decision of shooting the elephant, he states, "To come
all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly
away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible" (15). The parallel phrases used in this
passage recaps the whole situation but the usage of anacoluthon in the end of the link allows
Orwell to show how much he is pressurized. In addition, it indicates the readers that there is no way
for him to leave the elephant alive after coming to this stage of the situation. Orwell again uses
parallel phrases to describe the effects on the elephant after the first shot: "He looked suddenly
stricken, shrunken, immensely old, as though the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him
without knocking him down" (16). This structure helps Orwell to intensify the shock and the
reaction in the readers as the elephant starts dying. Lack of a grammatical sequence is used when
Orwell goes out to kill an elephant and says, "I had no intention of shooting the elephant – I had
merely sent for the rifle
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2. Shooting An Elephant
Hunger, A.J. SR"Shooting an Elephant"
Background George Orwell is the author of the selection, "Shooting an Elephant." George Orwell
fought in the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish Civil War was fought between two parties for control
of the country. One was the ruling party, known as the Republicans. The usurpers were the
conquering party, known as the Nationalists. The Nationalists were lead by the reluctant leader,
General Franco. He had been stiffed by the government and sent to a military base to basically stay
away and twiddle his thumbs. The role that soldiers like George Orwell would have played was
putting boots on the ground for Republicans. They were used especially in defense of the city of
Madrid. On the other hand, The Fascists...show more content...
The officer then is walking around town one day when he hears that there is an elephant running
rampant in the town. "It had already destroyed somebody's bamboo ht, killed a cow and raided some
fruit–stalls and devoured the stock; also it had met the municipal rubbish van and, when the driver
jumped out and took to his heels had turned the van over and inflicted violence upon it" (3). The
author then preceded to where the reports of the elephant had been. The peoples reports had the
elephant running in all different directions. Then the officer discovered something. "I rounded the
hut and saw a man's dead body sprawling in the mud. He was an Indian, a black Dravidian coolie,
almost naked, and he could not have been dead many minutes" (4). The author then sends an
orderly to get an elephant rifle for him. He then proceeds to look for the elephant and find him in
the rice paddies. They entire neighborhood follows him with apprehension. They are looking forward
to all the meat they will get from the dead elephant. The author then comes to a realization when he
gets to the
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