· Both these pieces of writing centre around an encounter with an animal, but in each case the author’s real purpose is slightly different than to merely describe their encounters with an elephant, in Orwell’s case, and a weasel, in Dillard’s. Orwell’s true purpose, apart from the inevitable element of self-revelation, which any non-fictional account will probably entail, is to create pathos in the reader, faced with the description of the shooting of the elephant Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins · George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is an essay about a British police officer living in Lower Burma who goes through the trial and error process of making the right decisions while still trying to maintain an image and position of authority. The officer is hated by the Burmese people, which is clearly shown when he would play football · Shooting an Elephant is mainly about the tussle going on in Orwell’s conscience while working as a police officer for the British in Burma. However, apart from imperialism and its effects on local life, the essay is also about how the inherent evil of imperialism is destroying the freedom of both the oppressor and the blogger.comted Reading Time: 11 mins
Essay about George Orwell: Shooting An Elephant - Words
The environment of Burma had an impact on Orwell and his works. It remained an important 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. 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 george orwell shooting an elephant essay 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 officer.
It was quite likely that several of them hated him enough to kill him if they 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay, irritating him the george orwell shooting an elephant essay. 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 george orwell shooting an elephant essay the Burmese land. 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay.
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. 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.
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 it was ravaging the town. What followed was both tragic and comic; childish and george orwell shooting an elephant essay. 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 george orwell shooting an elephant essay vented its anger on the municipal van.
The sub inspector who had called Orwell was george orwell shooting an elephant essay 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay. 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay.
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. He was feeling 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, he does not just lose his image but also trust, goodwill and most of all the love of 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 george orwell shooting an elephant essay and shoot if it charged. However, the 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 george orwell shooting an elephant essay did.
However, 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 george orwell shooting an elephant essay 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay. 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay. 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, george orwell shooting an elephant essay.
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell (Complete Essay)
, time: 19:56Example Of Shooting An Elephant George Orwell Essay | WOW Essays
· Both these pieces of writing centre around an encounter with an animal, but in each case the author’s real purpose is slightly different than to merely describe their encounters with an elephant, in Orwell’s case, and a weasel, in Dillard’s. Orwell’s true purpose, apart from the inevitable element of self-revelation, which any non-fictional account will probably entail, is to create pathos in the reader, faced with the description of the shooting of the elephant Estimated Reading Time: 8 mins Shooting an Elephant. George Orwell: Burmese Days This material remains under copyright in the US and is reproduced here with the kind assistance of the Orwell blogger.com Orwell Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to perpetuating George Orwell’s legacy, whether through the prestigious Orwell Prizes, The Orwell Youth Prize educational programme, Author: Eric Blair · Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. May 19, by Essay Writer. In Shooting an Elephant George Orwell recounted an event from his life during his stationary in Burma, that he detested. He was stuck in the middle of the situation between Burmese and British imperialism. He was faced with a moral dilemma, forcing him to make unanticipated choices Estimated Reading Time: 3 mins
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