Shooting an Elephant Main Themes. Following is the major theme of the essay Shooting an Elephant. Ills of British Imperialism: George Orwell, in the narrative essay Shooting an Elephant, expresses his feelings towards British imperialism. The British Raj did not care for anything but for their own material wealth and their ruling personas A short essay is words long, Express opinions of other people using your own words or use short quotes with further analysis. essays are: “Phoning It In” by Stanley Bing, “Beer Can” by John Updike, “Of Revenge” by Francis Bacon, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, “Assassins of The Mind” by Christopher text analysis: reflective essay In a reflective essay, the writer makes a connection between a personal observation and a universal idea, such as love, honor, or freedom. In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell reflects on a specific incident from his time as a young police officer in British-ruled Burma during the s. Paradoxically, readers
Shooting an Elephant | The Orwell Foundation
The essay explores an apparent paradox about the behaviour of Europeans, who supposedly have the power over their colonial subjects. Orwell begins by relating some of his memories from his time as a young police officer working in Burma. Although the extent to which the essay is autobiographical has been disputed, we will refer to the narrator as Orwell himself, for ease of reference.
He, like other British and European people in imperial Burma, was held in contempt by the native populace, with Burmese men tripping him up during football matches between the Europeans and Burmans, and the local Buddhist priests loudly insulting their European colonisers on the streets. Orwell tells us that these experiences instilled in him two things: it confirmed his view, which he had already formed, that imperialism was evil, shooting an elephant essay analysis, but it also inspired a hatred of the enmity between the European imperialists and their native subjects.
Of course, these two things are related, shooting an elephant essay analysis, and Orwell understands why the Buddhist priests hate living under European rule. The main story which Orwell relates takes place in Moulmein, in Lower Burma. An elephant, one of the tame elephants which the locals own and use, has given its rider or mahout the slip, and has been wreaking havoc throughout the bazaar, shooting an elephant essay analysis. It has destroyed a hut, killed a cow, and raided some fruit stalls for food.
Orwell picks up his rifle and gets on his pony to go and see what he can do. Orwell discovers that the elephant has just trampled a man, a coolie or native labourer, to the ground, killing shooting an elephant essay analysis. Orwell sends his pony away and calls for an elephant rifle which would be more effective against such a big animal.
Going in search of the elephant, Orwell finds it coolly eating some grass, looking as harmless as a cow. It has calmed down, but by this point a crowd of thousands of local Burmese people has amassed, and is watching Orwell intently.
So he shoots the elephant from a safe distance, marvelling at how long the animal takes to die. He acknowledges at the end of the essay that he only shot the elephant because he did not wish to look like a fool. It is about how so much of our behaviour is shaped, not by what we want to do, nor even by what we think is the right thing to do, shooting an elephant essay analysis, but by what others will think of us.
Orwell confesses that he had spent his whole life trying to avoid being laughed at, and this is one of his key motivations when dealing with the elephant: not to invite ridicule or laughter from the Burmese people watching him. 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. The crowd would laugh at me.
That would never do. Being trampled to death by the elephant might be something that Orwell could live with as it were ; but being laughed at? Unthinkable …. And from this point, Orwell extrapolates his own experience to consider the colonial experience at large: the white European may think he is in charge of his colonial subjects, but ironically — even paradoxically — the coloniser loses his own freedom when he takes it upon himself to subjugate and rule another people:.
I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it. He is the alien in their land, which helps to explain this second paradox, but the first is more elusive. However, even this paradox is perhaps explicable. He may have a gun, but they have the numbers. But he does it anyway, in an act that is purely for show, and which goes against his own will and instinct.
Hmm now I make another connection here. A degree of the hypocrisy of human society. I know it is all very post-modernist to consider things from a non-human point of view, but there seems a very obvious mirroring here.
Circuses — it still goes on, tragically. Shooting an elephant essay analysis The Best Shooting an elephant essay analysis Orwell Essays Everyone Should Read — Interesting Literature. Pingback: 10 of the Best Works by George Orwell — Interesting Literature. One biographer claimed that the incident never took place and is pure fiction created to make the points you mention.
Is there any proof that it actually happened? Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon, shooting an elephant essay analysis.
Share this: Tweet. Like this: Like Loading Robin Saikia April 5, at pm. Paul CONNOLLY March 29, at pm. Caroline March 29, at pm. Absolutely fascinating and very though provoking. Thank you. interestingliterature March 29, at pm. Thanks, Caroline! Shooting an elephant essay analysis kind Loading Subscribe via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.
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"Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell is a narrative essay about Orwell's time as a police officer for the British Raj in colonial Burma. The essay delves into an inner conflict that Orwell experiences in his role of representing the British Empire and upholding the law 1 day ago · An essay on human population essay linkers essay elephant an Shooting conclusion. Hero personality essay topics for essay writing for grade 7, essay on pen in nepali language the youth before and now essay research papers on historical perspective essay on the cold war social justice case study beowulf analytical essay "Shooting an Elephant" is an essay by British writer George Orwell, first published in the literary magazine New Writing in late and broadcast by the BBC Home Service on 12 October The essay describes the experience of the English narrator, possibly Orwell himself, called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant while working as a police
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