Shooting An Elephant

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The Meaning Behind Shooting An Elephant by George Orwell
(An Analysis of three Messages from George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant)

George Orwell was the most important novelist of his century. Orwell wrote about the future of the future world. He predicted that things were going to go ad for the British colony because of imperialism. Shooting an Elephant, a personal narrative, was set in a town called Burma. Orwell explains his intense situation where he had to make a choice on shooting a raging elephant or letting him live. In the story Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell expresses three major messages.

In the personal narrative Shooting an Elephant, James Orwell expresses the fear of humiliation as a message. Orwell was worried about the bystanders laughing and mocking him if he didn’t shoot the elephant and got trampled by the raging beast. This compels him to kill the, now peaceful, animal. The elephant represents the Burmese society while Orwell’s fear symbolizes the motive of the broader British colonial project. Orwell, the imperial police officer, sacrificed his knowledge of doing what’s right to not be humiliated in front of the citizens. “But at that moment I glanced round at the crowd that had followed me.” (pg. 1322)Orwell is explaining how he …show more content…

The story is filled with examples of warped power dynamics. There is an imbalance of power in the text but Orwell uses his ability to kill the elephant for the exchange of more power. As the story goes on, it becomes more clear that Orwell and the British colonists don’t have complete power over their colonial subjects. Orwell feels that he should gain power in killing the beast, therefore the colonists will respect him. “It was perfectly clear to me what I ought to do” (page 1324). Orwell knew he shouldn't shoot the elephant but his mind took control of his actions, therefore he wanted to gain power, so he shot the

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