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Imperialism introduction Essay
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Shooting an elephant symbolism imperialism
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George Orwell, born in India, now a British writer is known for his essays and novels. George Orwell wrote the essay “Shooting an Elephant” to express the time he went through in Burma as a British officer during the imperialism time period. Orwell represents the evil of imperialism, and the impact it had on the Burmese and the British Empire through symbolism such as the rifle, the elephant, and Orwell himself.
First Orwell uses the rifle to symbolize power and strength. One way the rifle represents power is by the noise of the shots. Orwell states, “I thought the noise might be useful in terrorem” (324). When the Burmese hear the shots, they stop in their steps because they know the British are around. The Burmese know the British will harm them if they don’t do what the British want, because the British have all the power. Another way the rifle is represented by power is by the British Empire.
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The elephant represents the innocence, slow death, and the colonized people. All of these things show how imperialism changes everything around them, and sometimes it takes people a while to realize it. Innocence shows that imperialism hides things, and that it’s hard to realize what is going on. Orwell is so young that he doesn’t realize the negative impact the British had on the Burmese. Orwell says, “I as young and ill-educated” (323). The slow death represents that everything around them is dying, including the people who enforce imperialism on others. The slow death symbolizes the ideals of the British Empire are slowly dying. Orwell says, “I did not even know that the British Empire is dying” (323). Imperialism had major effects on the colonized people of Burma. They are no longer allowed to do what they use to do before the British came in. Now they have to follow the British ideals and not their own. Soon they will get tired of being pushed around and rebel against the British Empire, and fight for their
George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is a short story that not only shows cultural divides and how they affect our actions, but also how that cultural prejudice may also affect other parties, even if, in this story, that other party may only be an elephant. Orwell shows the play for power between the Burmese and the narrator, a white British police-officer. It shows the severe prejudice between the British who had claimed Burma, and the Burmese who held a deep resentment of the British occupation. Three messages, or three themes, from Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” are prejudice, cultural divide, and power.
The rhetorical aim of expression appears when Orwell starts by stating that he is in Moulmein, in Lower Burma as a “sub-divisional police officer of the town” (243). Throughout the essay, he continues offering personal experience when he is searching for the elephant. He writes, “I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary” (246). Orwell knew his intention is never to shoot an elephant. Orwell concludes his essay with the realization that he “should have to shoot the elephant after all” (247), and executes the shooting of the elephant. Orwell remains expressive and narrative throughout the essay by only expressing his own experience upon this
George Orwell is a novel writer, born in India and have only spent five days there. Ida Mabel Limouzin, his mother, brought him and his sister too England while his father stayed in India. The novel Shooting an Elephant, that George wrote, took place in the bottom of Burma in the middle of Moulmein. The story is about George Orwell hesitating to kill an Elephant that has killed a man. All George planned to do was to test the elephant to see if it really meant any harm. George feels pressured by the crowd following him because they expect him to kill the elephant. He eventually made the decision to kill the elephant to make the mad crowd happy and plus he doesn’t want to fail at doing his job. Throughout the story George Orwell exert many Metaphor
The quest for power is one which has been etched into the minds of men throughout history. However, it can be said that true power is not a result of one’s actions but comes from the following one’s own beliefs without being influenced by others. This principle sets up the story for Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell. The protagonist, Orwell himself, is a sub divisional police officer in Burma, a British colony. Orwell must try to find and use his inner power when he is faced with the decision of whether or not to kill an elephant which has ravaged the Burman’s homes. The state of power established through the imperialistic backdrop show that Orwell, as a colonist, should be in control. As well, the perspective and ideas given by Orwell show his true character and lessen the overall power set up for him. Lastly, the symbols shown are representations of traditional forms of power, but take on different implications in the story. In Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell uses setting, characterization and symbols to show that true power comes from following the dictates of one’s conscience.
The essay “Shooting an Elephant,” was written by George Orwell. Orwell was a British author best known for his essays and novels. In “Shooting an Elephant,” the title essay of his 1950 collection, Orwell is a British Police Officer in Lower Burma. After an elephant comes rampaging through the village in must, killing an Indian man, Orwell is looked upon to take care of the problem. The intense scene causes Orwell to make a crucial decision, reflecting on the vicious imperialism with the military in Burma during this time. The author portrays his feelings through the theme of the narrative with feelings such as, guilt, hate, and pressured.
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.
Orwell speaks of how he is so against imperialism, but gives in to the natives by shooting the elephant to prove he is strong and to avoid humiliation. He implies that he does not want to be thought of as British, but he does not want to be thought the fool either. Orwell makes his decision to shoot the elephant appear to be reasonable but underneath it all he questions his actions just as he questions those of the British. He despised both the British Empire as well as the Burmese natives, making everything more complicated and complex. In his essy he shows us that the elephant represents imperialism; therefore, the slow destruction of the elephant must represent the slow demise of British Imperialism.
Every day, each individual will look back on decisions he or she have made and mature from those experiences. Though it takes time to realize these choices, the morals and knowledge obtained from them are priceless. In George Orwell’s nonfictional essay, “Shooting an Elephant”, a young Orwell was stationed in Burma for the British imperial forces, tasked to deal with an elephant who destroyed various parts of the village Moulmein while its owner was away. Backed by second thoughts and a crowd of thousands, he finds himself shooting the elephant and reflecting that it was not justified; however, it was a choice pushed by his duty and the people. Written with a fusion of his young and old self’s outlook on shooting the elephant, Orwell’s essay is a sensational read that captivates his audience and leaves them questioning his decision.
When he finial find the elephant Orwell say “I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him.” But when he lays his eyes on the crowd he changes his stance to “but I did not want to shoot the elephant.”(Orwell 199). He felt guilty for shooting the elephant when he describe that the elephant worth more alive than dead, but despite the many reason not to shoot the elephant, he took a shot. Orwell describes “when I pulled the trigger I did not hear the bang or feel the kick …I fired again into the same spot…I fired a third time. That was the shot that did it for him.”(199) the shooting of the elephant represent the Burma people trying to stay alive and over powering by the
In George Orwell novel, “Shooting an Elephant” he expresses his fear and indefinite feelings of shooting an elephant so that he can impress the natives of his town as a white man. Orwell’s purpose is to convey the white men of his town that holding a rifle in his hand means that he is self-reliant and can impress the natives. He creates a inside imagery of a convinced feeling and encouragement by the thousands of people that crowded the streets just to see him shot a elephant. By doing so, he builds the confidence from the town people that followed him as a way to show that natives what they expect from him. In George Orwell’s novel “Shooting an Elephant”, he gives the reader a observable understanding through his use of words using his imagery, tone words, and figurative language.
From the beginning of the narrative “Shooting An Elephant,” George Orwell creates a character with a diminished sense of self. The character narrates, “I was hated by large numbers of people -- the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me” (Orwell, 58). All he wants is attention and it is evident that even negative attention is better than being ignored. He hates working for the British as a sub-divisional police officer in the town of Moulmein. He even makes it known to the audience that, “Theoretically -- and secretly, of course -- I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British” (58). The character knows he does not want to be in this position, as a Anglo-Indian
Orwell’s use of symbolism is perhaps his greatest stylistic technique, as it weaves together the theme of Imperialism. The elephant represents British Imperialism, which Orwell must kill. Meanwhile, the cheering of the natives signifies his conscience throughout the novel. Before shooting the elephant, Orwell describes the crowd using a metaphor, a stylistic element by narrating, “And suddenly I realized I would have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly” (299). Orwell uses a metaphor to describe the natives as a physical force, implying his want to earn the respect of the Burmese and go against his duties as an Imperial police officer. Orwell’s need to please the Burmese is seen when he shoots the elephant, freeing himself from representing British Rule. By using the natives as a form of conscience, the narrator is able to come to terms with his inner conflict and earn the respect of the
Like the elephant, the empire is dominant. The elephant, an enormous being in the animal kingdom, represents the British Empire in its magnitude. The size represents power as it is assumed that the two are insuppressible. Also, the elephant and the British empire, both share hideousness in the effect it causes in Burma. To create a comparison between the elephant and the empire, the author describes the elephant as wild and terrorizing when the “elephant was ravaging the bazaar” (324); thus, it symbolizes the British Empire is restraining the economy of the Burmese. When the elephant kills the Indian laborer, it represents the British oppressing the Burmese. On the other hand, the elephant is a symbol of colonialism. Like the natives of Burma who have been colonized and who abuse Orwell, the elephant has a destructive behavior by being provoked and oppressed “it had been chained up” (324). Despite the fact of its aggressive behavior and the Burmese’ more astute rebelliousness could be undeniably good things, they are doing their best given the oppressive conditions, both the Burmese and the elephant have to endure. Also, the elephant symbolizes the economy of the oppressor, as well as the oppressed. This animal is a “working elephant” (326) in Burma, and for the colonial power. The Burmese are also working animals because they are hard workers and involuntarily are following the rules of the British empire.
Orwell’s differing techniques in one work illuminates what he is talking about in the other. The political purpose that is explained in Why I Write reveals aspects of Shooting an Elephant that were previously overlooked. Quite explicitly, the speaker in Shooting an Elephant vocalizes the dissent he feels for the British empire. The political purpose in this work may have been to voice the opinion that no people should be subject to oppression. Even though the Burmese people jeered at the speaker for his European heritage, the speaker still saw beyond the prejudice to consider the underlying reason behind this foul treatment; he even went to the extent to agree with them and join in on the fight against the empire. This level of maturity that Orwell instills in his main character voices his opinion for freedom even louder than a character or storyline that outright fought against the literal British empire, or any other oppressive regime. By incorporating this political purpose so deeply within his story, Orwell preserves a writer’s integrity of creating meaningful work that voices an opinion but is still tactfully crafted. In Why I Write, George Orwell touches on these different types of writing, writing that is crafted and writing that is produced. “You’ve turned what might have been a good book into
"Shooting an Elephant" is perhaps one of the most anthologized essays in the English language. It is a splendid essay and a terrific model for a theme of narration. The point of the story happens very much in our normal life, in fact everyday. People do crazy and sometimes illegal moves to get a certain group or person to finally give them respect. George Orwell describes an internal conflict between his personal morals and his duty to his country to the white man's reputation. The author's purpose is to explain the audience (who is both English and Burmese) about the kind of life he is living in Burma, about the conditions, circumstances he is facing and to tell the British Empire what he think about their imperialism and his growing displeasure for the imperial domination of British Empire.