George Orwell Shooting An Elephant

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Recommended: Analyze George Orwell's Shooting an elephant

Mankind acts in a situation to determine the outcome. Control of a man indicates pressure from the crowd where George Orwell writes in the story, “Shooting an Elephant.” In the narrative story, Orwell considers shooting an elephant for the crowd’s pleasure. From the negative comments, Burman’s made, he recognizes a way for the harsh remarks to stop. The crowd yells for him to pull the trigger, but he did not want to kill. Even though, he decided to not shoot, the crowd kept on yelling, causing Orwell to act out of rage. He pulls the trigger of the gun and as he turned to the crowd the Burman’s saw him as a hero instead of a pointless human being. The pressure of others manipulates the self-identity of an individual. Allowing others to determine self-worth impacts a man’s actions. Society’s cruel words torments the reaction of the individual. The crowd’s laughter influence Orwell’s reaction, “In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves” (Orwell, 2014, p. …show more content…

Society determines suitable or misbehaving decisions with the influence of pressure. With attention from others, Orwell considers, “The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly” (Orwell, 2014, p. 230). From cruel nagging, the individual decisions tend to reverse. The pressure of others causes society to compromise with the oppressors. Society impels individual’s actions, Orwell discovers, “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd—seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by those yellow faces behind” (Orwell, 2014, p. 230). Society pushes an individual to the point where the individual questions their identity. With fierce comments, an individual’s decision

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