Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis

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“And suddenly I realized that I should 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” (4). The presumption that a ruler has absolute power over the people is proven as invalid once the ruler is dictated by the wills of the commonalty. Because of this shift in power, the speaker recognizes how a tyrant does not always have control over the masses. In “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell reveals that imperialism destroys he freedom of not just the oppressed, but also the oppressor as well. Orwell proves how imperialism destroys the freedom of both the Burmese and the agents of imperialism. In order to achieve his purpose, Orwell establishes authority through shifts in verb tense, specific knowledge, and word choice; appeals to logic through comparisons; and develops an emotional connection with the audience through imagery and …show more content…
Even more, he appeals to logic through comparisons; and establishes an emotional connection through sensory details and colloquial language, With the rhetorical strategies that Orwell employs to convey his claim, he is able to prove how tyranny is not always as what it seems. In a worthless effort to gain power, a tyrant and the common people are both affected negatively. However, majority would assume that the tyrant benefits from this, when in reality it is the opposite. Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant,” informs the audience who is unknowledgeable about imperialism to reduce the risk of making the same mistake of supporting tyranny. The individuals who have read this essay have been informed by Orwell of how to prevent unfavourable outcomes for everyone, one should not support the tyrannical

Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis

with the works of George Orwell and Henry David Thoreau. Their writings, (Shooting an Elephant and Civil Disobedience respectively), show this concept extremely well, as even though both pieces of literature focus around ethical decisions, one is unequivocally more poignant to their audience. The use of style is a big part of any form of writing, which is no different concerning the presented works. In Shooting an Elephant, George used a narrative style throughout on the account that it was a recollection…

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Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis

Relationship between imperialists and the imperialized are bound to be difficult to understand, especially from a distance. In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, he uses a variety of tones and sentence structure as well as other rhetorical strategies to prove that the victims of imperialism aren’t the people suffering; he is. Orwell opens paragraph seven with a straightforward, almost detached tone, exactly what you would expect from an imperialist police officer going to perform his duty.…

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Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis

In George Orwells’ “Shooting an Elephant” he uses moralistic diction to convey a guilty tone towards shooting the elephant. He shows this when he says “his body did not even jerk when the shots hit him the tortured breathing continued without pause”(P12)he uses the word torched to show how the elephant was dying painfully, he instantly felt bad and made the wrong disingenuous. In paragraph 5 Orwell says “it was a bit of fun for them, as it would be to an English crowd;besides they winged…

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Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis Essay

A crowd begins to form and as each second passes it grows bigger and bigger. He stands with the older more intimidating boy over his shoulder. The crowd chants “Fight, fight, fight” and as more people assemble the louder the chant grows. The older boy whispers something into the smaller boys ear and he hesitantly moves forward throwing punches. With each punch the crowd gets more excited but the boy remains hesitant. He stands victories over the other boy but as the crowd applauses him and praises…

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Rhetorical Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

George Orwell’s, “Shooting an Elephant” is a well written essay that clearly portrays Orwell’s attitude toward himself and his position in Burma. In the first two paragraphs specifically, George Orwell uses various forms and methods of writing strategies in an effort to achieve this. Diction, usage of irony, and the usage of qualifications are all techniques that Orwell included and designed in an effort to convey his feelings for himself and his position in Burma. George Orwell used diction to…

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Critical Essay

rely heavily on dialogue interspersed with clipped narrative reports offering little evaluation or interpretation. This style is prominent in some of his best-known stories, such as “The Killers,” “A Clean, WellLighted Place,” and “Hills Like White Elephants.”1 How surprising, then, that “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” has joined these others as one of his most anthologized stories, appearing, for example, in The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Longer, divided into several distinct sections, and…

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