Shooting An Elephant Tone

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Tone of Shooting an Elephant

George Orwell is the author of Shooting an Elephant. He writes about being a subdivisional police officer in Moulmein, Burma. The villagers harass him, and the other police officers constantly. He oppresses the British empire he serves, which is contradicting because the villagers oppress the empire also. So you'd think with him being on the same side as the villagers, maybe they wouldn't hate him as much? One day, George is informed of an Elephant in must that needs to be dealt with. The elephant is damaging the whole town and killed a coolie. He goes about talking to the villagers trying to find the elephants whereabouts, when finally he comes upon the village where the rogue elephant was last spotted. He sees …show more content…
Throughout his time of learning of the rogue Elephant, he is completely concerned with killing the elephant. Nothing about killing it was inhumane. He didn't know that if someone kills them it has to be without pain. The British empire is sort of a inhumane way also. They ignore how the Burmese feel and take over their land. It truly bothers him that he is compelled to do what the villagers want. However, he feels if he doesn't, he won't be liked and will be treated worse. The villagers will never know that George is on their side, so he will always be treated poorly by them. The voice of the story is him as a worker trying to do the right thing through a sea of hate. Everyone in this story is hated in some kind of way, all due to …show more content…
Moreover, the tone allows us to see ourselves in him. He writes it so well that we can picture ourselves in the same position as him. We all feel in some point of our lives that we have to do what others want to seek approval. Shooting an Elephant describes this feeling very well. He used repeated phrases such as “There was only one alternative,” which showed his attitude. The feelings that he expresses throughout the story are very strong and make us realize how great it is that we live in America. We should all take some time to realize what we take for granted
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