Summary Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

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Summary of “Shooting an Elephant” The narrator of “Shooting an Elephant”, George Orwell, works as a sub-divisional police officer in the British colony. He was often besieged because he was European. However, the citizens always kept their distance. Even though the townspeople loathed him, he felt that imperialism was malicious. He once stated that he was cheering for the Burmese against the British. Despite Orwell’s obvious disgust at the European’s actions, he still wanted to kill a Buddhist priest. He then reassures himself that his desire to harm the citizen was normal by stating that any police officer would say the same. Overall, he is conflicted between the law and his moral conscience. One day, Orwell received a telephone call about …show more content…
A few villagers informed them that the elephant is in a nearby field. On their way to the elephant, Orwell notices a crowd of Burmans following them. When they arrive, he sees the elephant is serenely eating grass. However, the townspeople are obviously excited to see Orwell shoot the murderous elephant. Since the elephant is not harming anything at the moment, Orwell grapples with the idea of shooting the animal. He toys with the concept for a while, weighing the pros and cons, and finally decides he will not shoot the elephant. Orwell glanced behind him and realized at least two thousand people were behind him, all silently willing him to take the shot. The towns people believed killing the elephant was entertainment, not a murderous act. He felt compelled by the villagers to shoot the elephant and then comes to the realization that he is a puppet. He has to take the shot or else the villagers will take matters into their own hands and cause a riot. Orwell ponders about imperialism and how he could act as a puppet to the British Empire as well. He uses symbolism to relate the Empire to his current situation of being pressured by the Burmans to kill the elephant. He is once again the puppet of the Empire. He must shoot the elephant in order to uphold his

Summary Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

experience in Burma gave him insight on the effects imperialism: revealing the true nature of human cruelty. In Orwell short piece Shooting an Elephant, Orwell succumbs to the pressure around him and shoots the elephant in front of a crowd. Orwell’s afterthoughts about the situation were bitter and he claims to have only shot the elephant to save his face. The faceoff between Orwell and the elephant is similar to the climax in Nineteen Eighty-Four where O’Brien taunts Winston with his fear of rats in Room…

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Imperialism In George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

The True Nature of Imperialism Summary In Shooting An Elephant, written in 1936, George Orwell tells about his experience of imperialism when he was once confronted with a conflicting task of deciding to kill an elephant or to leave it peacefully. It all began when he was on duty as a sub-divisional police in Burma and he got a call telling about a tame elephant who had escaped its home. As Orwell was told the elephant went through the bazaar ravaging everything it saw in its path. Upon seeing a…

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Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis

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…

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