"Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell, is an essay about a British police officer in Burma who is called upon to shoot an elephant that has escaped from its owners cage. Running free, the large elephant is quite dangerous and is causing havoc in town. .
Throughout the story, Orwell allows the main character - as well as the reader - to contemplate things before the elephant is captured. With the elephant continuously running away from kept running away from the soldier. The soldiers morals were preventing him from shooting the animal, but the humongous crowd behind him made him feel as if he had to kill it.
The soldier knows that it is only an animal, and that it had no intentions of hurting anyone. His first solution to the problem was to simply escort the animal back to his owner, so he could put him back into its cage where the elephant would be safe as well as the locals. However, as we all know, life does not care about your plans, and this was portrayed in the story when many locals as well as business owners that were affected by this incident started demanding the execution of the huge animal. The Indians did not sympathize with the British, therefore this soldier was not appreciated by these people, so he knew that if he killed this elephant, he could earn some points with them. However, his his heart knew it was not right to kill the animal for many different reasons.
Things became much more serious midpoint through the story, when the soldier finds out that the elephant stepped on top of one of the locals. Now it was not only shops, fences and scratched cars, but it was also the life of a human. By this time of the story, he had many mixed feelings as to whether or not he should kill the elephant because people thought it should be killed, or to not kill it because it was simply wrong. With the death of this person, things became a bit more clear. It appeared as if the balance on what to do was slightly moving towards the death of the elephant, however the soldier still knew in his heart that it was simply not right.
George Orwell, Author of" Shooting an Elephant". ... The article says George Orwell had done a mistake by killing the Elephant. Orwell said(" He did not want to shoot the Elephant")Orwell 136. ... Orwell knows in his Gut that he must shoot the Elephant, So he can earn his stripes again. ... So Orwell shoots the Elephant and the crowd of the Burmese roar with excitement. ...
After reading George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant," one realizes just how ineffective an imperialistic government really is. ... Orwell is faced with the choice of having to shoot or not shoot the elephant. ... However, due to the impotence of imperialism, and the infringement it creates, Orwell realizes it's no longer his decision to shoot the elephant. ... From George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant," it's easy to see just how flawed and what a failure Imperialism really is. ... While the idea of governing a country through imperialism might s...
The short story of "Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell, begins with the author describing his position as a police officer in Lower Burma. ... The Burmese were defenseless, as the elephant had already "destroyed someone's bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit stalls" (Orwell 1). ... The officer compared himself to "an absurd puppet" being pushed by the crowd to kill the elephant (Orwell 3). ... The officer did wonder if anyone realized he had killed the elephant "solely to avoid looking like a fool" (Orwell 4). After reading George...
Shooting an Elephant: Orwell's Insecurities Prompted the Murder of a Defenseless Animal The short story "Shooting an Elephant", by George Orwell, is a narration that subtly discusses Orwell's motives for killing an escaped elephant. ... The event was a disruptance where he had to shoot an elephant for the alleged safety of the public. ... Moreover, I did not in the least want to shoot him"(4) proving when left to his free will and choice Orwell is a person of strong moral fiber. ... The two thousand strong group of locals following Orwell, advocates the killing of the elepha...
The dilemma that George Orwell faced in "Shooting an Elephant" is similar to one many face in his or her life because people are facing different challenges all the time during their lives. In "Shooting an Elephant," the author, George Orwell contends with imperialism. ... When he faced with the issue of shooting an elephant or not, Orwell was forced to shoot the innocent elephant to satisfy the Burmese who isolated Orwell mentally. ... Everyone faces difficult decisions, even Orwell hesitated before shooting the elephant. ... The elephant which killed the coolie gives Orwe...
The essay "Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell, is set in time during the 1800's when the country of Burma had been conquer and put under British imperialistic rule. "Shooting an Elephant," is illustrated through the eyes of Orwell himself while working as a British Imperial Officer during this time of British rule. ... Likewise, in "Shooting an Elephant," Orwell demonstrates these views by describing his own experience with political and social injustice. ... As the essay proceeds, Orwell is overwhelmed by an unparalleled force pressuring him to shoot th...
"Shooting an Elephant" is an essay by George Orwell. ... Orwell was almost pressured to stand up against the elephant and take him down immediately, but Orwell had every 2 intention of not going through with putting it out of its misery. ... Orwell was extrememly descriptive in telling about when he was face to face with the elephant. ... Orwell was particularly descriptive through these parts of "Shooting an Elephant." ... He was faced with a large destructive problem with the elephant and even though he did not want to take kill the elephant he did it an...
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell was an interesting peace to read. ... It sounded like the only reason the man shot the elephant was to uphold is image for the natives. ... I got from this was that he had to shoot the elephant because he came all this way with his rifle and there was no backing out now or he was loose respect and show that he is weak to the natives. ... I thought that the last paragraph was ironic because of how he did not want to shoot the elephant when he did; the elephant had a long miserable death. I think it was hard for the guy to watch the elephant die like that...
Orwell takes great length in describing the elephant's demise. ... Orwell was reluctant to shoot the elephant at first because he knew the elephant was: I. no longer a danger after his bout of "must " had worn off. ... The natives influence Orwell's decision to shoot the elephant in all the following ways, with the exception of: a. just punishment for the elephant killing the native. b. the threat of native ridicule. c. not being frightened in front of natives d. by doing what the natives expect of him since he is a sahib e. the presence of 2,000 natives created added pressure 18. ...
