More comparisons follow as Orwell picks up a gun and follows the elephant becoming the “conjurer” with the “magical rifle” (¶ 7). With the gun to shoot the elephant, Orwell becomes the most powerful person in the village and the Burmese submit to this power, begging to him to solve the problem, even though, before the dilemma with the elephant, they ignored him. Passive voice further explains the original power Orwell lacks over the Burmese. Before the elephant problem arises, Orwell describes how he “[is] hated” (¶ 1) by the Burmese population because he is a British officer. Ironically, when the elephant begins to terrorize the village, the Burmese turn to Orwell because he is the only one capable of fixing the dilemma.
Madeline Arnold 2nd period AP English lang May 22, 2011 Text Analysis: Water for Elephants Sarah Gruen’s Water for Elephants entices readers by portraying a more forgotten whimsical side to the depression sunk 1930s. However, the story of Jacob Jankowski is not one shy of tragedy and misfortune. Water for Elephants is filled with acts of loyalty, betrayal, and romance to convey Gruen’s purpose to show how one’s moral compass and self worth are tested throughout life. Gruen uses the circus’s beauty and majesty to contrast the harsh conditions that go on behind the scenes of the big top. The main being abuse.
Setting The essay that is being narrated takes place in Moulmein in lower Burma. During the rainy season. Characters The Crowd The crowd is first introduced in the essay because of its “hideous laughter.” This same laughter is what makes the narrator weak. It is what limits the choice between being laughed of, or shooting the elephant, a creature which he knows ought to be left alone. The Elephant Along the essay the elephant is mentioned in the essay.
Jade Paul Dr. Jackson AP Lang Period 7 15 September 2013 Murder For The Purpose of Image By the end of George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell being a police officer representing the imperialistic government, makes a final decision to kill an elephant that has caused destruction throughout a village in Burma. Orwell was not respected by the people he was protecting and in his mind he was trying to keep peace throughout the village, but instead created a disturbance by being in Burma. The people look at Orwell as someone coming from the British government to contain the people and make sure violence and resistance does not outbreak. Orwell tries to change this image of himself in their eyes by killing the elephant but in reality it just inserted more fear into the people. The elephant was used as a display to the people that they should fear Orwell and his authority to intimidate the people.
As usual he could not get it straight from the natives, “we began questioning the people as to where the elephant had gone … but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes” (p.286). When he finally caught up with the elephant, feelings had been mixed, the excitement had risen, and the people wanted a show. It was in there that laid the personal dilemma. Riffle in hand, the elephant only a few yards away, Orwell was forced to make a decision: to play into the crowd, or make the right choice. The essay “ Shooting An Elephant” provided
I decided that would watch him for a little while to make sure that he did not turn savage again, and then go home (Orwell 69)", shows hesitation. At the end he states, "Suddenly, I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. (Orwell 70)" The usage of ''after all'' gives a sense of him not having any choice in the matter. The fact that Orwell actually shoots the elephant gives the reader an uncomfortable feeling because the reader is led to think that the officer is not going to shoot the elephant. The British officer, who is the author of the story, acts as a symbol of the imperial country.
(1.3.71)” Banquo also doubts the intension of the witches, he believes that evil always tells one part of the truth in order to earn one’s trust and lead him to destruction. Banquo warns Macbeth, ”But ‘tis strange./And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,/ the instruments of darkness tell us truths,/win us with honest trifles, to betray’s/In deepest consequence. (1.3.124-128)” On the other hand, Macbeth ignored his friends warning and believes in what the witches say. He is over whelmed by his ambition to be king, he said to himself,”Glamis, and the thane of Cawfor!/The greatest is behind. (1.3.118-119).””Two truths are told/,as happy prologues to the swelling act/of the imperial theme.
Shooting an Elephant Summary ‘‘Shooting an Elephant’’ begins with a meditative prelude to the action in which the narrator, who may be presumed to be Orwell, comments on being a colonial policeman in British Burma in the middle of the twentieth century. ‘‘I was hated by large numbers of people,’’ he says, and ‘‘anti-European feeling was very bitter.’’ A European woman crossing the market would likely be spat upon and a subdivisional police officer made an even more inviting target. Once, at a soccer match, a Burmese player deliberately fouled the narrator while the Burmese umpire conveniently looked the other direction and the largely Burmese crowd ‘‘yelled with hideous laughter.’’ The narrator understands such hatred and even thinks it justified, but he also confesses that his ‘‘greatest joy’’ at the time would have been to bayonet one of his tormenters. The action of ‘‘Shooting an Elephant’’ begins when the narrator receives a telephone report of an elephant ‘‘ravaging the bazaar.’’ He takes his inadequate hunting rifle and rides on horseback to the area where the animal allegedly lurks. The narrator remarks on the squalor and poverty of the neighborhood, with its palm-leaf thatch on the huts and unplanned scattering of houses over a hillside.
A crisis arose in which he was faced with a hard decision to make. An elephant had gone on a rampage in the village and had destroyed countless huts and even killed a man. When Orwell came upon the elephant, it was clear to him that it had calmed down and that the elephant would cause no more harm to anyone. Orwell was faced with a decision to either shoot the beast or wait until his master returned to get him. However, this decision was made much more complicated.
George Orwell Summary “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell gives the reader a first person view on working as a European sub-divisional police officer living in Moulmein, Lower Burma. In his essay Orwell, recounts, “the real nature of imperialism”(2). Orwell, also describes the feeling of the Burmese people opposing the British, the hatred he feels towards his job, how he covertly supports the Burmese people, and his sense of guilt. Orwell says, “In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters”(2). One morning, there was a received about a lost control elephant causing ruination.