Shooting an Elephant
“Shooting
an Elephant” is a first person’s narrative written by George Orwell. Orwell was
an imperial officer in Burma. Orwell stands out like a sore thumb in this
culture; ironically he was the one who shot the elephant. The reasoning behind
shooting the elephant is an interesting part of the essay. An elephant stumbles
through a city after freeing itself from being locked up and tramples a
citizen. Why wouldn’t they use tranquilizers one might say? The man only had
two mediocre powered guns, a rifle which he shot the elephant three times with
a few inches away from the opening of the ear and a 44 Winchester pistol which
clip was emptied and sprayed the elephant with bullets in multiple spots. This
story is very graphic and uses advanced vocabulary to describe scenes.
“Shooting an Elephant”
is an essay which expresses the wrong of Imperialism in the east. This essay talks about the nature of
imperialism in the Berman providence in India.
There were a couple of symbols in this reading, one really stuck out the
most. The Empire is powerful as an elephant.
I also saw some themes in this essay and they are prejudiced and
resentments. The native always laughed and stayed their distance from their
oppressor that shows a sense of resentment.
Lastly there were metaphors as says “I could feel two thousand wills
pressing me forward, irresistibly”. This is a comparison of will to physical
forces.
In the end of the story the man summarizes his
experience and conveys a list full of events that had taken place. For instants
he says, “The older men said I was right, the
younger men said it was a damn shame to shoot an elephant for killing a coolie,
because an elephant was worth more than any damn Coringhee coolie.” I guarantee
one thing that this man will always regret his decision for shooting an
elephant till the day he dies. He even admits that this will be on his mind and
it won’t be leaving anytime soon.
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