George Orwell Shooting An Elephant

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"Shooting an Elephant" is George Orwell's wracking and painfully honest tale of his experiences as a police officer in imperial Burma. In the narrative, Orwell retells the time he had to mull over a critical decision that involved an elephant that had gone mad. In his work, Orwell argues that he shouldn’t shoot the animal because the owner was on his way to tame the wild beast and was just morally not the right thing to do. In the end he felt that he needed to do what the surrounding mob of people wanted of him.This autobiographical piece first appeared in 1936 in the autumn issue of New Writing. Orwell successfully informs the british public about the evils of imperialism by using ethos, metaphors, and imagery. Orwell greatly succeeded in telling one of his remarkable experiences in Burma as an officer. By first, representing himself as a young man who worked for the higher…show more content…
He’s comparing his situation with the british empire of burma. The elephant can be seen as a symbol, but the buildup of finding and the death of the elephant is a metaphor itself, showing the destructive power of imperialism and the death of the elephant, ”Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd- seemingly the leading actor of the piece, but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind”(Orwells)This was one of the strongest metaphors used in this story the elephant and its destructive path, it portrays British Imperialism and their aggressive take over. The long drawn out death of the elephant is yet another metaphor orwells uses to display the downfall of the British Empire and its long lasting deep-seated effects. The effects can also be seen in the orwells thoughts, and feelings towards not only Imperialism but the burmese people and the guilt he felt towards shooting the elephant and justification of the killing in the
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