George Orwell Shooting An Elephant

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Introduction In the article “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, Orwell metaphorically establishes his beliefs on imperialism through the use of the narrator, who is a British soldier located in Burma, and an elephant. The article suggests that the narrator’s story is actually Orwell’s own personal account. Orwell begins the article by detailing the hatred displayed by the Burmese towards the British Empire since the Europeans have invaded their city. Secretly, Orwell is on the Burmese natives’ side and opposes the British invasion along with showing resentment towards his job. Then one day, Orwell receives a call from a fellow officer claiming that an elephant is ravaging the village, and that he needs to do something about it. Orwell travels to the village where the elephant was spotted at and begins to survey the damage caused and question the locals. He soon finds a man recently killed by the elephant, and orders a young boy to grab him a rifle. Then he begins to walk in the direction of the beast. A crowd of excited Burmese people soon began to follow. Soon the elephant came into sight. The elephant looked innocent and peacefully as it ate the grass. In that instant, Orwell began to become uneasy…show more content…
Unfortunately, it was during a busy time last semester where I had many tests and other obligations. I had to put off studying many nights in order to plan and organize the event because it was expected of me by my adviser and members. If it did not get organized on time, I would face anger and humiliation from my adviser because my job is to complete every task. Through my actions to make Founder’s Day a great event, I no longer was thinking about my own interests, but only about making this event one to remember for those in my sorority. In doing so, I limited my own freedom and was ultimately a slave like Orwell except instead of to the British Empire; I was a slave to an
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