Jimmy Cross and George Orwell Comparison
George Orwell and Jimmy Cross Character Comparison
In the two short stories, Shooting an Elephant and the Things They Carried there are certain similarities and differences that George Orwell and Jimmy Cross hold. Each character in the short stories has there own different situation they are in, but they both are in a foreign land and they both have to take orders and do what there country is asking of them. However, even though each situation is different they both deal with some of the same emotional issues throughout each story. In the story, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell was a police officer for the British government. In the story it is hard to tell if George was actually forced to go to Burma, but none the less he states, "As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear" (Orwell 1539). This is almost exactly the same way Jimmy Cross feels in the Things They Carried. Jimmy was a soldier during the Vietnam War. In the story Jimmy holds on to the memories of a girl he has a crush on and dread's every day that he is stuck in Vietnam and away from home. This plays a huge role in each of the stories mainly because each character is in a situation they don't want to be in, but are forced to deal with. For instance, in Shooting an Elephant George shoots and kills an elephant, but it is more complex than that. George feels in the beginning that he should have to shoot and kill the elephant. By the time George gets to the elephant he thinks differently and changes he thoughts as he states clearly in the story, "As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him 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 1541). At that moment though George looks around and sees that he has drawn such a huge crowd that is waiting and pressuring him into shooting the elephant. This would not have been a huge thing,
In the two short stories, Shooting an Elephant and the Things They Carried there are certain similarities and differences that George Orwell and Jimmy Cross hold. Each character in the short stories has there own different situation they are in, but they both are in a foreign land and they both have to take orders and do what there country is asking of them. However, even though each situation is different they both deal with some of the same emotional issues throughout each story. In the story, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell was a police officer for the British government. In the story it is hard to tell if George was actually forced to go to Burma, but none the less he states, "As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear" (Orwell 1539). This is almost exactly the same way Jimmy Cross feels in the Things They Carried. Jimmy was a soldier during the Vietnam War. In the story Jimmy holds on to the memories of a girl he has a crush on and dread's every day that he is stuck in Vietnam and away from home. This plays a huge role in each of the stories mainly because each character is in a situation they don't want to be in, but are forced to deal with. For instance, in Shooting an Elephant George shoots and kills an elephant, but it is more complex than that. George feels in the beginning that he should have to shoot and kill the elephant. By the time George gets to the elephant he thinks differently and changes he thoughts as he states clearly in the story, "As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him 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 1541). At that moment though George looks around and sees that he has drawn such a huge crowd that is waiting and pressuring him into shooting the elephant. This would not have been a huge thing,