Shooting an Elephant
English 111
October 13th 2013
Argument Analysis of “Shooting an Elephant”
In the essay, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell writes about his experiences as a British police officer in Burma, and compares it to the nature of imperialism. Orwell hates his job because imperialism has negatively affected him, as well as others around him. Orwell’; the white man is being treated very disrespectfully by the Burmese. Giving him a reason to hate his job as well as the British Empire; the root of everything. The situation of shooting of an elephant gives him a real look of the real nature and evils of imperialism. To show the effects of imperialism, Orwell powerfully illustrates the shooting the elephant scene by using various rhetorical devices, dictions, sentence structures, and creates proper mood and tone. He does a good job sharing his experiences and feelings of living under imperialism as the oppressor and the oppressed, showing the terrible effects of imperialism.
Orwell does a great job conveying the message and feelings that he is trying to get across to the reader. He often calls Burmese the Natives”: “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd” (412). Through this sentence, he shows his emotions and the respect he has for the Burmese. Because by calling them “natives” declares them the true owners of Burma instead of the British Empire. By using this diction in the essay frequently, Orwell reminds his readers of the imperialism living in Burma so the readers aren 't just hanging on to the death of the elephant so they also get the message inside of the essay.
Orwell also uses different sentence structures to establish particular effects in his essay. He describes the image, “To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible” (412). In this essay parallel phrases are used to reproduce the situation,
October 13th 2013
Argument Analysis of “Shooting an Elephant”
In the essay, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell writes about his experiences as a British police officer in Burma, and compares it to the nature of imperialism. Orwell hates his job because imperialism has negatively affected him, as well as others around him. Orwell’; the white man is being treated very disrespectfully by the Burmese. Giving him a reason to hate his job as well as the British Empire; the root of everything. The situation of shooting of an elephant gives him a real look of the real nature and evils of imperialism. To show the effects of imperialism, Orwell powerfully illustrates the shooting the elephant scene by using various rhetorical devices, dictions, sentence structures, and creates proper mood and tone. He does a good job sharing his experiences and feelings of living under imperialism as the oppressor and the oppressed, showing the terrible effects of imperialism.
Orwell does a great job conveying the message and feelings that he is trying to get across to the reader. He often calls Burmese the Natives”: “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd” (412). Through this sentence, he shows his emotions and the respect he has for the Burmese. Because by calling them “natives” declares them the true owners of Burma instead of the British Empire. By using this diction in the essay frequently, Orwell reminds his readers of the imperialism living in Burma so the readers aren 't just hanging on to the death of the elephant so they also get the message inside of the essay.
Orwell also uses different sentence structures to establish particular effects in his essay. He describes the image, “To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible” (412). In this essay parallel phrases are used to reproduce the situation,
Cited: "Welcome to the Purdue OWL." Purdue OWL: MLA Formatting and Style Guide. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. Austin, Michael. Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2007. Print. Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013. "Welcome, Writers!" Write Site: W. W. Norton StudySpace. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2013.