Shooting An Elephant Imperialism
Trystan Tomco
Mr. Stone
English 110
12/03/13
Shooting an Elephant Essay
George Orwell wrote “Shooting an Elephant” to teach readers about imperialism and its effects on not only those ruled but also those charged with maintaining order above them. Orwell’s narrator is a British colonial official stationed in Burma who is charged with keeping the local populace from rioting. The officer speaks of how he is frightened by the Burmans and even by his own people rulers. Fear is one of the ways that Orwell shows that imperialism affects the rulers. Also shown is that the “conquered” feel anger towards their rulers; we learn that the Burmans take their frustrations out on the British officers. Orwell uses the tale of “Shooting any Elephant” …show more content…
These conquered people receive neither rights nor representation in courts. They are forced to pay high tax rates to foreign rulers. The people seek to instigate and topple the regime that they are forced to live under; they work towards thwarting any plans that their rulers try to initiate. The conquered laugh whenever they see any of the officials blunder or make a mistake since they only have so much in the way of entertainment. In the story, the narrarator is called upon to handle an elephant that had rampaged through the bazaar and trampled a citizen to death. The natives wanted the officials to kill the elephant since they do not have much in the way of meat; the natives formed a group of at least two thousand to watch the officer encounter the elephant they wanted to pressure him into killing the beast. The natives in the story are extremely happy when the officer chooses to kill the elephant because now they can eat the meat for many days to come, and they can also sell the ivory since it is such an expensive commodity. These show how imperialism has negative effects on the …show more content…
The first problem that they incur is the women of the ruling class that now live in the foreign country would be spit upon if they went through the bazaar alone since the natives had no respect for their rulers or their women (Orwell 458). Another problem that the ruling class faces with the native populace is the dissention of the general public since the natives seek to discover and exploit every weakness that the ruling class has. The officers enforcing the laws set forth are alone in a hostile territory where they have no friends are in constant fear of embarrassment from the unhappy conquered class. The majority of the ruling class was also affected by a large number of psychological conditions, such as mental torment of the officer during the soccer game. as well from the some of the cruel and unusual punishments that the natives would put them through such as the Buddhist priests bereted the officers. For example, while the officer would walk down the street. These are some of the things that affected the ruling class because of the injustices of
Mr. Stone
English 110
12/03/13
Shooting an Elephant Essay
George Orwell wrote “Shooting an Elephant” to teach readers about imperialism and its effects on not only those ruled but also those charged with maintaining order above them. Orwell’s narrator is a British colonial official stationed in Burma who is charged with keeping the local populace from rioting. The officer speaks of how he is frightened by the Burmans and even by his own people rulers. Fear is one of the ways that Orwell shows that imperialism affects the rulers. Also shown is that the “conquered” feel anger towards their rulers; we learn that the Burmans take their frustrations out on the British officers. Orwell uses the tale of “Shooting any Elephant” …show more content…
These conquered people receive neither rights nor representation in courts. They are forced to pay high tax rates to foreign rulers. The people seek to instigate and topple the regime that they are forced to live under; they work towards thwarting any plans that their rulers try to initiate. The conquered laugh whenever they see any of the officials blunder or make a mistake since they only have so much in the way of entertainment. In the story, the narrarator is called upon to handle an elephant that had rampaged through the bazaar and trampled a citizen to death. The natives wanted the officials to kill the elephant since they do not have much in the way of meat; the natives formed a group of at least two thousand to watch the officer encounter the elephant they wanted to pressure him into killing the beast. The natives in the story are extremely happy when the officer chooses to kill the elephant because now they can eat the meat for many days to come, and they can also sell the ivory since it is such an expensive commodity. These show how imperialism has negative effects on the …show more content…
The first problem that they incur is the women of the ruling class that now live in the foreign country would be spit upon if they went through the bazaar alone since the natives had no respect for their rulers or their women (Orwell 458). Another problem that the ruling class faces with the native populace is the dissention of the general public since the natives seek to discover and exploit every weakness that the ruling class has. The officers enforcing the laws set forth are alone in a hostile territory where they have no friends are in constant fear of embarrassment from the unhappy conquered class. The majority of the ruling class was also affected by a large number of psychological conditions, such as mental torment of the officer during the soccer game. as well from the some of the cruel and unusual punishments that the natives would put them through such as the Buddhist priests bereted the officers. For example, while the officer would walk down the street. These are some of the things that affected the ruling class because of the injustices of