What Is The Meaning Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell
In the article ‘Shooting an Elephant’ by George Orwell, the word ‘hollowness’ is an abstract noun because it is intangible and encompasses human states of mind. In my opinion, the word ‘hollowness’ has two meanings. Firstly, it refers to absence of certain components of an object, making the object vacant or empty. Secondly, it can mean one’s emotion: the feeling one has after he or she worked vainly.
The writer worked as a police officer under the British Empire in Burma, where he was hated by many Burman. Despite his unwillingness, he eventually shot a docile elephant as he did not want to be teased by the crowds of Burman. By describing the scene he killed an elephant in great details, the writer expresses his helplessness and sorrow working
under imperialism while failing to exercise his powers as a police officer in Burma. Unhappily, since he could not bear to see how the elephant was tortured to death, he left but he asked someone how long it took for the elephant to have his last gasp. This precisely illustrates the feelings of the writer: he had a lot of aspirations for his job, but he could not pursue them so he felt fruitless and speechless.
In completing this assignment, I highlighted any important sentences which might be thesis or concluding statements of the story. After that, I select an abstract noun from them which, in my point of view, is able to summarize the idea of the writer. Moreover, the most challenging part of this assignment is to find synonyms or phrases that can explain the word ‘hollowness’. There are similar lexicons which can explain the meaning of hollowness, nonetheless, I have to continuously amend my sentences so as to come up with a accurate summary, meanwhile, avoid using the word ‘hollowness’.
The writer worked as a police officer under the British Empire in Burma, where he was hated by many Burman. Despite his unwillingness, he eventually shot a docile elephant as he did not want to be teased by the crowds of Burman. By describing the scene he killed an elephant in great details, the writer expresses his helplessness and sorrow working
under imperialism while failing to exercise his powers as a police officer in Burma. Unhappily, since he could not bear to see how the elephant was tortured to death, he left but he asked someone how long it took for the elephant to have his last gasp. This precisely illustrates the feelings of the writer: he had a lot of aspirations for his job, but he could not pursue them so he felt fruitless and speechless.
In completing this assignment, I highlighted any important sentences which might be thesis or concluding statements of the story. After that, I select an abstract noun from them which, in my point of view, is able to summarize the idea of the writer. Moreover, the most challenging part of this assignment is to find synonyms or phrases that can explain the word ‘hollowness’. There are similar lexicons which can explain the meaning of hollowness, nonetheless, I have to continuously amend my sentences so as to come up with a accurate summary, meanwhile, avoid using the word ‘hollowness’.