Shooting an Elephant Summary: Set during the early 1900’s‚ the narrator recount his experiences as an English police officer stationed in Burma. He often describes that the British presence there were greatly despised and that he himself has been a target multiple times by the Burmese people. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” (229) Being there to do the dirty work of the British empire‚ the narrator gets to see what imperialism really
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Imperialism in ‘Shooting an Elephant’ by George Orwell Shooting an elephant is a short story about the speaker’s experience in working as a colonial officer in Burma‚ a previous conquered province by Britain‚ and facing a pressure to shoot an innocent elephant to please a large Burmese crowd. Throughout the story Orwell makes clear to readers how Imperialism causes misery and pain. To a clear definition for Imperialism‚ I sum up the important points according to my understanding as
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“Shooting an Elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell in 1936. “Shooting an Elephant” is written chronologically and is a 1st person narrative. The tone of the essay is discomforting. The story takes place in Burma in the 1920’s. It depicts a situation in which the main character‚ a young Englishman‚ who is serving as a police officer‚ encounters a ravaging elephant while he is on duty. The anonymous narrator is a questioning colonialist that throughout the story struggles with three
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7/26/15 ENG 101 Response Analysis The reading‚ "Shooting an Elephant" takes place in Moulmein. He starts of the story in spectacle as to why the locals have so much hatred toward the Europeans when in all reality his main goal was only to help and protect the townspeople from any hurt‚ harm or danger that may come their way. In this story‚ the police officer’s duty was to respond to a report of the death of a man who was killed by a stray elephant. Upon approaching the dead man‚ he finds the man
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reading the essay “Shooting an Elephant”‚ it gives away many symbols and a very important life lesson. The essay has many symbols‚ but three stick out like a sore thumb. These include the gun‚ the Burmese people‚ and the elephant. A main symbol that is easily noticed is the gun he uses. A small powerful rifle against a huge elephant. Orwell even noted “an old .44 Winchester and much too small to kill an elephant” (324). The gun isn’t mad to kill a giant beast like this elephant. It was all he had
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“Shooting an Elephant” In “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell is not liked by the Burmese people because he is the representation of their oppressors‚ the British. He gets his chance to be the hero when an elephant gets loose and causes destruction and the people need him to kill the beast. What would have happened if he didn’t shoot the elephant? Why Orwell feel so awful about killing the elephant? Orwell decides to kill the elephant‚ but does he do it for the right reason? In Orwell’s essay
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Orwell spent the next twenty years as a writer; the essay “Shooting an Elephant‚” set in the Burma of the 1920s and written in 1936‚ is one of his most famous works. In the early twentieth century‚ Burma was still a colony of Britain but anti-imperialism protests and social movements developed very fast‚ causing “great tension between Burmese‚ Indians and English‚ between civilians and police” (Meyers 56). Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant” is based on this historical tension. In this essay‚ Orwell
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Leonard Morrow Christina Olson Writing Assignment 3 9 April 2013 Rhetorical Analysis: “Shooting an Elephant” In the essay entitled “Shooting an Elephant‚” George Orwell writes‚ “In Moulmein‚ in lower Burma‚ I was hated by large numbers of people – the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me” (Orwell‚ pg#). In this exert‚ not only does Orwell succeed in setting the mood and foreshadowing events to come‚ but he also introduces us to a protagonist
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30/10/11 ‘Shooting an Elephant’ Rebecca Bonner 2. Choose an essay which puts across a strong personal belief in a clear and convincing manor. George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant‚’ is an essay which takes place in imperial Burma where he is a police officer working on behalf of the British Empire. He is resented by the people who pressures him into shooting an elephant‚ where he describes himself as being a meaningless puppet in front of the Burmese crowd. Throughout this essay he also
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George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant‚” deals with the evil side of imperialism. The shooting of the elephant in Orwell’s story is the central focus from which Orwell builds his argument through the two dominant characters‚ the elephant and the British officer. The British officer‚ acts as a symbol of the imperial country and the elephant is the victim of imperialism. Together‚ the solider and the elephant turns this into an attack on the evils of imperialism. The shooting of the elephant shows the different
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