Orwell definitely had a personal relation to Moulmein. His grandmother and his aunt Nora lived there and Orwell had come to visit them several times before his service for the Imperial Police started in In this case, there is not only a personal relation to the place but also to personal interests and activities.
He may even refer to his own experience as a British football player during his time in Burma. In the text he writes about the terrible circumstances Burmese prisoners have to bear. In September , he went to Insein , the city with the second-largest jail in Burma. He mentions. This quote reveals the narrator as an Englishman who sympathises with the native population and who despises their brutal oppression.
This statement brought by a servant of the Empire evokes the question of integrity but Orwell himself, though anti-imperialistic in his thinking, never revealed this attitude towards political order to his colleagues. None of his companions would ever have thought him opponent to imperialistic convictions. I translated the definition and put it in my own words as good as possible.
Seminar Paper, 14 Pages, Grade: 1,5. S W Swantje We Author. Add to cart. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Definitions 2. Plot Summary 4. Roll-Call 5. Title, Beginning and Ending 6. Conclusion Sources 1. Furthermore, the words employed are the ones needed, redundant words are left out.
Sign in to write a comment. Read the ebook. Supporting and Opposing the Empire. Orwell: Shooting an Elephant - A semi Essay versus Short Story: Ein Verglei I know it is all very post-modernist to consider things from a non-human point of view, but there seems a very obvious mirroring here.
Circuses — it still goes on, tragically. One biographer claimed that the incident never took place and is pure fiction created to make the points you mention. Is there any proof that it actually happened? Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email. Email Address. Interesting Literature is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by linking to Amazon.
Share this: Tweet. Like this: Like Loading Robin Saikia April 5, at pm. Caroline March 29, at pm. Absolutely fascinating and very though provoking. Thank you. Thanks, Caroline! Very kind Loading Subscribe via Email Enter your email address to subscribe to this site and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Interesting Literature. Privacy Policy. Orwell learns that imperialism forces individuals to act against their conscience in order to maintain the resolute, aggressive disposition necessary to impress the Natives. By this time Orwell was highly regarded, and many were reluctant to accept that he had indeed killed an elephant.
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. However, their hostility is caused by a less tangible antagonist, that of the imperial system which has made Orwell the enemy of the crowd.
An anti-imperialist writer, Orwell promotes the idea that through imperialism, both conqueror and conquered are destroyed. Why is Orwell conflicted about imperialism? HIs attitude is that imperialism destroys both the nation colonized and the colonizer. But he still kills it because of the want to be a part or liked by the society. For example, Orwell uses powerful similes to describe the prolonged death of the elephant, likening its trunk to a tree, before it trumpets for the last time.
Elephants are revered as a symbol of good luck, prosperity, destroyer of evil, remover of obstacles, as well as strength, power, wisdom, memory, and vitality. In India, there are millions of temples dedicated to the Elephant God, who has the head of an elephant and the body of a young boy. At the time the story is set, the s, Burma was a part of India, the British colony considered the jewel in the crown of the British empire. The elephant is the central symbol of the story. Orwell uses it to represent the effect of colonialism on both the colonizer and the colonized.
The elephant, like a colonized populace, has its liberty restricted, and it becomes violently rebellious only as a response to being shackled. The fact that the elephant does not immediately die but remains paralyzed after being shot could symbolically represent the oppressed nature of the native Burmese citizens.
The narrator hesitates to kill the elephant because by the time he arrives at the place where the elephant has been on a rampage, the elephant is peaceful. The narrator realizes the animal no longer poses any threat. The essay delves into an inner conflict that Orwell experiences in his role of representing the British Empire and upholding the law.
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