Shooting elephant
"Shooting of an Elephant" By George OrwellEric Hugh Blair better known by his nom de plume, George Orwell was born in India to a minor British civil servant, but was educated in England. After his schooling he moved to the east, where he served for a while in the Indian Imperial Police during the imperial period of the 1920's when India was under British rule. He is most famously known for Animal Farm and Homage to Catalonia."Shooting of an Elephant" is a first person narrative essay, used to inform the readers about the people and their way of thinking during the period of the British Raj. The events are ordered in a chronological manner, with the crux of them all being the killing of the elephant. It is set in Moulmein, Burma, formerly and presently known as Myanmar and the events that unfold are those experienced by Orwell during his service with the Indian Imperial Police as
Although the there is no comprehensible thesis statement, there is an underlying statement that Orwell tries to put across to his readers; he wants us to understand the society of the imperial rule. Orwell manages to build a good, interesting story around the events of that day, and he also mentions the varied views each segment of the society had on his decision and he also states that one of the may purposes of gunning down the elephant was to save his image in society and give the Burmese villagers what they wanted all along. Orwell discusses how the local people hated the British and how he secretly was for the Burmese people and well against the British. The entire story gyrates around the negativity of imperialistic rule and how it affects society. Towards the middle and end of the story Orwell mentions how the crowds were eager to see the elephant killed and latterly he also mentions the sentiments of all the Burmese as well as the English, how the older generation of English officers supported his choice but the younger ones thought it a shame to shoot an elephant just because it killed a Burmese coolie, since elephant meat was considered a delicacy and was worth much more than a worthless coolie. Orwell initiates his story by relating the events as they unfold; he mentions the phone call from the sub-inspector concerning the loose elephant and how it was terrorizing the townspeople. Then he goes on to discuss the players in the whole scenario and how the Burmese townspeople go on to play a crucial role in the events of the day. The events are described in very lucid and accurate details that help the reader to actually picture the event in their mind clearly. There is little if any scenes involved in this story, it is more of the summary type, with narration making the major part of reading. Orwell also mentions how the Burmese started taking flesh off the elephant's body even before it had died. The story follows Orwell on his adventure as he goes about bringing the elephant back to captivity. He also mentions how the elephant raided stalls in the marker place and how it scared the villagers, who were unarmed and unprotected from the ravaging bull. Orwell then moves focus to the elephant and its escape and its behavior, which he attributed to a physical condition experienced by most male elephants.
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