Shooting an Elephant by orwel
In George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant," he takes on the role of a Burma sub divisional police officer. Orwell takes on a job even though he dislikes and does not care not for the people he has to deal with. This can be seen throughout Orwell's essay in his word choice to describe the people, and his job, "I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of empire at close quarters"(658). Orwell has to deal with a corrupt empire in which he is too cowardly to do anything about. If Orwell were in a different setting this too would have a big effect on his decision-making, as well as his feelings for these people. Orwell must make a decision about his job or his job is going to make a decision for him. Orwell's use of word choice, color, and setting, help determine his feelings towards the Burmese people and the elephant. The native Burmese do not take kindly to Orwell; they take every opportunity to verbally and physically attack him. One day he encountered a situation involving an elephant that had gone "must." The elephant had ransacked parts of town and he had killed a coolie. Orwell was faced with a difficult decision when it came to dealing with the elephant. He had a
"The friction of the great beast's foot had stripped the skin from his back as neat as one skins a rabbit" (660). gun that could kill the elephant, but in the beginning, he was only carrying it if the elephant turned on him. When he realized the elephant had calmed down, he decided not to shoot it. "After shooting the elephant multiple times, "His mouth was wide open-I could see far down in the caverns of pale pink throat"(663). Would Orwell have such harsh feelings toward these people and his job if he were an officer in the heart of Europe? Probably not, the location has a lot do with how he feels about these "yellow faced" people. Orwell had to please the people or else he would have been ridiculed and further tortured by the people. In his essay, Orwell's word choice to describe the Burmese people and his job is usually of a derogatory matter. Orwell does not even show a hint of remorse when he speaks of this man's death and when he describes this horrendous scene. At the very least, he must want them to respect him. Although some people did not agree with his decision, he knew he had to do it. However, when he turned and saw some Burmese behind him, he knew he had to kill the elephant, for two reasons. Had he been stationed in Europe, he would have been among his own people and perceived them as equals instead of being stationed among the Burmese and seeing them as just "yellow faces. Second, Orwell felt he needed to make the kill to save face and not look like a fool. "Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd- seemingly the leading actor of the peace; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro of the will of those yellow faces behind"(661).
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Acceptance Essays
