Subjects:
situation involving an elephant. The fate of the elephant lies in his hands. Only
he can make the final decision. In the end, due to Orwell's decision, the elephant
lay dying in a pool of blood. Orwell wins the sympathy of readers by expressing
the pressure he feels as an Anglo-Indian in Burma, struggling with his morals,
and showing a sense of compassion for the dying animal.
Readers sympathize with Orwell because they can relate to his emotions in
the moments before the shooting. Being the white "leader," he should have been
able to make an independent decision, but was influenced by the "natives". Orwell describes his feelings about being pressured to shoot the
elephant: "Here I was the white man with his gun, standing in front of the
unarmed crowd - seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was
only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind. Everyone has been in a situation in which he or she has been expected to
be a leader. For different reasons people are looked to as leaders, som
. . .
realizes the his decision must be based on the best interest of the Burmese.
Almost everyone has been in a situation were he or she could not base a decision
on personal beliefs and knows that going against those beliefs is very difficult. etimes
because of their race, ethnicity, or heritage.
Another aspect that wins reader's sympathy is Orwell's struggle with what
he thought was right and what the Burmese wanted him to do.
Also, Orwell showed great feelings of compassion for the dying animal. The compassion that he felt was obvious, he waited so long for the
animal to die but, "could not stand it anymore and went away" . Readers
are able to relate to the fact that he does not want to be humiliated in front of the
Burmese. In this case, Orwell was pictured as
a leader because he was British and he worked for the British Empire.
Orwell explains, "For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend hid life in
trying to impress the 'natives' and so in every crisis he has got to do what the
'natives' expect of him" Readers respect Orwell for his sense of duty. The
elephant lay, "dying, very slowly and in great agony.
He was killing the animal because he had to. Secretly he hates
the British Empire and is on the side of the Burmese The elephant is
equivalent to the British Empire ravaging through Burma and disrupting the little
bit of peace that they have.
The detailed description that Orwell gives of the death leaves the impression that
he actually had feelings for the animal.
Essay's Topics
All research is for reference purposes only.