How does George Orwell convey his thoughts and feelings to the reader?
In “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell finds himself in a difficult situation; involving the killing of an elephant. The fate of the elephant lies in George Orwell hands, only he can make the ultimate decision with the pressure of the “total population”. Orwell’s decision results in the elephant being left to die in a deep thick pool of blood of his own. Orwell makes the readers feel sympathetic by expressing the pressure he feels as an young police officer serving in Burma, struggling with his morals, and showing a sense of compassion for the dying animal.
The entire mood of the essay is set when Orwell illustrates the setting to be a “cloudy, stuffy morning at the beginnings of the rains.” This sets the tone of Orwell’s story to be weak and discomforting. He already has established the fact that his character is weak when he introduces the Burma people and how they laugh and mock him, the British officer; “The crowd would laugh at me”.
The build-up of finding the elephant is a metaphor itself showing the destructive power of man: the elephant rampaging spree destroying homes, food shelves, and even killing a man which Orwell described to have an expression of excruciating agony. Upon finally finding the elephant, Orwell says “I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him.” But when he lays eyes at the huge mass of people behind him he changes his stance to “…but I did not want to shoot the elephant.” Orwell then repeatedly states how immoral and guilty it is to shoot the elephant. Despite the many reasons to not shoot the elephant such as how it is worth more alive rather than dead, or how he is a “poor shot,” he soon falls into the expectations of the Burma people. Against his will and moral belief he decides to kill the elephant.
The Essay on Shooting An Elephant Orwell Imperialism Government
... decision of whether or not to shoot the elephant, Orwell further realizes the utter futility of ... Upon reading such works as George Orwell s Shooting an Elephant, one realizes just how ineffective ... perfectly adequate form of government. Unfortunately, these people are usually the ones who never experience ... lose their freedom when they took over Burma. In an idealistic imperialistic government, the ...
Readers sympathize with Orwell because they can relate to his emotions in the moments before the shooting, “as the whole population” was looking at him. He was unable to make an independent decision as he was influenced by the “immense crowd”. Orwell describes his feelings about being pressured to shoot the elephant, “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd – seemingly the leading actor of the piece. Orwell was pictured as a leader because he was British and he worked for the British Empire. Readers are able to relate to the fact that he does not want to be humiliated in front of the Burmese.
