Shooting
an Elephant- George Orwell
In the essay, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell
illustrates his experiences as a British police officer in Lower Burma, and
reflects it to the nature of imperialism. Since “anti-European feeling was very
bitter” due to the British Empire’s dictatorship in Burma, Orwell is being
treated disrespectfully by the Burmese . This allows him to hate his job and
the British Empire. However, the incident of shooting of an elephant gives him
a “better glimpse … of the real nature of imperialism – the real motives for
which cruel government act”. Through his life experiences as a British man,
Orwell efficiently demonstrates the negative effects of imperialism on
individuals and society.
With the usage of effective diction in his essay, Orwell excellently conveys his emotions and message to his readers. He often uses the word “natives” for the Burmese: “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd”. By doing so, he shows his emotions and respect towards the Burmese because calling them “natives” suggests that he agrees on the fact that they are the true owner of Burma and not the British Empire. Also, by frequently using the word “natives”, Orwell reminds his readers the existence of imperialism in Burma so that the readers do not simply hang on to the elephant but also get the message incorporated in the essay. The body of the elephant is compared to machinery as Orwell thinks that killing an elephant “is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery” . This comparison makes the readers realize that the British Empire is also like a huge piece of machinery, so the death of it would be a serious matter to both oppressor and people being oppressed. When Orwell was followed by thousands of Burmese, he says, “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”. He calls himself a “puppet” to prove and emphasize the fact that even the oppressors lose their freedom and have to live under the pressure of the people they oppress when an imperialist system takes place in the society.
Also, Orwell establishes particular effects in his essay by using different sentence structures. As Orwell comes to the decision of shooting the elephant, he states, “To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible” . The parallel phrases used in this passage recaps the whole situation but the usage of anacoluthon in the end of the link allows Orwell to show how much he is pressurized. In addition, it indicates the readers that there is no way for him to leave the elephant alive after coming to this stage of the situation. Orwell again uses parallel phrases to describe the effects on the elephant after the first shot: “He looked suddenly stricken, shrunken, immensely old, as though the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him without knocking him down” . This structure helps Orwell to intensify the shock and the reaction in the readers as the elephant starts dying. Lack of a grammatical sequence is used when Orwell goes out to kill an elephant and says, “I had no intention of shooting the elephant – I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary – and it is always unnerving to have a crowd following you” .This structure makes the reader feel that Orwell’s voice is breaking down due to nervousness as the Burmese expect him to kill the elephant.
In addition, Orwell uses several rhetorical devices to make his point more effective and evident. A simile is used to compare the blood of an elephant: “The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still he did not die”. Comparison of the blood of an elephant to the red velvet symbolizes the wealth and richness of the British Empire. Since it is flowing out of a dying elephant, it indicates that the British Empire is also dying. Orwell uses the imagery as he refers to his responsibilities as an oppressor that he “shall spend his life in trying to impress the "natives," and so in every crisis he has got to do what the "natives" expect of him … [he] wears a mask and his face grows it to fit” . The wearing of mask symbolizes that even the person who is dominated loses his freedom in imperialism. When the elephant was shot multiple times, Orwell notices that it is “powerless to move and yet powerless to die”. The use of juxtaposition helps Orwell to show the situation of the imperialistic British Empire as powerless.
The tone varies throughout the essay depending on how the author feels about each of events. In the beginning, Orwell states how he is being treated by the Burmese while performing his duty as a British police officer:
“I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so … the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves ... none of them seemed to have anything to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans”.
The words such as “insult”, “hooted”, “nerves”, “worst” and “jeer” demonstrates that he is furious and frustrated with his job and proves that it originates from imperialism. In the end, Orwell expresses relief, “I was very glad that the coolie had been killed; it put me legally in the right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant”. This is a relief moment for Orwell because he killed the elephant only because he was pressurized by the wills of the Burmese, which is not a legal reason to shoot an elephant. However, after he discovers that the elephant had killed a coolie, he realizes that this could be taken as a legal reason to take action against the elephant. This passage shows how imperialism can change the understanding of moral values in individuals while making any important decision. Orwell talks in a stern tone when he realizes that “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib”. This seriousness appeals emotions from the readers and helps them to understand the effects of imperialism where individual loses his or her freedom. He gives such a lengthy description of the death of the elephant in sorrowful mood:
“It was obvious that the elephant would never rise again, but he was not dead. He was breathing very rhythmically with long rattling gasps, his great mound of a side painfully rising and falling … the tortured breathing continued without a pause”.
Generating this type of mood in the passage helps Orwell to make his readers recognize the overall product of imperialism which is a death with dreadful pain.
Thus, George Orwell successfully sends the message of imperialism to his audience by using efficient styles of writing in his essay, Shooting an Elephant. According to what Orwell is trying to impose, his target audience seems to be youth, adults, and politicians as imperialism is more reflected off of people under these categories. As a police officer, Orwell teaches his readers that imperialism is the worst way to govern a country as it is harmful to an individual’s way of thinking and value of morality in society. He proved that in an imperialism based system, no one is actually dominant over one another as they all end up being slaves of each other. This results in demolished and demoralized society. Orwell achieves his goal outstandingly by playing with rhetorical devices, tone, diction, and sentence structure to generate the feeling in the audience the way he desires. In result, Orwell brilliantly uses the incident of killing an elephant to describe the negative effects of imperialism.
With the usage of effective diction in his essay, Orwell excellently conveys his emotions and message to his readers. He often uses the word “natives” for the Burmese: “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd”. By doing so, he shows his emotions and respect towards the Burmese because calling them “natives” suggests that he agrees on the fact that they are the true owner of Burma and not the British Empire. Also, by frequently using the word “natives”, Orwell reminds his readers the existence of imperialism in Burma so that the readers do not simply hang on to the elephant but also get the message incorporated in the essay. The body of the elephant is compared to machinery as Orwell thinks that killing an elephant “is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery” . This comparison makes the readers realize that the British Empire is also like a huge piece of machinery, so the death of it would be a serious matter to both oppressor and people being oppressed. When Orwell was followed by thousands of Burmese, he says, “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”. He calls himself a “puppet” to prove and emphasize the fact that even the oppressors lose their freedom and have to live under the pressure of the people they oppress when an imperialist system takes place in the society.
Also, Orwell establishes particular effects in his essay by using different sentence structures. As Orwell comes to the decision of shooting the elephant, he states, “To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible” . The parallel phrases used in this passage recaps the whole situation but the usage of anacoluthon in the end of the link allows Orwell to show how much he is pressurized. In addition, it indicates the readers that there is no way for him to leave the elephant alive after coming to this stage of the situation. Orwell again uses parallel phrases to describe the effects on the elephant after the first shot: “He looked suddenly stricken, shrunken, immensely old, as though the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him without knocking him down” . This structure helps Orwell to intensify the shock and the reaction in the readers as the elephant starts dying. Lack of a grammatical sequence is used when Orwell goes out to kill an elephant and says, “I had no intention of shooting the elephant – I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary – and it is always unnerving to have a crowd following you” .This structure makes the reader feel that Orwell’s voice is breaking down due to nervousness as the Burmese expect him to kill the elephant.
In addition, Orwell uses several rhetorical devices to make his point more effective and evident. A simile is used to compare the blood of an elephant: “The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still he did not die”. Comparison of the blood of an elephant to the red velvet symbolizes the wealth and richness of the British Empire. Since it is flowing out of a dying elephant, it indicates that the British Empire is also dying. Orwell uses the imagery as he refers to his responsibilities as an oppressor that he “shall spend his life in trying to impress the "natives," and so in every crisis he has got to do what the "natives" expect of him … [he] wears a mask and his face grows it to fit” . The wearing of mask symbolizes that even the person who is dominated loses his freedom in imperialism. When the elephant was shot multiple times, Orwell notices that it is “powerless to move and yet powerless to die”. The use of juxtaposition helps Orwell to show the situation of the imperialistic British Empire as powerless.
The tone varies throughout the essay depending on how the author feels about each of events. In the beginning, Orwell states how he is being treated by the Burmese while performing his duty as a British police officer:
“I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so … the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves ... none of them seemed to have anything to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans”.
The words such as “insult”, “hooted”, “nerves”, “worst” and “jeer” demonstrates that he is furious and frustrated with his job and proves that it originates from imperialism. In the end, Orwell expresses relief, “I was very glad that the coolie had been killed; it put me legally in the right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant”. This is a relief moment for Orwell because he killed the elephant only because he was pressurized by the wills of the Burmese, which is not a legal reason to shoot an elephant. However, after he discovers that the elephant had killed a coolie, he realizes that this could be taken as a legal reason to take action against the elephant. This passage shows how imperialism can change the understanding of moral values in individuals while making any important decision. Orwell talks in a stern tone when he realizes that “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib”. This seriousness appeals emotions from the readers and helps them to understand the effects of imperialism where individual loses his or her freedom. He gives such a lengthy description of the death of the elephant in sorrowful mood:
“It was obvious that the elephant would never rise again, but he was not dead. He was breathing very rhythmically with long rattling gasps, his great mound of a side painfully rising and falling … the tortured breathing continued without a pause”.
Generating this type of mood in the passage helps Orwell to make his readers recognize the overall product of imperialism which is a death with dreadful pain.
Thus, George Orwell successfully sends the message of imperialism to his audience by using efficient styles of writing in his essay, Shooting an Elephant. According to what Orwell is trying to impose, his target audience seems to be youth, adults, and politicians as imperialism is more reflected off of people under these categories. As a police officer, Orwell teaches his readers that imperialism is the worst way to govern a country as it is harmful to an individual’s way of thinking and value of morality in society. He proved that in an imperialism based system, no one is actually dominant over one another as they all end up being slaves of each other. This results in demolished and demoralized society. Orwell achieves his goal outstandingly by playing with rhetorical devices, tone, diction, and sentence structure to generate the feeling in the audience the way he desires. In result, Orwell brilliantly uses the incident of killing an elephant to describe the negative effects of imperialism.
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