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3.89 AVERAGE
3.89 AVERAGE
It was okay. Good message against colonialism and I liked that it was through the point of view of the oppressor because I feel like so much of colonial critique is trauma porn of the colonized. But this didn’t really grab me and I think that the critique is sort of weak and overdone, although I can acknowledge that this was fresh and new for white men to be talking about at the time.
"Shooting an Elephant" is definitely one of the short stories/essays that I could read over and over again. Young Orwell completely expresses his thoughts and feelings in this piece of literature. I personally could feel the apprehension of Orwell's task; I agreed with his decision and raged against it as well. Orwell gives the blood and bones of thoughts and action in "Shooting an Elephant". It takes under half an hour to read; please do.
First Orwell story I've read, and it was excellent.
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Colonisation
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
dark
tense
medium-paced
Orwell was born in 1903 during the height of the British empire. He drew on his personal experiences when writing Shooting an Elephant; giving us a genuine source for the story. Orwell did not support the injustices commited by the British towards the native population that their colonies commanded. Instead he turned to democratic socialism and also upheld and anti-imperialist philosophy after he published his story.
The story takes place around the 1920s and the 1930s in Burma, a province of India which was a colony under British rule at the time. Orwell, the narrator of the story, is a British police officer within the colony; he is tasked with the duty of keeping the natives under control and upholding the British empire's powerful stance. As the story continues an elephant has gone wild, escaping its mahute or driver and is running throughout the village causing damage to houses and other buildings, and also killing one of the native coolies. The narrator fetches a rifle and goes to track down the elephant has drown a crowd of about 2000 coolies. He's ultimately forced to shoot the elephant in order to remain in a position of power and represent the british empire in a fearful strong light as they desire. The elephant ends up dying a slow grueling death, and the narrator can't stand to watch.
Characterization:
As I stated earlier, the narrator is a representation of Orwell as he's a young English police officer in the Burmese colony. He doesn't agree with the oppression that the British have installed, but his actions represent the power of the empire and are carried out by their order.
The Dravidian coolies are the natives of Burma and they're unskilled laborers refferred to this way because it's a deragatory slang names used by the British.
The mahute reffers to the elephant's owner or driver, and this is a man who at the end of the story is angry when he learns that his elephant has been slain.
Symbolism:
The elephant can be looked at in two different ways:
On one hand the elephant can be seen as a representation of the massive size of the English empire and their control/power. The elephant can also be seen as dangerous and destructive just as the British have been within their colonies.
Now on the other hand; the elephant can also symbolize the natives that are under the British rule; this is seen when the elephant is in the field eating grass because he has a peaceful nature about him but everyone knows the ultimate future that they will face under the English will not be so peaceful.
Key ideas:
Pressure to keep the image of power: "For it the condition of his rule 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 to fit it. I had got to shoot the elephant"
Loss of freedom: "When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy"
Perception of value: "It was a damn shame to shoot an elephant for killing a coolie, because an elephant was worth more than any damn Conrighee coolie"
The story takes place around the 1920s and the 1930s in Burma, a province of India which was a colony under British rule at the time. Orwell, the narrator of the story, is a British police officer within the colony; he is tasked with the duty of keeping the natives under control and upholding the British empire's powerful stance. As the story continues an elephant has gone wild, escaping its mahute or driver and is running throughout the village causing damage to houses and other buildings, and also killing one of the native coolies. The narrator fetches a rifle and goes to track down the elephant has drown a crowd of about 2000 coolies. He's ultimately forced to shoot the elephant in order to remain in a position of power and represent the british empire in a fearful strong light as they desire. The elephant ends up dying a slow grueling death, and the narrator can't stand to watch.
Characterization:
As I stated earlier, the narrator is a representation of Orwell as he's a young English police officer in the Burmese colony. He doesn't agree with the oppression that the British have installed, but his actions represent the power of the empire and are carried out by their order.
The Dravidian coolies are the natives of Burma and they're unskilled laborers refferred to this way because it's a deragatory slang names used by the British.
The mahute reffers to the elephant's owner or driver, and this is a man who at the end of the story is angry when he learns that his elephant has been slain.
Symbolism:
The elephant can be looked at in two different ways:
On one hand the elephant can be seen as a representation of the massive size of the English empire and their control/power. The elephant can also be seen as dangerous and destructive just as the British have been within their colonies.
Now on the other hand; the elephant can also symbolize the natives that are under the British rule; this is seen when the elephant is in the field eating grass because he has a peaceful nature about him but everyone knows the ultimate future that they will face under the English will not be so peaceful.
Key ideas:
Pressure to keep the image of power: "For it the condition of his rule 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 to fit it. I had got to shoot the elephant"
Loss of freedom: "When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy"
Perception of value: "It was a damn shame to shoot an elephant for killing a coolie, because an elephant was worth more than any damn Conrighee coolie"
reflective
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
I liked the message behind the short story.
It was a fast read and it made me think about the question more if he was in the right to kill the elephant or not.
It was a fast read and it made me think about the question more if he was in the right to kill the elephant or not.
dark
sad
fast-paced