After reading Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant, I thought about
the idea of status and role. Orwell’s status in the little village in Burma was
that of an imperial officer, and being of this status, Orwell was naturally
associated with the British Empire, forcing the villagers to be belligerent
towards him. Ascribed to his status as imperial officer, Orwell’s role was to
enforce the rules and to maintain dominance and superiority over the villagers.
When it was up to Orwell to shoot the elephant, it was his opportunity to
demonstrate his status as superior. Orwell’s decision was well made; even
though, he had to shoot an overall harmless animal and possibly worsen the financial
situation of the owner, if Orwell did not shoot the animal, the villagers would
have viewed Orwell and his fellow officers as weak and see through their façade.
Villagers will realize the officers are not actually superior and this may
spark rebellion. By shooting the elephant, Orwell was able to maintain his
status and role as an imperial officer.
Orwell’s narrative made use of many forms of figurative language,
such as similes and metaphors and he also incorporated descriptive words
relating to the five senses. Orwell uses a simile when describing the condition
of the Indian’s back: “The friction of the great beast’s foot had stripped the skin
from his back as neatly as one skins a rabbit.” Not only does Orwell
incorporate a simile into this sentence by comparing the bare back of the man
to that of a shaved rabbit, he also provides imagery and sensory words. Readers
can picture the forcibly removed skin of the man’s back and can feel the pain
the man must have felt prior to his death. Orwell continues to advance towards
the elephant and spots the elephant eating grass. Orwell metaphorically
compares the mood around the elephant to being grandmotherly: “I watched him
beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with that preoccupied
grandmotherly air that elephants have.” After the elephant’s rampage ended, the
air or mood occupying the elephant becomes befitting of a grandmother; it is
now calm, protective and harmless. After shooting the elephant, Orwell describes
the flow of the elephant’s blood as, “The thick blood welled out of him like
red velvet.” Orwell uses a simile to compare the elephant’s blood to red
velvet, which is also descriptive. It portrays to the readers an image of the
elephant’s fresh and velvety red blood flowing out of its body. Orwell utilizes
metaphor, similes and description to fully share his experience with readers.
Orwell places emphasis on the fact that he does not
desire to shoot the animal but as previously stated, Orwell has a status and
reputation to uphold. He currently has the reputation as a brutal, dominating,
imperial officer and in order to uphold this reputation, he has no choice but
to shoot the elephant. Not only did his status impact his decision, but the fact
that there was a crowd of over two thousand Burmese villagers surrounding him,
all wanting him to shoot the elephant made it difficult for him to escape crowd pressure.
Imperialism is the act of dominating another country’s
affair and economy through diplomacy or military force. Orwell makes it clear
that he dislikes imperialism and the features of imperialism by stating, “I had
already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing.” Orwell uses the
anecdote of shooting an elephant to demonstrate his view on imperialism. Orwell
is adamantly against shooting the elephant but due to extenuating
circumstances, he has no choice but to kill, or dominate, the animal. Orwell’s
shooting the elephant shows his dominance over the animal as the animal’s life
is in his hands similar to how British imperialist have dominance and control
over the Burmese and their daily lives. Orwell’s internal unwillingness to
shoot the animal reveals his disapproval of imperialism as he does not believe
in the idea of domination.
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