Due 9/23- George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"

             It is disgusting how people would abandon their morals and values for the sake of impressing others. For example, George Orwell, in his personal narrative, "Shooting an Elephant," clearly expressed his unwillingness to kill what he believed to be a harmless elephant, yet he did so regardless of his beliefs because he wanted to please a bloodthirsty mob. He twisted his morals and cast aside his own opinions in exchange for two thousand measly pats on his back. Why did he not stay true to himself?

           Orwell's decision to kill the elephant in his personal narrative reminds me of my former classmate's decision to betray his friend. This classmate, Simon, was known to be best friends with Jack. One day, these best of friends got into an argument in a park nearby our school where they caught the attention of all the students nearby. These students formed a mob that urged them on to fight. Simon took notice of this and relaxed, refusing to further escalate the situation.
           "Simon, are you some kind of wuss?" a bystander jeered.
           "Simon, you seriously going to take that from him?" another fellow classmate shouted. A barrage of insults demanded Simon to fight and so soon he gradually clenched his fist and swung it into Jack's jaw. It was clear to me that Simon would not have attacked his friend if not for the crowd egging him on. This type of submissive behavior disgusts me.
             Simon's reason for his betrayal was the same as Orwell's reason for killing the elephant. They both did not want to appear weak in front of other people. Simon, although he tried, could not resist the temptation of boosting his reputation with such as large amount of classmates that were barely anymore than strangers to me. Likewise, Orwell could not resist the chance of finally being acknowledged as one of the good guys by a crowd of Indians that he had always hated him. Although he himself bared a grudge towards these "evil-spirited little beasts," he still wanted to be loved by them so that his job would not be as strenuous.

           Although I do not approve of the decision George Orwell made, I cannot deny the fact that he sculpted "Shooting an Elephant" with many of the elements that create an effective narrative. For example, his use of descriptive words painted vivid, mental imagery that allowed me to practically relive his experience. By describing the scenery of a neighborhood as a "labyrinth" of bamboo huts, Orwell depicted the image of being trapped in a seemingly endless assortment of homes. He also meticulously captured the image of a "devilish" corpse by illustrating the "crucified" position it laid in along with the expression of "unendurable agony" on its face. Besides the effective use of description, there is a strict adherence to a first-person point of view that maintains the realism of the narrative; Orwell tells his story from only what he is physically able to experience at the moment. For example, rather than jumping from the initial scene to the scene with the conflict, he patiently emphasized the urgency of his call to duty and how he prepared for battle by grabbing his weapons and mounting his horse. With steady transitioning, Orwell formed a clear, chronological order of events that he embellished with a wide range of imagery.

           As Orwell gradually introduced the anecdote of his shooting an elephant, it became apparent that this elephant was no different from himself. When the elephant was toppled, it was bestowed an imminent death which can be analogized to Orwell's feelings towards imperialism, a policy in which a country overtakes other territories for itself through military force. He clearly despised such a policy, yet his job required him to serve an imperialistic government. Because of this irony, he described his life as being stuck in between something. Likewise, the injured elephant was stuck in between life and death. The elephant probably did not want to die so that it could once again be free to gorge on fresh leaves, but it probably felt like dying as well so that it would have been freed from the suffering. Orwell also sought freedom; freedom from the shackles that forced him to serve a government he hated. He needed to be stuck in that situation for a long time, much like how the elephant was stuck in between life and death. A main difference between the dying elephant's situation and Orwell's is that the elephant had been freed from its suffering with death while Orwell had had to find his own method of escape. Nevertheless, the elephant is a clear symbol of Orwell and his life's struggles at the time.