George Orwell's "Shooting An Elephant"

       The first impressions about George Orwell's "Shooting An Elephant" include a white man not being accepted by his surroundings in Burma. It eventually leads to a tragic death of an elephant and some happy Burmese people; however, in the end the narrator reflects on his actions. The central meaning within this essay is that social pressure on a person leads to foolish actions in order to be accepted. To be more specific in context, Orwell uses the many literary tools to help enhance this central meaning such as, plot and setting, characterization and chronology, diction, structure and title, imagery, tone and mood, and voice; narrative point-of-view and ambiguities.

      The plot of the essay briefly through each paragraph, that there is a white man who was not being accepted by the Burmese people within the setting of "Moulmein, in lower Burma" (Orwell). He expressed his feelings of frustration because he was on their side against the British empire; however, after he knew that the Burmese despised him he was now unsure. The Burmese expressed no interest in this white man until he was supposed to take a look at an elephant who was in a condition called "must" (Orwell). The Burmese were tremendously excited about this white man due to the fact that he had a gun, which caused them to interpret that he was going to kill the elephant. The narrator realizes the situation and then debates whether or not he should kill elephant. The elephant eventually was shot which lead to a dramatic and tragic death. At the end he reflects about his actions and he concludes that he only killed the elephant "solely to avoid looking a fool" (Orwell).

     The characterization and chronology of the essay was able to exemplify Orwell's intentions in enhancing the central meaning of this essay. Orwell characterizes two main people within the essay, one being the narrator himself  and the other being the Burmese people. Orwell portrays the narrator through his actions and reactions as well as his thoughts. An example that can help support this statement is the narrator saying "I had done it solely to avoid looking like a fool" (Orwell). The ideas and thoughts Orwell conveys about this character reflects a person who is self-conscious and unsure due tot eh fact that you can see him debating between several situations. The chronology throughout the essay progresses in a timely order which allows the reader to follow this phase of experiences of the narrator as well as better understand the characterization. 

     The diction used by Orwell to portray the main idea was to increase the drama of the effects of what people do to be accepted when under pressure such as killing the elephant; however, Orwell chooses to use the words "red velvet" (Orwell) to describe the blood or the words "stricken, shrunken, immensely old" (Orwell) to describe the elephant's reaction to the fired bullets.The connotation of these words are dramatic and it impacts the reader more to persuade the reader to be against what the narrator chose to do.

     The structure of each paragraph within Orwell's essay "Shooting An Elephant" seems to evoke a different side of his thoughts, for example, when he was debating whether or not he should kill the elephant, one side of his thoughts were in one paragraph and the other side of this thoughts were in another paragraph. It shows that the organization of the narrator's ideas enables us to see the contrast between each paragraph. The title of the essay can symbolize the deed the narrator has done which was to shoot an elephant. 

     Within the essay, Orwell used many similes and metaphors to describe his emotions and his situation throughout the essay. Orwell expresses the narrators anger with imagery to better exude the meaning towards the reader such as the narrator referring to the "Buddhist priests" as the worst of them all and him imagining [driving] a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts" (Orwell). Orwell also uses descriptions of environment and surroundings to let the reader gain a clearer understanding of the setting, for example "a very poor quarter, a labryinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palmleaf, winding all over a steep hillside" (Orwell). When the people were watching the narrator encounter this elephant Orwell describes them “watching [him] as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick” (Orwell) this quotation shows the amount of excitement these people have towards this one white man who was unimportant before. He then realizes that “in reality [he] was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind”, this quotation is a simile and it shows that the narrator is expressing his thoughts of him being a puppet due to these people pushing him around the word of acceptance.

The tone Orwell is intending within this essay is a sense of reflection, regret and pity. Due to the fact that he is able to show reflection within the narrator is experiencing as well as a sense of regret and pity towards the narrator. The mood the reader should get a sense of is anger and resentment towards the narrator thinking that he is narrow-minded and a sense of pity towards the dead elephant.

The voice of the essay is possibly the author itself, Orwell, or a character within the essay. This leads to a sense of ambiguity of whether or not the voice of this essay is the author's. However, the narrative point-of-view of this essay is written in first person which personalizes the content within which helps the reader understand what the character is going through as the essay progresses.

The literary tools Orwell uses such as plot and setting, characterization and chronology, diction, structure and title, imagery, tone and mood, and voice; narrative point-of-view and ambiguities help enhance the understanding of the central meaning of social pressure on a person leads to foolish actions in order to be accepted. From plot to voice and from mood to diction all of these literary tools combine together to help enhance a better understanding towards the reader. These points are Orwell's intentions within the essay "Shooting An Elephant".