“Shooting An Elephant” George Orwell “In Moulmein, in lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people” (Orwell).

George Orwell ( ) Orwell was a British journalist and author, who wrote two of the most famous novels of the 20th century 'Animal Farm' and 'Nineteen Eighty-Four'. Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair on 25 June 1903 in eastern India, the son of a British colonial civil servant. He was educated in England and, after he left Eton, joined the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, then a British colony. He resigned in 1927 and decided to become a writer. In 1928 he moved to Paris where lack of success as a writer forced him into a series of menial jobs. He described his experiences in his first book, 'Down and Out in Paris and London', published in he took the name George Orwell, shortly before its publication.

Novels Orwell wrote:

Vocabulary 1. Prostrate: defenseless/in a prone or lying position 2. Imperialism: policy and practice of forming and maintaining an empire in order to control raw materials and world markets by the conquests of other countries and the establishment of colonies 3. Despotic: tyrannical 4. Squalid: miserably poor; wretched 5. Dominion: rule or power to rule; a governed territory 6. Senility: mental or physical decay due to old age

Literary Device/Irony Irony is a literary device that brings out surprising or amusing contradictions. In verbal irony, the intended meaning of words clashes with their usual meaning, as when Orwell describes the dangerous elephant as “grandmotherly.” In irony of situation, events contradict what you expect to happen, as when the young Buddhist priests are revealed to be the most insulting toward the British.

Personal Narrative Personal narratives usually focus on one key event. Though true, they are told like fictional stories: They have a setting, a main character among a group of characters, a series of events that lead to a climax, a resolution or ending.

About the Selection Orwell’s essay reveals the ambivalence a person may feel in a position of power. On one hand young Orwell sympathizes with the Burmese people, on the other hand Orwell, the police officer, is committed to continuing and even defending that oppression.

Orwell’s conflicting attitudes Orwell’s sympathy for the Burmese His dislike of imperialism is desire to leave his job. **these attitudes conflict with his role as police officer, and his bad treatment by the Burmese.

State of “MUST” When an elephant goes wild in a Burmese marketplace, Orwell must act, making decisions more from his confused feeling than from COMMON SENSE, and in the process demonstrating the intense human desire to avoid embarrassment.

Summary The narrator, an officer of the British imperial police in Burma, considers himself an enemy of imperialism, but his role as a representative of the British crown invites the hatred of the Burmese. One day an elephant ravages a bazaar and kills a laborer (coolie). The narrator, who must track the elephant down, has not intention of shooting it, especially when he finds it grazing peacefully in a paddy.

Summary - continued Yet, Orwell feels he must maintain “face” in front of the crowd of Burmese who have followed him. Inexperienced, he repeatedly wounds the elephant, leaving the scene before the animal dies. The villagers cut up the elephant’s body for food.

“Shooting an Elephant” Setting: Time: Place: Characters: Main: Other: Events: 1. An elephant kills a laborer Climax: Resolution:

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