“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell Seminar

In your groups, discuss your first thoughts after reading the story, using the questions on the worksheet to get you started. Compare your answers on the worksheet – it’s OK if you have different interpretations!

Discuss examples of literary devices used in the story. Were they successful?

Simile “It was an immense crowd… They were watching me as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick. They did not like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watching.” (p. 4)

Metaphor “I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly… in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.” (p. 4)

Metaphor “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…” (p. 4)

What are some of the internal conflicts Orwell describes feeling in his role as a colonial police offer? Text where Orwell confesses conflicted feelings

What does Orwell mean when he writes that he was “theoretically…all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors”? (p. 1)

Does Orwell believe these conflicting feelings can be reconciled Does Orwell believe these conflicting feelings can be reconciled? What does he mean by “the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East”? (p. 1)

Discuss the quote: “It was at this moment… that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East.” (p. 4)

Does Orwell show sympathy for the Burmese people Does Orwell show sympathy for the Burmese people? What type of language does he use to convey his feelings for the people?

What is the significance of the statement “I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.” (p. 4)

Orwell wrote this essay many years after he had left the civil service, how does Orwell describe his feelings about the British Empire and his role in it in hindsight (looking at the past)?

Why does Orwell shoot the elephant? What would you have done?

What does the elephant symbolize? Possible interpretations: Elephant = the Burmese people and their struggle to not be conquered by the British Elephant = the British Empire ravaging the colonies and ultimately being brought down

Compare Orwell’s story with excerpts from the poem by Rudyard Kipling. “The White Man’s Burden” Take up the White Man's burden— Send forth the best ye breed— Go bind your sons to exile To serve your captives' need; To wait in heavy harness, On fluttered folk and wild— Your new-caught, sullen peoples, Half-devil and half-child. … Take up the White Man’s burden – The savage wars of peace – Fill full the mouth of Famine, And bid the sickness cease; And when your goal is nearest (The end for others sought) Watch sloth and heathen folly Bring all your hope to nought

Closure Activity Choose one of the following activities to individually complete on your own piece of paper. Create a political cartoon about British imperialism from either the British or the colonized perspective (not using elephants ) Rewrite one portion of the story from a Burmese person’s point of view (at least 2 paragraphs)