Tuesday, September 6, 2011

"Shooting an Elephant" SOAPSTone

The subject of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is the journey of a man’s killing of an elephant for him to somewhat “fit in” with the rest of the Burma natives. This journey is illustrated by when he is contemplating whether or not to kill the elephant. He says that they watched him excitedly as they expected him to shoot the elephant, and that moment would be the only one he would get to prove himself and not be a standout.
             “Shooting an Elephant” was written during the 1930’s. The essay’s time of creation is displayed when he talks about the importance of the elephant, comparing its shooting to “destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery”. The probable place of the essay’s creation is Moulmein, in Lower Burma. I know this because Orwell says this right at the beginning of the essay.
            George Orwell’s specific audience for “Shooting an Elephant” is those who feel left out or discriminated against within a group that they interact with daily. The author’s target audience is exhibited by how he is jeered at and made fun of in Burma, and then, by shooting the elephant, attempted to be accepted better.
            Orwell’s purpose in “Shooting an Elephant” is to narrate his story of the killing of this important elephant. This narration is revealed by how he is telling his feelings during the ordeal, and how it is in a story-like format.
            George Orwell, who sailed to Burma in 1922 as a young man, is the speaker of this essay. He is speaking about how fitting in with the natives is very important to him.
            Orwell shows a pitiful and aggressive attitude about fitting in in “Shooting an Elephant”. These attitudes are expressed by how the author claims that nobody in Burma likes him, backed by his examples of the jeering at him, and how he graphically “kills” the elephant. This represents his pitiful tone because it causes the audience to feel sorry for him in his situations. The second example represents the aggressive tone because it shows how he desperately wanted the elephant to die (to put out of its misery). These tones serve the purpose in the essay of adding feeling to the essay for the audience to stay engaged.

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