Shooting an Elephant Freewrite
George Orwell’s writing in this passage seemed pretty straightforward. He tended to tell the audience exactly what was happening instead of relying solely on details. Overall I thought the passage was interesting and a pretty good read. I was disturbed by the his killing the elephant and the way it died. It seemed almost unnecessary to describe it in such vivid detail, especially considering the nature of the kill. In a way, his description of the event disconnected him from it and allowed him to not feel guilt; he described killing an animal the way most people would describe getting a cup of coffee. After reading this I did not particularly like Orwell as a person, but I would most likely read other works of his because I thought it was interesting.
The first thing that struck me as odd was the fact that George Orwell was so against imperialism and everything that it stood for, yet he was working for them. I later realized that this entire essay was riddled with hypocrisies: Orwell working for the British, the Buddhist priests being the most hostile towards the British officers, and the entire shooting of the elephant. I did not feel happy, or sad after reading this. I pretty much felt disgusted by the way the animal died, and the way everyone behaved throughout the passage. I didn’t sympathize with the Burmese people because they were extremely hostile towards the British, and skinned an elephant that was still alive. I didn’t sympathize with Orwell at all because he had killed an innocent creature. Other than that, the only people left are the British, who also don’t deserve any sympathy because they are controlling India and Burma against their will and are reaping the benefit. I kept expecting some overall theme, or big confession to be brought to the readers attention at the end of the passage, but obviously that did not happen.
The shooting of the elephant was the biggest hypocrisy in the passage. In the beginning he mentions how he was secretly in full support of the Burmese and completely against the British. But, after reading the passage it is easy to connect the elephant to the Burmese. Neither were doing anything wrong (at least at that moment), yet both were being penalized for being who they were. The British easily overtook India and Burma even though it was absolutely necessary. Orwell did not have to shoot the elephant because it had calmed down and was not hurting anyone. However, he shot the elephant to assert his position of power, much like the British did. After he had shot the elephant multiple times and the elephant had been essentially tortured by the Burmans, he did not admit to feeling any guilt or regret. In fact, he continued to make excuses for his actions and even admitted that he was glad the coolie had died because it justified everything. Orwell must be in some sense of denial because he is both working for people he despises and emulating their actions, but does not seem to recognize it.