Shooting an Elephant

A detailed Summary of Shooting an Elephant

In "Shooting an Elephant," George Orwell finds himself in a difficult

situation involving an elephant. The fate of the elephant lies in his hands. Only

he can make the final decision. In the end, due to Orwell's decision, the elephant

lay dying in a pool of blood. Orwell wins the sympathy of readers by expressing

the pressure he feels as an Anglo-Indian in Burma, struggling with his morals,

and showing a sense of compassion for the dying animal.

Readers sympathize with Orwell because they can relate to his emotions in

the moments before the shooting. Being the white "leader," he should have been

able to make an independent decision, but was influenced by the "natives". Orwell describes his feelings about being pressured to shoot the

elephant: "Here I was the white man with his gun, standing in front of the

unarmed crowd - seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was

only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind. Everyone has been in a situation in which he or she has been expected to

be a leader. For different reasons people are looked to as leaders, som

he actually had feelings for the animal. If it were a routine killing he would have

he thought was right and what the Burmese wanted him to do. The readers have

a sense that he did not have ill-intent to kill the elephant. When Orwell says, "As

helpless, with no bullets left in his gun; he was unable to put the elephant out of

Some common words found in the essay are:
Burmese Orwell, British Empire, Anglo-Indian Burma, George Orwell, Empire Readers, Empire Burmese, british empire, elephant lay dying, elephant lay, lay dying, readers sympathize, feelings killing, readers respect, elephant orwell, compassion dying, kill elephant, compassion dying animal, dying animal,

Approximate Word count = 763
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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Shooting an Elephant

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