George Orwell was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and a critic. His notable writings brought attention to the public about problems with the government. One essay he wrote, “Shooting an Elephant” was a defining moment in his life because it formulated his opinion about the problem with the government and how they “take over” peoples minds.

            “Shooting an Elephant” is an essay that Orwell wrote on October 12, 1948. This is set in Moulman, lower Burma (now called Myanmar). During this time Orwell is a police officer that the people in Burma do not necessarily like him all that much, and he does not like his job either. In this town, there is commotion all around and people are saying that there is an elephant running around and killing people. Orwell gets on a pony and goes to the town with a rifle that is powerful enough to kill an elephant. As Orwell is on his way to the elephant, he sees a man who was killed and trampled by the elephant. When Orwell finally gets to the elephant, it is just standing there and eating grass; this makes Orwell contemplate if he actually wants to kill the elephant. In his head, he is debating with himself saying that if he did kill the elephant he would be killing an amazing, beautiful animal. But if he does not kill the elephant, he will be laughed at and be humiliated by the town. When he finally shoots the elephant, he shoots it in the head and there is no sign of the elephant dying straight away. Orwell shoots it in the head a couple more times, and it still is not dying so he shoots the elephant in the heart to make it die quicker and less painful. This still does not make the animal die completely, so he gets a smaller rifle and shoots it multiple times in the mouth. This still does not kill the elephant, so Orwell walks away to make sure he does not hear the animal suffer. Later in the day he hears that it took the animal thirty minutes to die fully, and the people skinned it for food. When Orwell tells this story to his fellow police officers, he makes the story out to seem as if he had to sympathy towards the elephant. The main point of this essay was that there is a conflict between a person’s conscience and the law.

            The importance of “Shooting an Elephant was that it gave Orwell a particular understanding of oppression and how it works for the opposer and the opposed. Orwell said “Gave me a particular insight on the motive of why governments act they way that they do”. Orwell was never a supporter of an imperialism government. According to Dictionary.com, imperialism is defined as “a policy of extending a county’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force.” His purpose for writing this essay was to expose imperialism and how evil it is. His tone in this essay is that he is frustrated with his self and his mind, he wants to shoot the elephant to make sure he is not humiliated, but he also does not want to shoot this creature that comes off as protecting itself. He originally did not even want to shoot this elephant, the only reason why he got the elephant rifle was to use it as protection for him, and he never wanted to use it to kill the creature. The elephant and the police officer stand as a symbol, the elephant is imperialism, and the officer is the British Empire. George Orwell said once that "I did not know the British Empire was dying, less did I know that it is for the better than the younger empires that will replace it". When he said this, he predicted the falling of the British empire and the rising of the countries that were building an empire; like, Russia, Germany, Japan, and Italy (in a way). Another quote that Orwell said that is interesting, considering the symbolism in this essay was, "I had already made up my mind on imperialism. 

            According to Biography.com On June 25, 1903 George Orwell was born in Motihari, India. He was son of a British civil servant, which was his father. His father and him never really had the best relationship, even though after his father got out of service they tried to rekindle the relationship, it never really worked out. Around a year after Orwell was born, his mother brought him and his sister to England, and that is where he ended up growing up for the majority of his childhood. According to an article, George Orwell’s fist word was “beastly”; which is pretty unusual for a child, as a child’s first word is something like “mama” or “dada”. Another unusual fact about him is that he wrote his first poem at the age of four, again, at this age children are barely learning how to start reading, let alone writing anything like poems. He ended up being sent to a boarding school in 1911, St. Cyprians in the town of East Bourne. Later on in Orwell’s life, he won scholarships to Wellington College and Eton College. In December of 1936, Orwell traveled to Spain and joined groups that were fighting against General Francisco Franco in the Spanish Civil War. During the war, he got shot in the neck and the throat by a Russian sniper and almost died. While he was in Spain, his wife and him got charged for treason; but once they left the charges were dropped. In 1938 Orwell was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which he battled with the rest of his life and ultimately died from it. In 1941 he was hired as a producer for BBC where he developed news commentary and shows for audiences in Eastern part of the British Empire. During World War II, he acted as a propagandist to advance the countries national interest. He really loathed that job and ended up resigning in 1943. Orwell later married Eileen O’Shaughnessy in June 1936, and adopted a child together named, Richard Horatio Blair. After Eileen passed away in 1945, Orwell married Sonia Brownell in October 1949. This was only a year before Orwell died of tuberculosis in 1950 at the age of forty-six years old. Orwell wrote many pieces in his lifetime, but the most notable writings were, “Shooting an Elephant”, Burmese Days (1936), "A Hanging" (his feelings about oppressors and oppressed), Animal Farm, and 1984. 1984 was sold so much when President Donald Trump was elected on Amazon because English teachers were using it to use during their classes. 1984 was mostly about “Big Brother” is watching (the government) and how the public thinks that it sounds like a good idea, and a safer environment for them; but in reality, the government is watching every single little thing that the public does. It really makes a person understand just how much control the government has over their country.

            When Orwell was dying, he made a final warning; he said, “Do not let it happen”. What he meant by this warning was to make sure to not let the situation in 1984 happen in the future. Orwell was a very notable person with notable writings and he has influenced a lot of people throughout time. People know not to be so trusting with the government and to keep an eye out for what is happening in society now and in the future. “Shooting an Elephant” was a defining moment in his life because it formulated his opinion about the problem with the government and how they “take over” peoples minds. He meant the type of government like imperialism, and his fictional government in 1984’s “big brother”. His final warning was basically saying do not be fooled by the government because they can make something seem like it is good for the public and it will help the people be safe; but really, they are watching over you and planning things that they do not want the public to know about.

 

                       

Works Cited

“George Orwell Biography.” The Biography.com Website, A&E Television Networks, 15 Feb 2018, https://www.biography.com/people/george-orwell-9429833. Accessed 04 May 2018.

 

“Imperialism.” Dictionary.com, http://www.dictionary.com/browse/imperialism. Accessed 04 May 2018.

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Orwell, George. “Shooting An Elephant.” The Literature Network, 1936, http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/887/. Accessed 04 May 2018. 

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