In George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" there are many different things that you can
take away from the essay. In the essay the meaning is contributed by the word choice. There is a
common theme in the essay. In his essay he used a lot of different literary devices.
Overall, I think the theme of George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is that imperialism
can force you to act against your own morals. Orwell sat there by the elephant and did not want
to kill it. He said in his head maybe he could just wait to see if the elephant is going to harm
anyone or not so maybe he would not have to shoot at it. Orwell said, “The sole thought in my
mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmans would see me pursued,
caught, trampled on and reduced to a griming corpse like that Indian up the hill. And if that
happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh. That would never do. There was
only one alternative. I shoved the cartridges into the magazine and lay down on the road to get a
better aim” (Orwell 284). Orwell had his own idea in his head, he wanted to walk up to the
elephant and stay 25 yards away to see if it was calm or if it would charge at him, but he knew
what the reaction of the natives would be if things went wrong and he ended up dead. This is a
prime example of how he went against what he wanted to do. He was going to feel judged,
almost like he did something wrong and so that is why he didn’t do it the way he wanted to do it.
In this essay George Orwell choice of language contributes to the meaning of theme in
the whole essay. In this essay Orwell told his story and his background and then it suddenly flips
into the story of the elephant while still telling his story while still making the theme obvious and
clear. In the text Orwell said, “One day something happened which in a roundabout way was
enlightening. It was a tiny incident in itself, but it gave me a better glimpse than I had before on
the real nature of imperialism-the real motives for which despotic governments act” (Orwell
280). Right before that quote he talked about his life and his experiences with his job and then it
led to the incident with the elephant. With that incident it basically gave him an eye-opener
moment with the decision he had to make. He wanted to go with his morals and make a decision,
but he couldn’t because he needed to “impress” the natives. By his word choice and language
throughout the essay, the theme is pretty evident as well as defined.
George Orwell chose to use a lot of literary devices while writing this essay. I think in
specific he used a lot of imagery. The way he used imagery gives the reader so many different
details that they would not have if imagery was not used. The reader can have a vivid image of
what was being talked about in the essay. Orwell said, “I dare to say – he sagged flabbily to his
knees. His mouth slobbered. An enormous senility seemed to have settled on him. One could
have imagined him thousands of years old. I fired again in the same spot. At the second shot he
did not collapse but climbed with desperate slowness to his feet and stood weakly upright, with
legs sagging and head drooping” (Orwell 285). All of those details that were included definitely
did not have to be put into the essay. He gave so many details about shooting an elephant when
all he had to say was that he shot it. Instead he added a couple extra sentences. George Orwell
chose to put extra emphasis on the details and with having details it helps the reader organize an
image in their brain so they can understand they story better. Having imagery in a story will not
only help you understand the story better, but it also makes the story more interesting. We all
have to read boring stories throughout school, but with imagery it can make it less boring and fun
to read.
In George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" you can evaluate it in a lot of different ways.
I chose to evaluate the theme of the essay, the meaning behind the theme and why it is the theme,
and then how he used a lot of literary devices, but specifically imagery.