Session Twenty-Four
Summary Writing
2005-12-13
How to write a summary?
Like the abstract of an essay or the synopsis of a motion picture, the summary
of a text or a story is presenting its main ideas in the form of condensation, in much
fewer words than the original text while retaining its most essential ideas.
Writing summaries is something of an art, for it demands two skills: skill in
reading and skill in writing. Instead of finding something to say like other kinds of
writing, the writer of a summary takes what he or someone else has written and
reproduces the substance of the text in a considerably shortened version. To write a
good summary, one most be a skillful enough reader to be able to pick out the
importance points in at ext and a skillful enough writer to set forth those important
points in a coherent frm and in a limited number of words.
Part One: Discussion of the first paragraphs
As a while man in Burma, George Orwell lived in a dilemma when he was a subdivisional officer of the town. He had the sympathy with the locals but he got no
according respect. This was due to his unchangeable while looking, which was
assumed by the locals the embodiment of colonialist.
Improved:
As a white police officer in Burma, George Orwell found himself in a dilemma: he
had the sympathy for the locals but he did not win their understanding because of his
white skin which, in the eyes of the locals, was the symbol of (British) colonial rule.
As a sub-divisional police officer of a town in Burma, Orwell, a white man,
acted as a ruler. But he was laughed, tricked and cursed obviously by local people
when he had nothing to do. Suddenly a “must” elephant made Orwell become the
most important one…..
Improved Version:
As a white police officer in Burma, Orwell was seen by the locals as working
for the white British rulers. He was thus made an obvious target…
George Orwell was born in Asia. Finishing his high school education in
Britain, he returned to Asia and work as a police officer in Lower Burma. Although
he had already accepted that the imperialism was “an evil thing” at that time, he was
hated by the natives because of his job and nationality. The Burmese bailed and
laughed at him in any way and time that is possible, which made him very nervous.
He said he was stuck between “my hatred of the empire” and “may rage against the
evil beast who tried make my job impossible.”
Improved version:
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Working as a police officer in Lower Burma, George Orwell came to realize
that imperialism was “an evil thing”, but he was hated by the natives nonetheless
because of his job and ethnicity. The Burmese would bail him whenever they had a
chance to do so. He felt he was stuck between his hatred of the empire he was serving
and his rage against the locals.
George Orwell was treated, in the eyes of the natives, as no more than one of
the white British oppressors who had incurred their deep-seated hatred, although he
was sympathetic with them. Factually he did not understand the natives.
Improved Version:
(As a white police officer in Burma), George Orwell was treated by the natives
just as one of the white British oppressors who had incurred their deep-seated hatred,
although he was sympathetic with them. ?Factually he did not understand the natives.
Last class, we finished the lesson whose title was “Shooting and Elephant”
which was written by George Orwell. After reading it, I felt sympathetically about
George Orwell….
George Orwell was a sub-divisional police officer of the town in Moulmein, in
Lower Burma, where anti-European feeling was very bitter. There were several
thousands of people in the town and none of them seemed to have anything to do
except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans.
Part Two: Discussion of the sentences:
1. When he saw the coolie being killed by the elephant…
2. to prevent the elephant from making further trouble
3. a dead body which had been killed.
4. The powerless death of the elephant arouse the sympathy of the reader for the
animal thus exhibiting inhumanity of and folly of men.
5. On receiving a phone call one morning said that an elephant was ravaging the
bazaar.
6. Orwell spends two passages on detailed and vivid description of the dying process
of the huge mammal.
George Orwell describes his awkward position as a police officer in
Moulmein, Burma. The Burmese sneer at him and insult him. But secretly he
was all for the Burmese and against British imperialism. He hated British Raj,
yet his position made him in a dilemma. One day, he was told that an
elephant was ravaging the bazaar. At first he just wanted to see what was
happening. After he had learned what the elephant had done and saw the
corpse of a collie killed by the elephant, he sent for a rifle just to defend
himself. As the same time the whole population of the quarter began to flock
out of their house and followed him. They were excited at the sight of the gun.
Their eagerness of shooting the elephant made the author uneasy. On the
other hand, when he found the elephant, its “must” was already passing off.
George Orwell knew well he should not shoot the elephant because it was
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harmless at that time. But the moment he saw the excited crowd, he realized
he had no choice but to kill it, so that he would not lose face as a “British
Sahib”. He knew it was unjustified but he was pressed forward irresistibly.
George Orwell pulled the trigger as the crowd grew still, waited to have their
fun. It took a long time for the elephant to die. It was suffered a lot before it
stopped breath. At last the author could not stand the torturing scene and
went away. 254
Comments: The summary has the following defects:
1. Only one paragraph.
2. “Awkward” cannot convey the idea of his being caught Orwell’s
ambivalence on his job as the police officer; it does not mean dilemma.
3. The Burmese sneer at him and insult him. But secretly he was all for the
Burmese and against British imperialism. In spite of the sneer and insult of
the Burmese, he was all for the locals and against British imperialism.
4. He hated British Raj, yet his position made him in a dilemma. Redundant,
also Raj. Should be replaced by “rule”
5. One day, he was told that an elephant was ravaging the bazaar. It should
begin another para.
6. He knew it was unjustified but he was pressed forward irresistibly. George
Orwell pulled the trigger as the crowd grew still, waited[waiting] to have
their fun.(expecting the fun of seeing the elephant shot to death.
7. It was[had] suffered a lot before it stopped breath. At last the author could
not stand the torturing scene and went away. Overbrief!]
Summary of Shooting an Elephant
In Moulmein, Lower Burma, Burmese had an anti-European feeling in an aimless,
petty, but bitter kind of way. George Orwell, as a sub-divisional police officer, was in
a dilemma. On one hand, he thought of imperialism as an evil thing, and thus was
theoretically and [DEL] secretly for the Burmese and against their oppressors, the
British. On the other hand, he hated those Burmese into the guts[TO HIS GUTS]
because their anti-European behaviors made his work impossible.
However, one day something happened which was enlightening. An elephant,
which was in a “must”, broke the chain and escaped. As the[ITS] mahout was
searching in the opposite direction, the elephant was left uncontrolled and destroyed
bamboos and killed cows. George Orwell was asked to deal with it. [THIS
PARAGRAPH WAS INADEQUATE. NO NEED TO MENTION THE MAHOUT,
BUT SHOULD GIVE A LITTLE DETAIL OF THE RAVAGING.]
On reaching the quarter [of the local residents], he saw the dead body of a coolie
sprawling in the mud, trampled by the elephant. Orwell ordered a rifle immediately
simply for self-guard[DEFENCE]. But the Burmese misunderstood, [and] they
flocked out and followed Orwell to see the shooting[ALL THE WAY TO WHERE
THE ELEPHANT WAS, EXPECTING THE FUN OF SEEING THE ELEPHANT
SHOT TO DEATH].
Seeing the elephant, Orwell knew the attack of must had[HAVE] passed and what
he should do was to observe the elephant to make sure it did not turn savage and
[THEN] go home. However, he found it impossible, for the crowd of Burmese wanted
him to kill it. Though a rifle in hand, Orwell was no more than a puppet pushed by the
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will of those yellow faces to perform what they liked. The situation of every white
man in the East was the same. [GOOD!]
It was clear to him that he ought to shoot. He didn’t dare to go near, test the
elephant and shoot on being charged for once missing he would be laughed at by the
Burmese. So he lay down on the road to shoot.[NOT CLEAR. IMPROVED
VERSION: IT WAS CLEAR TO HIM THAT HE HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO KILL
THE BEAST. BUT HE DIDN’T DARE TO GO NEAR THE ELEPHANT AS
THAT WOULD PUT HIMSELF IN DANGER OF BEING KILLED BY THE
BEAST. WORSE, STILL, THE NATIVES AROUND WOULD LAUGHT AT HIM
IF HE SHOULD BE “pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse”.
Instead of shooting from earhole to earhole, Orwell shot the wrong place.[No need
to give such details.] So the elephant didn’t die at one, but seemed growing old
dramatically.[However, the elephant didn’t die at once after Orwell’s bullet went
home.] After several shotS, the elephant collapsed, yet still breathing. A once
powerful animal was now powerless to move and powerless to die. Orwell couldn’t
bear it and went away.
Later, there were endless discussions. Among the European, older men agreed on
his shooting; the young even thought it was not worthwhile to kill an elephant simply
for its killing a coolie. However, Orwell knew he killed the elephant not for the coolie,
but for avoiding looking a fool. 394
In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of peoplethe only
time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me. I was subdivisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way antiEuropean feeling was very bitter. No one had the guts to raise a riot, but if a European
woman went through the bazaars alone somebody would probably spit betel juice
over her dress. As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it
seemed safe to do so. When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and
the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous
laughter. This happened more than once. In the end the sneering yellow faces of
young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe
distance, got badly on my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all.
There were several thousands of them in the town and none of them seemed to have
anything to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans.
All this was perplexing and upsetting. For at that time I had already
made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I
chucked up my job and got out of it the better. Theoreticallyand
secretly, of course I was all for the Burmese and all against their
oppressors, the British. As for the job I was doing, I hated it more
bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see
the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners
huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces
of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had
been flogged with bamboosall these oppressed me with an intolerable
sense of guilt. But I could get nothing into perspective. I was young
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and ill-educated and I had had to think out my problems in the utter
silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East. I did not
even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know
that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are
going to supplant it. All I knew was that I was stuck between my
hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited
little beasts who tried to make my job impossible. With one part of
my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as
something clamped down, in saecula saeculorum, upon the will of
prostrate peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy
in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's
guts. Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism;
ask any Anglo-Indian official, if you can catch him off duty. 495
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Shooting a elephant
Never in my life was I hated by greater mass of people than the time I served as a
police officer in Burma. And I was, as every white man there, tricked and fooled in
every possible occasion.
All these were perplexing and upsetting as I, on one hand, perceived the naked cruelty
evil of imperialism, and on the other hand, felt the could-be ultimate rapture at killing
the one who provoked me and made fun of me.
What gave me better understanding of the real nature of imperialism---the hollowness
and the absurdity in the motive for governments act, is the accidentally shooting of an
elephant.
The elephant was claimed to have ravaged huts and bazaar. And what justified my
shooting was his fatal attack at a coolie. But at the very beginning, I’ve never had the
intention of shooting. The orderly for an elephant rifle was sent only with the simple
purpose of defending. But I, who later found the elephant was just in a “must”, pushed
myself to the frontier, as my rifle got the whole quarter flocked out and myself
attended. There I stood, rifle in hand, feeling just as helpless and ridiculous as a tramp
puppet. It was at this moment that I grasped the futility, the hollowness of the white
man’s dominion in the east. I perceived that when the white man turns tyrant it is his
own freedom that he destroys.
Then I shot, as was expected by the natives. My totally unskilled shootings brought
terrible changes to the elephant. He struggled with great effort against the
overwhelming agony, which was brought by the pour of cartridges. The elephant
appeared to e in such a deadly state as he was neither powerless to live, nor to die. Not
even after my departure was the elephant skinned and stripped.
This, however, kindled a hot discussion for some time. 徐晶
The Summary of “Shooting An Elephant”
George Orwell, in the essay, narrated the whole process of killing an
outrageous elephant when he was in the post of a police officer in Burma.
(One kernel that I have to mention, because it is important for proper
understanding of the essay, is that he held the ambivalent feeling for the
Burmese. For one thing, he extremely hated the Thyestean imperialism.
Second, he was furious about the yellow-faced, evil-spirited Burmese.)
One day, he was informed that an elephant which had obviously lost
control under the attack of “must” was ravaging a bazaar, and there was
only one felicitous thing to do—stop it at once lest more damage or injury
occur. He sent for a rifle, rode on a pony and was on the way to have the
elephant that had done great crabbing to public properties, even
devitalization.
Without much effort, George, along with a big, big crowd of people,
found the elephant, which was peacefully eating like a cow, showing no
signs or symptoms of “must”. It was clear that George ought not to shoot
the elephant. Instead, the mahout should be called for to take it back to
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the chain it was behooved to belong to. But the crowd behind just would
not agree. They were gleeful and anxious to see the elephant having
committed felonies get shot. If the gunshot was not fired, it would be
jeering and sneering, which would definitely produced more execution
than the trample of the prodigious foot of the elephant, pouring all over
him. That would make his job even more impossible, also. With the
consensus pressing on his nerves, he fired where he thought the darting
bullet could kick its bucket. It took about half an hour for the hulk to die,
leaving mundane dirt draping down like a shroud for it.
A life of an elephant for not losing face, still being able to stagger,
falter, hobble, limp, totter, dodder, or say, scrape his way out. Anyway,
fair to George if no guilty conscience haunted him.
F0314102 5031419047
James
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