Shooting an Elephant
Angel, Alice, Mijia, Loïcia, Zena
Thesis: The role of the white man as a leader does not actually give him power, but rather forces him to act
according to the will of those below him
 “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys”
 “for it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life trying to impress the “natives” and so in every
crisis he has got to do what the natives expect of him”
Tone:
 Orwell’s tone to the audience is one that is explanatory and defensive, and attempts to “plead innocent” to his
actions.
 Undertones of guilt and regret also give an conflicted tone to the piece, as Orwell attempts to persuade both
the public and himself
Target Audience:
 Orwell reaches out to fellow British people in the homeland, people who do not suffer from the consequences
of imperialism directly and are taking in colonialist propaganda first hand
 It was published in a highly political newspaper and therefore it can be assumed that the target audience was
well informed of the political whereabouts of Britain
Structure:
 The structure of the essay is centred about a narrative flow in the piece
 Sentences are varied in length, with longer, more descriptive sentences being the majority, allowing the reader
to immerse themselves into what Orwell was experiencing at the time through the diction
 Paragraph structure is arranged to that transitions are based in chronological order and change in events
Literary Devices:
 The essay contains a lot of gore imagery to reinforce the idea of massacre and to describe accordingly to
Orwell the natives of the colony (e.g., “arm crucified and head sharply twisted..teeth bared...unendurable
agony...looked devilish”)
 Metaphors are also used to emphasize the thesis. They accentuate the idea of white man’s burden and being
sacrificed in a play of god (e.g., “I was only an absurd puppet”)
 The work is mainly centered around the use of personification
 The elephant is personified in various ways to represent Orwell’s guilt of having shot it down. Symbolism can
also be found in the essay when Orwell describes the rifle (e.g., “I took my rifle…much too small to kill an
elephant, but I thought the noise might be useful in terrorem”)
 Persuasion in the essay is communicated through the use of pathos, ethos, and logos
 Pathos evokes sympathy from the reader for Orwell’s position (e.g., “I was hated...only time in my life I’ve
been important enough for this to happen”)
 Ethos appeals to the ethical issues of the decision of shooting the elephant (e.g., “it would be murder to shoot
him”)
 Logos addresses the reasons logical reasons which Orwell should or should not have his decision (e.g., “Alive,
the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks”)
Themes:
 Imperialism as a cause of evil
 Pride and dignity as a barrier to doing good
 The supposed or presumed responsibility of white people to govern and impart their culture to non-white
people, often advanced as justification for European colonialism
Context:
 Burma was a part of the British Empire from 1824 to 1948, as a province of India
 British idea of imperialism: "We feel now that our rule over these territories can only be justified if we can
show that it adds to the happiness and prosperity of the people, and I maintain that our rule does, and has,
brought security and I maintain that our rule does, and has, brought security and peace and comparative
prosperity to countries that never knew these blessings before."
- Joseph Chamberlain, The True Conception of Empire
 Motto of government: ‘never get something done by a European when an Oriental can do it’.
 Due to lack of educated classes and public opinion there was no press for rebellion against the British