SOAPSTone "Shooting an Elephant"

Soapstone “Shooting an Elephant”

Subject

The subject of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is that with an audience, one acts differently, or for different reasons than when the only person one has to impress is oneself.  This change of mentality due to one’s audience is illustrated through the author’s admittance to killing the Elephant mostly due to the pressure of the crowd, rather than what he wanted to do, or thought was right. George says “[He] 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”. The author admits to being manipulated by the audience into doing what, having been by himself, he would not have done.

Occasion

Shooting an Elephant was written in the early 1900’s. The essay’s time of creation is exhibited when the author states “I did not even know that the British Empire is dying.” He is referring to the dying of the British raj, or empire, which ruled over India from 1858-1947. The place of the essay’s creation is lower Burma or somewhere in England, if Orwell had returned home by then.

The time and place of the essay’s creation influence the essay by causing the author to feel passionate about the Empire that reigned and the corruption of the British sovereign and to discuss how this affected his experience serving as a police officer during this time. On the subject of the hatred towards Europeans in India, Orwell states “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so”. Orwell was treated poorly due to the time and place in which he worked.

Audience

Orwell’s specific audience for “shooting an Elephant” is people that are working under negative pressure. He talks about the situation that he was in, where he made a bad decision, based on the negative pressure that was pulsing from the crowd. He discusses how hard it was to face up to these people, and how it seemed so easy for his judgment to be hindered by them.

George Orwell’s general audience is those who know what it’s like to be hated, just because of generalized anger. The author’s target audience is revealed by his regretful tone towards the way he was publically harassed because of the anger Indians possessed at that time for the English, due to the oppressive British Empire.

Purpose

George Orwell’s purpose in “Shooting an Elephant” was to portray to his audience that it is hard to keep your judgment when being faced with a decision, while others are pressuring you and analyzing your choices, and in such a situation one might not make the same decision as when he or she is deliberating on his or her own.  The difference in one’s judgment from when they have no one to impress, compared to when their choices are being analyzed, and their every move is up for ridicule is illustrated when Orwell states “But even then I was not thinking particularly of my own skin, only of the watchful yellow faces behind. For at that moment, with the crowd watching me, I was not afraid in the ordinary sense, as I would have been if I had been alone”. The author is saying that his decision was altered by the crowd’s judgment of him, and he chose a different solution than he would have, had he no one to impress.

Speaker

George Orwell, who’s experience policing in Burma yielded the novel, Burmese days, and essays, “Shooting an Elephant” and “A Hanging”, believes that it is selfish and unrealistic to make decisions based on the influence of a crowd, disregarding your own opinion. After killing an Elephant because of his insecurity in front of a judgmental crowd of natives, to which he was a foreign, Orwell said “ I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool”.

Tone

George Orwell shows a remorseful and melancholy attitude about his decision under pressure in “Shooting an Elephant”. These attitudes are expressed with words of regret and almost shame. This remorseful tone serves to show that, while under pressure from a group of people, it is hard to make the right decision, but in the end, to do what you know is right is always the better choice.