Quote:
In the short story, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, political topics that were discussed had meaning yesterday as it they do today. As the novel came to pass one of the questions that arose from the reading was why Orwell used a crumbling British Empire rather than a strong one to further show emphasis on the Englishmen of the story, accordance to duty and behavior. A very notable quote was from the Englishman when he says, “I had to think of my problems in utter silence that was imposed on every Englishmen in the east.” Orwell clearly shows how remote location among a hostile population shows temperance in mood of the police officer.
As the story came to a close it was very clear why Orwell used a crumbling British Empire as a means to showcase the effects of an imperial empire falling apart. As a means of doing this he shows how the police officer, by actions taken, was untrained. The state had laws that were lax on government officials in order to get away with punishment that would otherwise leave any native of Burma in jail. The officer could not handle the crowd it shows that he was not properly trained, seeing how he wanted to appease them, while doing his job. Soldiers are being spread out to damper uprising in other parts of the empire; troops enforced stricter laws in the region and became more harsh to prevent more uprisings to crush any thought of revolting. Inexperienced forces were placed there, spread thinly in assigned areas of control, to show presence of forces.
In the short story, we see only one officer reacting to this accident and allowing a native to retrieve his rifle to shoot the elephant. This shows a lack of equipment and in personnel assigned to the area. If the story had taken place at an earlier date, government officials would have been hard pressed to make sure that they serve their office to higher standards, and laws would be loosened on natives to a certain degree. Manpower would be easily available to overcome disputes, though in a state of crisis we see these tear down the system. As we see in Iraq, U.S. and coalition forces have laxer laws as imposed on them then to the natives the live there since forces are needed elsewhere in the world also. Laws easily broken can be hidden up due in part from the fact that forces are needed and lack in areas, this makes cover up important to prevent hindering of forces from ending in jail and go on trial.
The lack of equipment can also be seen in certain parts, so sharing is quite common among the forces from bullet resistant flap jackets, rifles, ammunition, among other things to gain needed supplies and spread them around.
The reaction of the Englishman being worried of shooting the elephant, then not shooting it, is not surprising from what has already been stated. The Englishman showing some apathy for the natives goes against his overall duty assigned in this point, sure he had the right under law to kill the elephant, and though being a figure of authority he allowed their judgment to overrule his. Killing it did not solve the issue, by killing the elephant was just an excuse to give in when he could have just gotten the owner to haul it away.
Lack of decision in this situation contributed too many things; overall it’s the native population. Allowing the natives to get in the way, this allowed the Englishman to make a hasty decision. Most of the decision was placed upon wanting to be liked, if the Englishman thought through the situation his actions would have no weight upon the population to like him. Acting upon their wish or not would have no effected their relationship would have not changed the outcome. If the empire was healthy it would be most probably that the main character of the story would not be garrisoned in Burma, or would have stationed there at a alter date with more training that could have prevented bad decision making.
In a healthy empire, leadership would be generally available through strong communications from not from over stretching needed forces, but we see poor field performance with little resources to work with. In Iraq the forces stationed there also have these problems with getting along with natives while doing their job as a result of duty. The overall issues goes beyond just the military whether you’re a firefighter, police officer, and scientist one needs to always have control over the situation and make sure others judgment does not overrule yours, and drag you into a situation that is against your intentions and get it out of control.
The officer’s overall mood upon his job and the native population was an extrovert empathy that he showed was settle and understanding, though their misgivings to him made him feel angry. The Englishman stated, “I had to think of my problems in utter silence that was imposed on every Englishmen in the east.” This is one of the biggest quotes in the short story, not only does it tell of his overall thoughts, but it gives an understanding of what is taking place. The quote alone, clearly states that he is lonely on his job, if taken back a bit it helps to understand his actions to be liked by the population.
No matter how mundane a job is or a position being filled deterring oneself to do something, while not against the rules, but against your general judgment should always be prevented. Established rules of oneself prevent one from giving into others demands, allowing one to be independent. One can seek advice of others though making ones own judgment is what Orwell was trying to get to the reader to see one of the character flaws in the officer. This also trickles down to again and again to the state of the empire, with so much stress and weight on each officer and man in the field; maintaining order by appeasement may help in thought or practice to prevent uprisings.
The short story, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, the British Empire was at the ends of it functionality and as a result laws were put into place to give political sanctuary for the ill suited governmental authorities. In order to keep them into suited political office, governing or any other position, laws are usually dampened to allow them to stay in, while experienced authorities were placed elsewhere to quell uprisings. Orwell was stating how the system was allowing abuses of others, along with authorities inexperienced to govern while trying to appease all, but in the end you really can only do one. Orwell was tying to show how an empire’s flaws in the system from poor and inexperienced officer, to lack of personnel, to lack of ones opinion contributed to the elephant’s death. Lax laws enabled the officer to stay on duty without being fired or punished. The natives easily influenced his actions and he showed this by using the empire state as a means to showcase these mishaps that lead to this event and overall how the state of the empire led the to main character’s influence in his actions and thoughts.
As the story came to a close it was very clear why Orwell used a crumbling British Empire as a means to showcase the effects of an imperial empire falling apart. As a means of doing this he shows how the police officer, by actions taken, was untrained. The state had laws that were lax on government officials in order to get away with punishment that would otherwise leave any native of Burma in jail. The officer could not handle the crowd it shows that he was not properly trained, seeing how he wanted to appease them, while doing his job. Soldiers are being spread out to damper uprising in other parts of the empire; troops enforced stricter laws in the region and became more harsh to prevent more uprisings to crush any thought of revolting. Inexperienced forces were placed there, spread thinly in assigned areas of control, to show presence of forces.
In the short story, we see only one officer reacting to this accident and allowing a native to retrieve his rifle to shoot the elephant. This shows a lack of equipment and in personnel assigned to the area. If the story had taken place at an earlier date, government officials would have been hard pressed to make sure that they serve their office to higher standards, and laws would be loosened on natives to a certain degree. Manpower would be easily available to overcome disputes, though in a state of crisis we see these tear down the system. As we see in Iraq, U.S. and coalition forces have laxer laws as imposed on them then to the natives the live there since forces are needed elsewhere in the world also. Laws easily broken can be hidden up due in part from the fact that forces are needed and lack in areas, this makes cover up important to prevent hindering of forces from ending in jail and go on trial.
The lack of equipment can also be seen in certain parts, so sharing is quite common among the forces from bullet resistant flap jackets, rifles, ammunition, among other things to gain needed supplies and spread them around.
The reaction of the Englishman being worried of shooting the elephant, then not shooting it, is not surprising from what has already been stated. The Englishman showing some apathy for the natives goes against his overall duty assigned in this point, sure he had the right under law to kill the elephant, and though being a figure of authority he allowed their judgment to overrule his. Killing it did not solve the issue, by killing the elephant was just an excuse to give in when he could have just gotten the owner to haul it away.
Lack of decision in this situation contributed too many things; overall it’s the native population. Allowing the natives to get in the way, this allowed the Englishman to make a hasty decision. Most of the decision was placed upon wanting to be liked, if the Englishman thought through the situation his actions would have no weight upon the population to like him. Acting upon their wish or not would have no effected their relationship would have not changed the outcome. If the empire was healthy it would be most probably that the main character of the story would not be garrisoned in Burma, or would have stationed there at a alter date with more training that could have prevented bad decision making.
In a healthy empire, leadership would be generally available through strong communications from not from over stretching needed forces, but we see poor field performance with little resources to work with. In Iraq the forces stationed there also have these problems with getting along with natives while doing their job as a result of duty. The overall issues goes beyond just the military whether you’re a firefighter, police officer, and scientist one needs to always have control over the situation and make sure others judgment does not overrule yours, and drag you into a situation that is against your intentions and get it out of control.
The officer’s overall mood upon his job and the native population was an extrovert empathy that he showed was settle and understanding, though their misgivings to him made him feel angry. The Englishman stated, “I had to think of my problems in utter silence that was imposed on every Englishmen in the east.” This is one of the biggest quotes in the short story, not only does it tell of his overall thoughts, but it gives an understanding of what is taking place. The quote alone, clearly states that he is lonely on his job, if taken back a bit it helps to understand his actions to be liked by the population.
No matter how mundane a job is or a position being filled deterring oneself to do something, while not against the rules, but against your general judgment should always be prevented. Established rules of oneself prevent one from giving into others demands, allowing one to be independent. One can seek advice of others though making ones own judgment is what Orwell was trying to get to the reader to see one of the character flaws in the officer. This also trickles down to again and again to the state of the empire, with so much stress and weight on each officer and man in the field; maintaining order by appeasement may help in thought or practice to prevent uprisings.
The short story, “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, the British Empire was at the ends of it functionality and as a result laws were put into place to give political sanctuary for the ill suited governmental authorities. In order to keep them into suited political office, governing or any other position, laws are usually dampened to allow them to stay in, while experienced authorities were placed elsewhere to quell uprisings. Orwell was stating how the system was allowing abuses of others, along with authorities inexperienced to govern while trying to appease all, but in the end you really can only do one. Orwell was tying to show how an empire’s flaws in the system from poor and inexperienced officer, to lack of personnel, to lack of ones opinion contributed to the elephant’s death. Lax laws enabled the officer to stay on duty without being fired or punished. The natives easily influenced his actions and he showed this by using the empire state as a means to showcase these mishaps that lead to this event and overall how the state of the empire led the to main character’s influence in his actions and thoughts.
I wrote this in September got it published in the school newspaper. I was gong to share this with you guys earlier, just I was busy on things and forgot. I'm asking more or less to get recommendations on what you feel how to make better political writing. I think this is draft four so there might be a few mechanical errors....
