George Orwell

George Orwell, "Shooting an Elephant"

George Orwell (1903-1950) was born in Motihari, Bengal and graduated from Eton College in 1921. Over the years, he worked as a dishwasher in Paris, as a bookstore clerk in London, and as a teacher. Orwell also served England during World War II, attaining the rank of sergeant. Orwell was a novelist, journalist, and essayist—and outstanding in all three forms. Central questions of politics—especially concerning authoritarianism—are never far from the surface of his incisive writing. His best-known long works are the novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), both of which have been adapted for film, and the memoir Down and Out in Paris and London (1933). He was also both an editor and columnist for the Tribune and a foreign correspondent for the Observer, two English newspapers. Orwell died of tuberculosis in London at the age of forty-seven. "Shooting an Elephant" was first published in the journal New Writing in 1936 and was collected in Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays (1950).

CONTENT

1. What's Orwell's job during the time he recounts here?
2. What is betel juice?
3. Describe the feelings the elephant evokes in the narrator when he first sees it. What's the elephant doing then?
4. Why does Orwell ask to borrow an elephant rifle initially? Describe how things change from his original plan.
5. How does the author characterize the crowd that gathers?
6. How many shots does it take to kill the elephant?
7. Characterize the relationship the author describes between the Indian people and the Europeans.

STRATEGY AND STYLE

1. Study paragraph six and find two comparisons Orwell makes regarding the elephant. Are these comparisons conflicting? Explain. How might you relate these things to his feelings about the animal at the time?
2. Discuss this piece as a process analysis. What process does Orwell explain, and how does he analyze it? Is this merely an explanation of how to shoot an elephant or something else?
3. Discuss the importance of description in this essay. Where in the text does Orwell appeal directly to the senses? Defend your answer with specifics from your reading.
4. Why does Orwell put the world natives in quotation marks in paragraph nine? What might this usage say about his politics?
5. Examine the last paragraph. What four points of view does the author discuss? What group mentioned throughout is now absent? Where does he place himself within these points of view? How effective is this conclusion?

1. What are your feelings about killing animals? Are you perhaps a vegetarian? How might these feelings have affected your reading of this essay?
2. Have you traveled to other countries? If you have, where have you been? If not, do you plan to do so? Explain. How might these actions, ideas, or both have influenced your interaction with this reading?

SUGGESTIONS FOR SUSTAINED WRITING

1. Orwell writes "that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys." Explain what he means by this apparent paradox. Apply this statement to one troubling current issue in the U.S.
2. Was this killing justified? Does Orwell justify his action to himself? Trace all the reactions to the killing that he mentions, building upon your work from "Style" question e.) above, in your answer.

FOR FURTHER RESEARCH

What were the British doing in Burma (now Myanmar) in the 1930s? How long had they been there? Can you find any accounts of friction between them and the Indian people? How did your research deepen your understanding of this piece?

WEB CONNECTION

Did you know that this author has been a fairly frequent contributor to film? Here are some links to reviews of the 1984 adaptation of 1984. Find one online and read it. What did you learn about the book from the review?

LINKS

Biographical

You're ready to use the Web to learn more about Orwell. These George Orwell resources will get you started. These include links to biographies, images, texts, and quotes, as well as a photo.

Here's an excerpt from the biography, George Orwell: A Life. What did you learn about Orwell from it that you didn't know before?

You might want to start with a standalone biography. Here's a brief one at Encyclopedica.com, which has some hyperlinks and is followed by an Orwell bibliography.

Bibliographical

How about some quotations by Orwell? Would you feel comfortable using these in a paper about the author? Why or why not? How would you cite them? If you don't know, how would you find out?

Want to know how to make a perfect cup of tea? Take a look at Orwell's approach. Be warned: it takes eleven steps, and even then, some "controversial points" arise.

For a streamlined approach to Orwell bibliographies, why don't you visit the relevant directory at Yahoo.com?

Cultural

Interested in what other Orwellians have on their minds? A message board is a good place to find out. This one is called the George Orwell Forum Frigate and it's worth a look, maybe even a post or two.

Do you like to collect books? This page revolves around collecting Orwell's works, and also includes some Orwellian links. Speaking of collecting books....

This is the homepage for an exhibition of Orwell's works from the Daniel J. Leab collection at Brown University. What do you think of Orwell's handwriting? Is this the kind of exhibit you'd be likely to visit in person?