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In George Orwell’s "Shooting an Elephant" he is an officer in Lower Burma faced with the decision to shoot or not to shoot a loose elephant. The elephant had previously been held captive, but had escaped and already trampled a man. It was up to Orwell to either shoot to elephant or try and capture it and take it back to its home. Eventually, with a lot of peer pressure, he does shoot the elephant but feels guilty immediately afterwards. The tone of the story is serious, as the author is faced with this tough decision. The intended audience is for those who face peer pressure or often fall to pressure. In this personal anecdote, the author employs mainly imagery to get his point across, like when he describes the dead man laying in dirt and the “wretched prisoners huddling in stinking cages”. The rhetorical device used anaphora is seen in the sentence “I had no intention of shooting the elephant--I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary--and it is always unnerving to have a crowd following you”. This anaphora is set to help emphasize what the writer is saying. Another rhetoric device seen is antithesis. In the lines “Some of the people said that the elephant had gone in one direction, some said that he had gone in another, some professed not even to have heard of any elephant.” Antitheses’ are written in to help exaggerate the writer’s point and make it more memorable.
I believe that this was a very well-written story. On the surface, it’s just another story, but as I began to go deeper into it, I begin to see how the story really relates to ethics and peer pressure. Orwell including his personal thoughts definitely added depth to the story. His use of rhetoric devices helped add pathos for me and made me feel for him. This story is very connectable for any high school student. Just recently, a student at Panther Creek was arrested for having a hit list and threatening to bring a gun to school. Maybe if people had stopped him from being bullied, he wouldn’t have become a threat. Teenagers often rely on their friends for influence, just as Orwell had relied on the community on whether to kill or not kill the elephant.
Orwell, George. Shooting an Elephant.
I believe that this was a very well-written story. On the surface, it’s just another story, but as I began to go deeper into it, I begin to see how the story really relates to ethics and peer pressure. Orwell including his personal thoughts definitely added depth to the story. His use of rhetoric devices helped add pathos for me and made me feel for him. This story is very connectable for any high school student. Just recently, a student at Panther Creek was arrested for having a hit list and threatening to bring a gun to school. Maybe if people had stopped him from being bullied, he wouldn’t have become a threat. Teenagers often rely on their friends for influence, just as Orwell had relied on the community on whether to kill or not kill the elephant.
Orwell, George. Shooting an Elephant.