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Essay / Orwell's Message in Shooting an Elephant
The Orient is not known, culturally, to be a logical group. Most magical fairy tales come from the East. Take for example the Arabian Nights. One of the primary ways the East processes information is through stories and prophecies. That's what they've always done. This does not mean that there has never been science in the East. No, quite the contrary, some of the best inventions come from the Orient. However, the Orient, in general, is a culture that primarily transmits stories. It is very interesting of Orwell to state that although this text was written many years before the wars and the crisis in Iraq, it nevertheless remains true to the state of the times. After all it was said and done, everyone in the world thought they knew what was going on, but that was far from the truth. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay It is quite interesting how the narrator, assuming it is Orwell himself, says that he had almost decided that the elephant was not there in the first place and be a lie. In the first paragraph he makes it clear that he had made up his mind about imperialism. The writer tells us that he had made his decision, but he never specifies how. And as he gathers information about the elephant, he almost decides that the elephant isn't real at all. The lack of physical evidence almost convinced him that the elephant wasn't there. A few lines before, he uses the word "professed" to describe what someone told him about the elephant's place. This is a beautifully designed example of a compare and contrast situation between the Western way of gathering information and the Eastern way. Because this shows us how the writer or any Westerner would go about collecting information. So maybe he did a lot of research to realize that imperialism was evil, but what research did he do to find out about the elephant? He just asked around. The two situations are different, of course, but one wonders if they are so different after all. The story cannot be taken literally, especially since we know that Orwell was a writer with a vision and a message in his writings. Orwell makes a perfect comparison between the East and the West. It also goes further by addressing the philosophical question of whether imperialism is good or bad. Orwell reflects on the many aspects of the time when the British Raj ruled. Taking the elephant in the room phrase for example, let's assume that the elephant Orwell is trying to shoot at is a major problem or problem that he is trying to put an end to. We should ask an informed question here: what is the problem? Well, imperialism, the elephant represents the British Raj. And the narrator is just trying to reach and shoot and put an end to it. At the beginning of the story, he begins to ask questions. The people there, who are under the rule of an imperialist, are aware of it but do not see its characteristics. So, some of them don't even know where the elephant is, while others only claim where it went. This is not only the case for political news around the world, but it also applies to the social level. However, it is quite interesting to note that it is only when someone screams, and only then does the narrator see a dead body on the ground, that he knows for sure that the elephant was there. This reflects the fact that the West, or anyone else, is not coming.