April Short Story Club: Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"

[Rubeskies]

Story can be found for free here:

http://www.orwell.ru/library/articles/elephant/english/e_eleph

Discuss!

[LeSilenceEternel]

LOL, and yet again you forget your signature :D

The first and last lines of this story are so striking.

[Silverfalcon]

I'll get around to read this story but would you guys mind if I type up the questions from my lit book regarding this story? (Just so we have some pointers to talk about..?)

:D

[Jez]

I'd like that a lot, Silverfalcon :)

[Silverfalcon]

I agree. The first and last line are pretty powerful.

This novel, just like Orwell's other two books, is very graphic in a way that you can really picture the story (which by the way, is nonfiction). I'll say couple of my feelings before typing up the questions from my literature book (I won't answer those questions yet though).

First of all, this story made me sad while reading it because again, going back to what I said earlier, it made me picture the poor elephant that is about to be shot. Second, I have to admit that Orwell did pretty darn good job on psychological aspect. I mean, we can really feel for this guy (Orwell himself) who is in conflict between shooting the elephant (because of the excited people behind him) and saving the elephant because he doesn't want to kill it (especially, not the large animals --- I thought this statement was bit witty :) ).

Now, I want to focus more on historic aspect of this short story. Orwell is writing this experience while he was a police in Burma, India. It is pretty interesting to know that he hates doing this job and has conscience because probably that time, not that many people shared that view (if British did, they would've stopped the imperialism instead of going all excited about "Yay, The Sun Never Sets on the British Empire; No, they loved that statement and didn't really care much about people they conquered... If they did, why would those Burmese hate Orwell and people like Orwell?). Orwell's conscientious statement is below (from the literature book):

"an immense weight of guilt...I wanted to submerge myself, to get right down among the oppressed, to be one of them and on their side against their tyrants."

And last remark: It is a good short story and short (Orwell writes well, duh :good: ) so yeah, read it.

Now, here are questions from my literature book. I'll paraphrase it to avoid copyright issues.

1. With what Orwell said in this story, how do Burmese act toward Orwell and other Europeans? Give some examples.
2. Elaborate on the contradictory feelings marked by "normal by-products of imperialism." Why did Orwell experience this?
3. Explain about elephant's actions and how Orwell's mind changed through the course of the novel regarding elephant.
4. Elaborate on Orwell's action and his way of carrying it out. Why was it delayed? What did he not want to do and why?
5. Explain the reactions he got from Europeans. Explain about his "wondering" at the end.
6. Goes well with Q#1, what do the Burmese's attitudes account for the way they are (I sort of answered this in my sentiments)
7. Explain about Orwell's feelings that were not shown. That is, why he couldn't walk out and say his true feelings?
8. What caused him to change his feelings? Can you explain what type of person he is?
9. Explain the role of the crowd. Give examples.
10. Orwell is basically recalling his experience. What does he say about his previous behavior, England's rule and expansion, and basically things going around that time?
11. Orwell is really really honest here. Does that influence your way of looking at him?
12. Why did Orwell write this work?
13. Orwell's descriptions are very detailed. Does this anything to you?
14. Contrast/Compare between the way Orwell sees the incident and the way Burmese sees the incident. Also, explain how Burmese see Orwell.
15. Probably the easiest question ever. Have you done anything to avoid looking like an idiot in front of everybody even though it was wrong? If so, explain this (you probably should've... unless you're extremely confident and don't care about how other view you)

Again, you don't have to answer all of them. Just couple at a time should be fine to guide us through this discussion.