The essay "Shooting an Elephant" is set in a town in southern Burma during the colonial period. The country that is today Burma (Myanmar) was, during the time of Orwell's experiences in the colony, a province of India, itself a British colony. Prior to British intervention in the nineteenth century Burma was a sovereign kingdom text analysis: reflective essay In a reflective essay, the writer makes a connection between a personal observation and a universal idea, such as love, honor, or freedom. In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell reflects on a specific incident from his time as a young police officer in British-ruled Burma during the s. Paradoxically, readers George Orwell's Essay 'Shooting An Elephant'. Novelist, Political writer and Journalist, George Orwell, in his autobiographical essay “Shooting an Elephant,” relays his experience as a police officer in colonial Burma. Orwell’s purpose is to reveal the fact that
Shooting an Elephant | The Orwell Foundation
George Orwell confronted an Asian elephant like this one in the story recounted for this lesson plan. Eric A. Blair, better known by his pen name, George Orwell, is today best known for his last two novels, the anti-totalitarian works Animal Farm and He was also an accomplished and experienced essayist, writing on topics as diverse as anti-Semitism in England, Rudyard Kipling, Salvador Dali, and nationalism.
Among his most powerful essays is the autobiographical essay "Shooting an Elephant," which Orwell based on his experience as a police officer in colonial Burma. This lesson plan is designed to help students read Orwell's essay both as a work of literature and as a window into the historical context about which it was written.
This lesson plan may be used in both the History george orwell essay shooting an elephant Social Studies classroom and the Literature and Language Arts classroom. How does George orwell essay shooting an elephant use literary tools such as symbolism, metaphor, irony and connotation to convey his main point, and what is that point? Discuss Orwell's use of persuasive tools such as symbolism, metaphor, and irony in this essay, and explain how he uses each of these tools to convey his argument or message.
The essay "Shooting an Elephant" is set in a town in southern Burma during the colonial period. The country that is today Burma Myanmar was, during the time of Orwell's experiences in the colony, a province of India, itself a British colony. Prior to British intervention in the nineteenth century Burma was a sovereign kingdom.
After three wars between British forces and the Burmese, beginning with the First Anglo-Burmese War infollowed by the Second Anglo-Burmese War ofthe country fell under British control after its defeat in the Third Anglo-Burmese War george orwell essay shooting an elephant Burma was subsumed under the administration of British India, becoming a province of that colony in It would remain an Indian province until it was granted the status of an individual British colony in Burma would gain its independence in January Blair was born in Mohitari, India, in to parents in the Indian Civil Service.
His education brought him to England where he would study at Eton College "college" in England is roughly equivalent to a US high school. However, george orwell essay shooting an elephant, he was unable to win a scholarship to continue his studies at the university level. With few opportunities available, george orwell essay shooting an elephant, he would follow his parents' path into george orwell essay shooting an elephant for the British Empire, joining the Indian Imperial Police in He would be stationed in what is today Burma Myanmar until when he would quit the imperial civil service in disgust, george orwell essay shooting an elephant.
His experiences as a policeman for the Empire would form the basis of his early writing, including the novel Burmese Days as well as the essay "Shooting an Elephant. It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire, whose territory touched every continent on earth. English imperialism evolved through several phases, including the early colonization of North America, to its involvement in South Asia, the colonization of Australia and New Zealand, its role in the nineteenth century scramble for Africa, involvement with politics in the Middle East, george orwell essay shooting an elephant, and its expansion into Southeast Asia.
At the height of its power in the early twentieth century the British Empire had control over nearly two-fifths of the world's george orwell essay shooting an elephant mass and governed an empire of between and million people. It is the addition of the Southeast Asian countries today known as Burma MyanmarMalaysia and Singapore that set the stage for Orwell's vignette from the life of a colonial official.
Ask students to read George Orwell's essay " Shooting an Elephant " available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource Center for the Liberal Arts. Ask students to take notes as they read of their first impressions, questions that may arise, or their reactions to the story, george orwell essay shooting an elephant.
Ask them to also note any metaphors, symbolism or examples of irony in the text. Orwell george orwell essay shooting an elephant "As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him. In this activity students will be asked to discuss the reasons why Orwell felt he had to kill the elephant, george orwell essay shooting an elephant.
How does Orwell use metaphors in order to describe a people and a situation geographically and culturally unfamiliar understandable to his readers?
In this section a series of sentences and phrases will be supplied which should provide examples for students to discuss the differences between the connotative and denotative meanings. Explain that denotative meanings are generally the literal meaning of the word, while connotative meanings are the "coloring" attached to words beyond their literal meaning. For example, the "army of people" Orwell refers to in his essay bring to mind not only a large group of people, but also a military and oppositional force.
Ask students to explain the connotative and denotative meanings of the following words or phrases using this organizational chart. Orwell was both an accomplished and a prolific essayist whose work covered a large number of topics. Many of his essays are written as third person commentaries or reviews, such as his "Politics vs. Literature: An Examination of Gulliver's Travels. In these works Orwell uses the first person perspective as a rhetorical strategy for supporting his argument.
For example, he opens his essay "Politics and the English Language" with the following lines:. In the paragraph which follows the above excerpt Orwell switches from the first person plural to the first person singular. By the second paragraph, however, george orwell essay shooting an elephant, he has already included his audience in his argument: we cannot do anything; our civilization is decadent.
If we disagree with these sentiments, then we are ready to follow Orwell's argument over the following ten pages. While he does not use the inclusive "we" in "Shooting an Elephant," Orwell's use of the first person perspective is a rhetorical strategy.
Discuss with students Orwell's decision to utilize the first person perspective rather than the third person perspective. You might ask question such as:. Ask students to write a short essay about one of the following two topics.
Students should be sure to support their answers with examples from the text. Skip to main content. GOV NEH-Edsitement. EDSITEment is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities Facebook Twitter.
Lesson Plan. Photo caption. Library of Congress. What is Orwell's argument or message, and what persuasive tools does he use to make it? Analyze Orwell's essay within its appropriate cultural and historical context. Lesson Plan Details Background.
Review George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant. The text is available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource Center for the Liberal Arts. Familiarize yourself with the historical context of Orwell's story, as well as the biographical circumstances that placed him in Burma as a police officer. Additional information on Burmese historythe British Empire in India and the biography of George Orwell can be accessed through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource Internet Public Library.
Review metaphorimageryironysymbolism and connotative and denotative language. The definitions for each of these terms can be found through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource Internet Public Library. Activity 1. British Bobbies in Burma It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire, whose territory touched every continent on earth.
Explain Orwell's use of language, and of rhetorical tools such as the first person perspective, metaphor, symbolism, irony, connotative and denotative language, in his commentary on the colonial project.
How does Orwell use language to bring his audience into the immediacy of his world as a colonial police officer? The litany of examples of cruelties, insults and moral bankruptcy extend from the Buddhist priests, to the market sellers, the referee, the young British officials who declare the worth of the elephant far above that of an Indian coolie, to Orwell himself. While this essay contains anger and bitterness, is not simply a nihilistic diatribe.
In what ways did the project of empire affect all parties involved in the shooting of an elephant? George Orwell wrote a second essay called A Hanging about his time as a police officer with the Indian Imperial Police.
In addition, Orwell's first novel, Burmese Daysgive a fictionalized account of his time in Burma. The essay and the novel are available through the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource Internet Public Library. George Orwell was not the only writer to discuss imperialism in his work. Another well known British author, Rudyard Kipling, also made imperialism the focus of some of his works, and the backdrop george orwell essay shooting an elephant many others.
Both Orwell and Kipling were born in India to English parents Kipling was born in Bombay inand both returned to India after their educations. Despite similar backgrounds their descriptions of empire and their ideas on the moral foundations of the project of empire were quite different. Have students investigate the views of empire by each of these authors through a comparative reading of Orwell's Shooting an Elephant and Kipling's famous poem urging American imperialism in the Philippines, The White Man's Burden.
Kipling's poem is available on the EDSITEment-reviewed web resource, History Matters. Selected EDSITEment Websites Internet Public Library Burmese history History of British George orwell essay shooting an elephant in India map of British Empire List of British Territories in British involvement in Burma Biography of George Orwell Eric Blair Metaphor Imagery Irony Symbolism Connotation Denotation Center for the Liberal Arts Shooting an Elephant A Hanging Burmese Days History Matters The White Man's Burden.
Related on EDSITEment Lesson Plan. Closer Reading.
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, time: 12:42Orwell’s Message In Shooting An Elephant: [Essay Example], words GradesFixer
George Orwell's Essay 'Shooting An Elephant'. Novelist, Political writer and Journalist, George Orwell, in his autobiographical essay “Shooting an Elephant,” relays his experience as a police officer in colonial Burma. Orwell’s purpose is to reveal the fact that The essay "Shooting an Elephant" is set in a town in southern Burma during the colonial period. The country that is today Burma (Myanmar) was, during the time of Orwell's experiences in the colony, a province of India, itself a British colony. Prior to British intervention in the nineteenth century Burma was a sovereign kingdom Mar 29, · ‘Shooting an Elephant’ is a essay by George Orwell (), about his time as a young policeman in Burma, which was then part of the British empire. The essay explores an apparent paradox about the behaviour of Europeans, who supposedly have the power over their colonial subjects
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