Shooting an Elephant?!

     George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, starts off in a quite indecisive state. The author used the word “if” to discuss what he would do in the case that the elephant charged in his direction. The author said, “If he charged, I could shoot;” which shows how he had the chance to take a shot. This also ties into how the writer felt that they “ought” to shoot the elephant. Here, the author struggled with an internal conflict as he did not want to shoot the animal, but could have been in a position of danger if he had not. The repetitive use of modal verbs shows the level of certainty in which he may shoot. Throughout the writing, Orwell also included words like “could” and “would” which show his level of likelihood or ability to do things. If the writer chose not to shoot the elephant, he would become a “toad under a steam-roller.” This simile helps explain how dangerous the situation would be, giving the reader another piece of his mind.

Furthermore, the author mentioned a crowd of people watching Orwell’s main character shoot the elephant. He talked about the crowd’s “deep, low, happy sigh” and compared them to those who attend the theatre and wait in anticipation for the curtain to rise. By doing this, Orwell builds an element of suspense in the form of outside pressure. At this point. The main character was battling against internal and external pressures, ready to burst.

In the proceeding paragraphs, Orwell describes the changing movement of the elephant after it had been shot. The enormous animal “sagged flabbily” and began to “collapse” after its encounter with the second bullet. Over time, it was slowly becoming more inept and was losing its ability to continue moving. Orwell used language that precisely illustrated this without explicitly stating it. The author continues to mention the elephant’s collapse by discussing the “last remanent of strength from his legs” and using the simile “like a huge rock toppling.” 

In addition, the author evaluated the immense pain and suffering that the elephant was experiencing as he described its “devilish roar” followed by its “long rattling gasps.” These adjectives and verbs are very dark-sounding and depressing. The inclusion of these keywords demonstrates how desperate and tormented the elephant was after it had been injured by the bullet wound. The writer focused upon the elephant's “tortured breath” as he could see that it was in “agony” and was too “powerless to move and yet powerless to die.” Regardless of how many times the subject shot the elephant in the heart and down its throat, the elephant did not react and continued to breathe as it bled out “thick,” “red velvet” blood.

Moreover, Orwell wrote this piece from the first-person point-of-view so the reader is able to understand what is going on from the internal perspective inside the head of the subject. By doing so, the situation is much clearer and is driven by more emotion. An outsider’s perspective or third-person point-of-view of the event would not sound as regretful and disappointed compared to how it was originally written. Orwell also wrote the entirety of his narrative in the past tense. The text included words like “ shoved,” “seemed,” and “felt” as they portrayed emotions and actions that had previously occurred. As there was no direct speech, this narrative could count as a reflection or a memory of the events. 

Orwell wrote this short story in chronological order. This linear structure is very clear and builds a timeline for the readers. He included words like “when” and “then” to show time reference as to when certain things occurred and ordered the events from prior to the gunshots, up to when the main character left the scene. Although there was not a step-by-step explanation, there was a more general equivalent in which different mini-events were separated and illustrated individually.