Shooting an Elephant / British Empire

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he destroys => Paradox of colonialism → colonial propriety comes to force the colonizer barbarously Interpretation of the Essay From the outset, Orwell establishes that the power dynamics in colonial Burma are far from black-and-white. While he holds symbolic authority and military supremacy, Orwell is still powerless to stop the jibes and abuse he receives from oppressed Burmese. The elephant helps Orwell with understanding the symbol of colonialism better. For example, much like the Burmese who have been colonized and who abuse Orwell, the elephant has been provoked to destructive behavior by being oppressed. Shows now the elephant and the Burmese people have to endure oppressive conditions and how they both show rebelliousness. While shooting the elephant : He is no longer an authority figure, but rather a spectacle, and the force of the Burmese' anticipation is beginning to make orwell feel like he cannot completely control how he handles this matter. Orwell recognizes that the elephant is a peaceful creature that has been driven to rebellion by it's mistreatment symbol for the Burmese / Because it is both a harmless animal and valable piece of property, it is clear that there is no ethical or practical reason to hurt the animal. 1.) Note that for the British all of Burma was essentially a valuable piece of property 2.) The elephant represents the British Empire, very valuable. All the Burmese people on the other Hand, want to see the elephant dead and eat his meat afterwards. Orwell portrays the midde, but shoots the elephant in the end even though he didn't really want to kill it (represantation of the British Empire as the Elephant) I → - It is particularly notable that the elephant appears to be at its most magnificent just as it falls Symbol for the British Empire There is nothing humane about Orwell's killing of the elephant. He does not even know. enough about marksmanship or elephants, to kill the elephant painlessly. In the same way, the British Empire is inhumane not out of necessity, but rather out of ignorance regarding both, the land it has colonized and also the way colonization acts on the colonizer. Meanwhile, the Burmese' readiness to eat the elephant underscores the desperation of their situation, and the way in which colonial oppression has made them focus on survival rather than moral outrage at the elephant's brutal dleath. Symbol of the Elephant The elephant is the central symbol of the story. Orwell uses it to represent the effect of colonialism on both the colonizer and the colonized. The elephant, like a colonized populace, has it's liberty restricted, and it becomes violently rebellious only as a reponse to being shackled. Orwell, a colonizer, feels a similar ambivalence towards the elephant as he does towards the Burmese locals. While he recognizes that both are harmless and peaceful and have suffered wrongs at the hands of others, he still perpetuates barbarous treatment of both simply in order to uphold an irrational standard of imperial behaviour. He kills the elephant simply because he fears that he would be humiliated if he failed to do so. In much the same way, colonial savagery perpetuates itself simply because colonists fear that they would look weak or ridiculous if they acted less inhumanely. How did the British Empire rise ? Commerce : THE RISE AND FALL OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Foundations of the Empire were based on global import and export -Demand in Europe for imported goods: tea, cotton, silk from india.... Britain transported weapons to West Africa, from there slaves were transported to the sugar plantations in India and then the sugar was transported again to Britain Established coastal bases in important locations and used it as coaling stations for Merchant ships Conquest: Second half of the 19th century Britain gained more and more territories Commerce continued to play a big role =7 Britain needed raw materials and manufactured goods The Raj - beginning of the british rule in India Scramble of Africa = more European countries competed for control of parts of Africa Colonization and civilization: White settlers farmed so called, empty lands where before only natives had lived 4 The British brought their culture, religion and language with them • They had more liberal, humanitarin policy towards the native than e.g the Boers Christianity - Christianity was seen as a way of improving Africa's wretched condition and of healing her wounds' - Christian missionaries became active ↳ converted large numbers of Africans to Christianity When did the Empire fall? - Difficult to say around 1947 to 1980 many colonized countries gained back their freedome Why did the Empire fall 2 National developments 4 more people such as orwell began to write critically about the Empire World wars weakened Britain couldn't control everything → - Economic power declined / huge debts Global developments Gimperialism became more critical Colonial developments G Colonized people gained self-confidence and fought back / also the Bible held many arguments against rich people and poor could argument with religion How did the Empire fall? India got seperated into two parts: India (mainly Hindu) and Pakistan (mainly Muslim) ·(₂ they fought and Britain lost control What is the legacy of the Empire for the former colonies? British culture and social structures. -schools and universities were modelled on the British education system. la only in the late 1970s and 1980s the indigenous culture and literature were introduced into the school curriculum. Religion Christianity What is the legacy of the Empire for the mother country? - Early post-war immigration 6-immigrants from the former colonies Kept political and economic ties to former colonies => Commonwealth of Nations (1934) Britain felt an obligation, in terms of helping towards India Welcomed immigrants because of the chronic labour shortage in Britain 7 - Immigrant waves G Largest inflow of immigrants between 1956 and 1974 - each ethnic group chose an area to settle and work