What does the elephant in Shooting an Elephant symbolize?

What does the elephant in Shooting an Elephant symbolize?

The Elephant Symbol Analysis. 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 its liberty restricted, and it becomes violently rebellious only as a response to being shackled.

What does ravaging the bazaar mean?

ruinously destructive and wasting. Early one. morning the sub-inspector at a police station the other end of town rang me up on the ‘phone and said that an elephant was ravaging the bazaar.

What does the elephant’s slow death symbolize?

Because the locals expect him to do the job, he does so against his better judgment, his anguish increased by the elephant’s slow and painful death. The story is regarded as a metaphor for colonialism as a whole, and for Orwell’s view that “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.”

Who is the protagonist in Shooting an Elephant?

The protagonist in “Shooting an Elephant” is the unnamed narrator who is a police officer given the task that he must shoot an elephant.

Why is Orwell in Burma?

Orwell had lived in Burma in the 1920s as an officer of the Imperial Police Force. For five years he dressed in khaki jodhpurs and shining black boots. Armed with guns and a sense of moral superiority, the Imperial Police Force patrolled the countryside and kept this far-flung corner of the British Empire in line.

How do the Burmese treat the narrator?

How do the Burmese treat the narrator? They harass and insult him whenever they can.

What does it mean if an elephant’s trunk is down?

An elephant with the trunk pointed downwards stores luck and energy. It is a symbol of wisdom and knowledge allowing you to easily overcome various tasks and obstacles.

Does the narrator really want to shoot the elephant?

He does not want to shoot the elephant, but because the Burmese around him seem determined and excited to see the elephant die, the narrator feels compelled to do what the natives request to keep his high status and position of authority. Throughout the time when the narrator has had…show more content…

Why does the narrator shoot the elephant?

As a colonial official, the narrator must not let himself become a spectacle before the native crowds. Not shooting the elephant would make him seem like a coward, so he shoots the elephant.

Why do Burmese people not like the narrator?

Why don’t the Burmese people like the narrator? He has put many of them in jail. He is an unfair officer of the law. The narrator is not convinced there is an elephant loose until he…

Was George Orwell a police officer?

Working as an imperial police officer gave him considerable responsibility while most of his contemporaries were still at university in England. When he was posted farther east in the Delta to Twante as a sub-divisional officer, he was responsible for the security of some 200,000 people.

Was George Orwell in the military?

When World War II did come, Orwell was rejected for military service, and instead he headed the Indian service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). He left the BBC in 1943 and became literary editor of the Tribune, a left-wing socialist paper associated with the British Labour leader Aneurin Bevan.

What could the elephant symbolize?

A Symbol for Good Luck, Wisdom, and More Elephants are revered symbols in many cultures, as they are the largest living land mammals. In feng shui, they represent strength, protection, wisdom, and good luck!