Write a note on orwell's prose style in shooting an elephant
Answers
Answered by
1
rowseNotessearch
Search for any book or any question
HOMEWORK HELP > SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT
What is the style of "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell?
print Print document PDF list Cite
EXPERT ANSWERS
JAMEADOWS eNotes educator| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Orwell's style in "Shooting an Elephant" is to weave together a first-person narrative with political commentary. He starts his story on a personal and somewhat satirical note: "In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people—the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me." Though the hatred that people in Burma feel towards him as a British colonial administrator is very real, Orwell expresses this idea with a kind of ironic humor (in saying that people hate him because he is important). Within the story of his forced shooting of the elephant, he includes essayistic features, such as "I did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant it." The essayistic elements help him establish his argument—that the British empire is literally on its last legs—in the midst of retelling his tale of shooting the elephant.
Search for any book or any question
HOMEWORK HELP > SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT
What is the style of "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell?
print Print document PDF list Cite
EXPERT ANSWERS
JAMEADOWS eNotes educator| CERTIFIED EDUCATOR
Orwell's style in "Shooting an Elephant" is to weave together a first-person narrative with political commentary. He starts his story on a personal and somewhat satirical note: "In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people—the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me." Though the hatred that people in Burma feel towards him as a British colonial administrator is very real, Orwell expresses this idea with a kind of ironic humor (in saying that people hate him because he is important). Within the story of his forced shooting of the elephant, he includes essayistic features, such as "I did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant it." The essayistic elements help him establish his argument—that the British empire is literally on its last legs—in the midst of retelling his tale of shooting the elephant.
Similar questions