Shooting An Elephant Rhetorical Analysis Essay

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A crowd begins to form and as each second passes it grows bigger and bigger. He stands with the older more intimidating boy over his shoulder. The crowd chants “Fight, fight, fight” and as more people assemble the louder the chant grows. The older boy whispers something into the smaller boys ear and he hesitantly moves forward throwing punches. With each punch the crowd gets more excited but the boy remains hesitant. He stands victories over the other boy but as the crowd applauses him and praises him, his face shows confliction. As the old saying goes, “with great power comes great responsibility” but what if to obtain this power you have to lose yourself, would it be worth it? A person of power has to take into consideration many factors when making a decision. Factors that include the people that are being ruled, the law they’re upholding, and the leaders above them. Decisions that an authoritative figure has to make can conflict with what their own beliefs are because of the fact that they’re trying to please so many other sources. In Orwell’s position when faced with the choice to follow his personal morals or an authority, following the authority triumphs because of his status as an authoritative figure, his fear of humiliation, and the power of oppression. …show more content…
He begins the narrative with a description of his position in Burma. He is a sub-divisional police officer that is hated by the villagers. Orwell is a target of abuse and attacks due to the anti-European views the Burmese people hold. Although it is his job, he makes it clear that he hates what he does and clearly defines that he does not believe in imperialism. He is conflicted however because although he hates imperialism he
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Words 6670 - Pages 27