“Shooting an Elephant”

By George OrwellHistorical Background & Context

Setting: “Shooting an Elephant”

Colonial Period

Burma, Province of India

British Colony

1936

Historical Overview: Burma

British government took advantage of Burma’s instability

Colonized in 1866 Burmese protests in 1920s --

Buddhist monks & Students’ Union at Rangoon University

January 1947—granted independence from Great Britain

British Empire—1920s

India Burma

Civil Disobedience: The Struggle for Indian Independence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW9MqIb9vZo

Gandhi: The Movie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oWqlb_TlLQ

Gandhi: Indian Congress

Creation of Indian Congress--1919 Legislative body with limited

control over Indian affairs

Indian Nationalist—Mohandas Gandhi—”father of India”—became congressional leader

Gandhi: Protest

Used fasting as a form of

protest—repeatedly

Principles of Satyagraha: nonviolence and civil disobedience

Assassinated by a Hindi radical enroute to a prayer meeting in 1948 (age 78)

Oppression of the Indian People: 1919

Britain passed the Rowlatt Act Stripped Indian protestors of civil

liberties Eliminated right to trial by a jury

British soldiers killed hundreds of nationalist agitators

Gandhi’s Response

Gandhi pushed for Indian independence

Promoted nonviolent protest methods Influenced future movements

George Orwell 1903-1950

Best Known Writing

Novels•1934 – Burmese Days •1935 – A Clergyman's Daughter •1936 – Keep the Aspidistra Flying •1939 – Coming Up for Air •1945 – Animal Farm •1949 – Nineteen Eighty-Four

Nonfiction•1933 – Down and Out in Paris and London •1937 – The Road to Wigan Pier •1938 – Homage to Catalonia

Orwell’s Moral Dilemma

Orwell joined the Indian Imperial Police

Stationed in Burma—1922

Orwell's moral conflict stemmed from

his position as the despised Imperialist

in a colonized country

Moral Conflict

"I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better. Theoretically - and secretly, of course - I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.”

Burmese Reaction

Despite his support for the Burmese, Orwell endured their overwhelming bitterness and hatred because of his British heritage: “The sneering faces . . . of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me . . got badly on my nerves."

Orwell’s Guilt and Reaction

Orwell sums up his feelings of guilt, coupled with his reaction against being hated: "All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible."

Orwell’s Emotional Response

Although part of him saw the British Raj as tyrannical, “With another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts."

Orwell’s Rationalization

Orwell rationalized his rage saying, "Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism."

Orwell realized that tyrannical imperialism works against both the imperialists and the natives.

Elephants: Timber Harvest Myanmar timber elephants and trainers (of

Mandalay division (1923-24 - Bombay Burma Timber Company)

Bombay Burma is the company which started the extraction of Myanmar forest products in large scale in the time of British

rule.

Timber Elephants

Harvesting teakwood

Timber elephants at work