{"content":{"sharePage":{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"33593768","dateCreated":"1296743993","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"teagvest","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/teagvest","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/33593768"},"dateDigested":1531973780,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Shooting an Elephant","description":" Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell is a powerful account of internal angst and self-doubt. His emotion is heightened by the 2,000 spectators that are intent on his succumbing to their will; he feels against shooting the innocent elephant, but the crowd expects him to finish it off. It is a situation which most people could not perceive, taking the life of a living creature; and one can imagine his pain and relate to his inward horror.
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\n His pressure comes from several factors: first, he is a European man in the midst of Burmans, a place where it is inconceivable and forbidden to show fear. Second, while dealing with his own doubt, an eager crowd awaits his supposedly obvious choice: to kill the elephant. His belief is that the elephant merely had an attack of \u201cmust\u201d and lost control for a while but was innocent. He had no right to take its or anyone else\u2019s life, and there was also the owner to think about. If the thing needed to be shot, let the owner. But the owner wasn\u2019t there and the crowd watching in anticipation forced him to choose against himself in order to save face. \u201cEven then I was not thinking particularly of my own skin, only of the watchful yellow faces behind.\u201d He could not show his fear and walk away; he would be ridiculed and put to shame, which could not be allowed for the sake of his mother country, England. And while he dreaded the thought of killing the elephant, he did.
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\n There were several risks as well. There was the elephant itself, who might still be riled up and moody and charge. Had he decided to not shoot, the crowd would disgrace him and maybe even try to inflict physical harm. Law also dictated that mad animals must be killed, the way one would kill a mad dog. His older country folk told him he had done the right thing, but his peers disagreed- they said it was a shame to kill a beast because it had killed a native. \u201cThe younger men said it was a damn shame to shoot an elephant for killing a coolie, because an elephant was worth more than any damn Coringhee coolie.\u201d
\nHe has the crowd and their expectations to think of, an example of man-versus-society conflict- bloodthirsty people who enjoy bloodshed. He didn\u2019t want their bloodlust to be taken out on himself, so he had to let them take it out on a dying elephant. This sparks some of his man-versus-self conflict. The elephant is the source of controversy that is manifested in Orwell\u2019s brain: it had killed a man, but it had just gone crazy temporarily. It was innocent now. It was his fear of the crowd that forced him to do it.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[],"more":0}]},{"id":"33579322","dateCreated":"1296701765","smartDate":"Feb 2, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"Ingrid89","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Ingrid89","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1228179242\/Ingrid89-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/33579322"},"dateDigested":1531973780,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"shooting an elephant","description":"This man basically encounters problems with himself and society throughout this short story. First, he is ignored completely, or is both insulted and mistreated, but as the story continues, he has the power to change the way people treat him. This police has to handle the pressure placed by the entire town (Burmans), while deciding if he should do the right thing and not kill an innocent animal, or to kill him in order to become \u2018popular\u2019 and liked. In theory, because of the style the writer describes his situation and the character himself, we should feel empathy. This man has been completely ignored his entire life and, being hated by a lot of people, he described it as \u201cthe only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me\u201d. This guy is simply a loser that almost no one knows he exists. He is placed, involuntarily against his will, in this specific situation; but given the fact that he chooses popularity and the approval of the people over respecting nature and animals, and doing the right thing, I feel no empathy towards him. This man, seeing so many people in the crowd following him, and admiring his acts, was blinded by the hunger for attention. He expressed that \u201c[the people] did not like [him], but with the magical riffle in [his] hands [he] was momentarily worth watching. And suddenly he realized that [he] should have to shoot the elephant\u2026\u201d.
\nIf he were not to shoot the elephant, he would receive an even worse reaction from the crowd. \u201cThe people expected it of [him] and [he] had got to do it.\u201d If he hadn\u2019t shot the elephant, it was for certain his destiny would be filled with misery caused by all the people. Hating him for nothing was already bad, but giving the people a real reason for hating him would be even worse.
\nThis story, I feel is a combination of man vs. nature as well as man vs. self. This man is fighting against an innocent animal that is supposed to be in the wilderness and not kept in a cage. Because he is taken out of his habitat and tamed, the elephant reacts differently than other animals. Man vs. himself is clearly present, as well, because killing the innocent elephant is mainly an internal struggle of this character. He has to deal with either sticking up for his beliefs and not killing the animal; or doing what society prefers, which goes against what he believes in. All of his decisions revolve around his view with how he wishes to be looked upon by society.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"33618564","body":"Ingrid,
\n
\nI find this sentence sloppy... could you clean it up? 'This man has been completely ignored his entire life and, being hated by a lot of people, he described it as \u201cthe only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me\u201d.'
\nAlso, what do you mean by loser? Do you think this is the best way to push your argument?
\nAlso, you say that 'but given the fact that he chooses popularity and the approval of the people over respecting nature and animals, and doing the right thing, I feel no empathy towards him.' Alright, but how can you assume that he holds the same values as you do? Should he?
\n
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\nThanks,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1296762644","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}},{"id":"33647970","body":"1) Because this man has been ignored in the past, he describes this new feeling people have towards him: hate, to be \u201cthe only time in my life that [he has] been important enough for this to happen to [him].\u201d \u2018This\u2019, meaning, being hated.
\n2) I believe \u2018loser\u2019 is a term that fits perfectly this character. This guy is inferior to the rest of the people that surround him and is pushed around. He even feels it is a great accomplishment for people to hate him, because at least they feel something towards him. Feeling that being hated is an improvement, I strongly believe, makes him a loser.
\n3) We can assume he shares similar valued to mine because of the way the elephant is described by his \u2018eyes\u2019 as being calm and peacefully eating the grass. It is not completely certain that for this man, the right thing is not to kill the elephant, since he wished to respect nature. What is certain though, is that this man has no intention of killing the animal for the reasons that follow:
\n\u201cAs soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him. It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant \u2013 it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery \u2013 and obviously one ought not to do it if it can possibly be avoided. And at that distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow. I thought then and I think now that his attack of "must" was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly about until the mahout came back and caught him. Moreover, I did not in the least want to shoot him.\u201d
\n Whether the excuses are valid or not is not clear, but what is clear is that this man believes that killing this elephant is wrong, which is also what I believe. And because he thinks and supports why it is so wrong to do such, and still goes ahead and kills him because he had to please the crowd, that is mainly why I feel no empathy what so ever towards him.","dateCreated":"1296790998","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"Ingrid89","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/Ingrid89","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1228179242\/Ingrid89-lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]},{"id":"33523338","dateCreated":"1296611242","smartDate":"Feb 1, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"ad.ri","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/ad.ri","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/pic\/1283992059\/ad.ri-lg.jpg"},"monitored":false,"locked":false,"links":{"self":"https:\/\/davidgarethw-books-b.wikispaces.com\/share\/view\/33523338"},"dateDigested":1531973780,"startDate":null,"sharedType":"discussion","title":"Shooting an Elephant","description":" "Shooting an Elephant", by George Orwell was excruciatingly painful. As I read the last paragraphs my heart beat rapidly and my eyes wandered towards the end in anticipation. From the beginning, the British officer introduces the social status of his time, which is a problem for the Burmese, and offers, ironically, his secret stance in opposition to the Burmese\u00b4s oppressors, the British. Then the plot takes action when the officer is called because there\u00b4s an elephant on the loose. It has been causing trouble in town, like destroying huts, killing cows and upturning the municipal van and damaging it. As he sets out into town he mentions the rain, which gives us some anticipation of a conflict. The excitement intensifies as the screams of a woman are herd around the corner from where the officer is asking questions about the elephant. As he ventures to find out what has happened he finds a dead Indian man. \u201cHe was lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side. His face was coated with mud, the eyes wide open, the teeth bared and grinning with an expression of unendurable agony.\u201d The gruesome description of the dead man adds to the suspense, as well as showing that the officer denigrates the Indians. The matter becomes suddenly serious when he asks for an elephant rifle for defense, which presents the risk of death for the young man. When he finds the elephant he describes it savage eating habits and its contours as \u201ca miry waste of paddy fields\u201d. He finally gets to his objective and notices that the animal is quite calm and decides not to harm it. However, as he looks back at the faces of two thousand Burmese expecting him to kill the elephant he suddenly \u201cgrasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man's dominion in the East.\u201d He was no longer in control of the situation; he was merely a \u201cpuppet\u201d, for he was supposed to be superior to the people facing him and if he walked away without killing the elephant he would be ridiculed and laughed at. In that moment he was faced with a conflict, he either let it live and be ridiculed or maintain his status by killing the acquitted animal. This decision intensifies when he notices the \u201cgrandmotherly air\u201d with which the elephant ate. \u201cIt seemed to [him] that it would be murder to shoot him.\u201d Yet he strongly refuses to be mocked for this, which only leaves him one alternative, shoot him from a safe distance. The first shot changes the elephant, leaves him looking old and disorientated. It doesn\u2019t die but continues to suffer. The officer, perhaps regretting shooting the beast, desperately tries again and again to end the agony but each shot only strengthens the elephant\u2019s misery. \u201cIn the end [he] could not stand it any longer and went away.\u201d He has fallen, just like the tyrannical British people had, the same he was opposed to.","replyPages":[{"page":0,"digests":[{"id":"33618228","body":"Adrianna,
\n
\nWhat might be a more effective choice of verb here: 'the British officer introduces the social status of his time'
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\nAlso, I suppose I would like to have you identify, a little more thoroughly, the concepts of conflict writing as we looked over in class... This has more of a feel of a (well-written) recitation of the plot and I suppose that I am looking for more of an interpretation.
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\nThanks,
\n
\nWebster","dateCreated":"1296762418","smartDate":"Feb 3, 2011","userCreated":{"username":"davidgarethw","url":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/user\/view\/davidgarethw","imageUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikispaces.com\/i\/user_none_lg.jpg"}}],"more":0}]}],"more":false},"comments":[]},"http":{"code":200,"status":"OK"},"redirectUrl":null,"javascript":null,"notices":{"warning":[],"error":[],"info":[],"success":[]}}