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Post by Zelda Molitor on Sept 1, 2023 13:56:26 GMT -5
In "Shooting an Elephant", by George Orwell, Orwell has to make a big decision which he goes back and forth on throughout the story, whether or not to shoot the elephant. Orwell Shoots the elephant because he feels the pressure from people watching him to do so. I don't think that Orwell genuinely thought that it was necessary or the right thing to do, but he felt like he would be judged or maybe made fun of if he had come all that way and ordered for the weapon if he didn't end up shooting and killing the elephant. Orwell originally planned not to kill the elephant and to only have a weapon with him in case anything happened and he felt the need to protect himself, I think this is because he thought that killing it was wrong and also it was worth a lot more money alive rather than dead. However, when put in the situation with all of those people watching and pressuring him, he made the decision to shoot the elephant and I'm not sure he ended up being entirely happy with his decision it the end.
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Post by Nevin on Sept 1, 2023 18:55:35 GMT -5
Orwell decides to shoot the elephant because he was peer pressured by the crowd around him and did not want to look weak in front of the townspeople who were all gathering to see him shoot the elephant. The crowd viewed what he was doing as sort of excitement because they saw the elephant as going "must" and going on a rampage where it needed to be killed and that was exciting for them, however Orwell did not feel the same way about the elephant when he saw it standing peacefully in the field. When he shot the elephant he immediately had regret for what he had done especially since the elephant was suffering, he came to realize that he really didn't want to have shot the elephant but did it anyway because he would've looked foolish and disappointed the crowd around him.
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Post by Sophia Salinas on Sept 1, 2023 21:03:39 GMT -5
Orwell shoots the elephant out of pure peer pressure. Thousands and thousands of people lined up behind him, cheering and waiting in anticipation for the moment that the creature fell. Orwell probably wouldn't have even harmed the elephant if he had been alone, in fact he had actually been planning on just the owner to come back and retrieve his elaphant. When he encountered the animal it was seemingly minding its business, no more harmless than a mere cow. Unfortunately, if he hadn't killed it the audience would've looked down at him. What was he to do? One had already lost his life to the creature so the people deemed revenge the only solution, even if a man lost his beloved mammal. Orwell, of course regretted it after but fortunately hr had the right to shoot. Perhaps it was worth it for the new found respect from people around him, especially since he was a new officer.
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Post by mollylocke on Sept 1, 2023 21:28:38 GMT -5
In the essay, "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, Orwell shoots the elephant because he does not want to look like a "fool". Orwell did not want to kill the elephant but he also did not want to get judged by the crowd. Throughout the whole essay Orwell goes back and forth trying to justify his action of shooting the elephant. When first seeing the elephant Orwell "had no intention of shooting the elephant" but as the crowd gathered he began to feel more and more pressure to fit in with the townspeople and abandoned his beliefs. Orwell sacrificed his own set of personal morals and opinions on the elephant because of his insecurities and the amount of peer pressure from the crowd around him.
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emma
New Member
Posts: 9
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Post by emma on Sept 1, 2023 22:58:25 GMT -5
In the essay "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, Orwell shoots the elephant because, throughout his life, he has never wanted to be laughed at, and as much as he doesn't want to shoot this elephant and upon first encountering this elephant, seeing it peacefully eating the grass, knows he is not of any more threat than a cow is, he doesn't want to look like a fool in front of everyone even more, and this crowd behind him has a very different thought process than him, and believes that he needs to kill this elephant, seeing him as a threat and destroying everything. I think this makes a great comparison to real life and how many people feel, from the social pressure of society and how you are supposed to be acting or dressing, or even the pressures of friends to be doing things you might not feel comfortable doing.
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Post by Imani Hobson on Sept 5, 2023 11:26:49 GMT -5
In “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, Orwell shoots the elephant because of the crowd around him that was cheering him on to shoot the elephant. He did not want to seem weak in front of them all so he let what they think influence his actions that took the life of an animal. Orwell did not want to shoot the elephant because when he found the elephant it was peaceful and calm. He was already made fun of and not viewed as the same as the rest of them and he was tired of it. He knew it would be worse if he didn’t shoot the elephant and they laughed at him and he didn’t want to deal with that anymore. After he shot the elephant he couldn’t even look at it and watch it die which showed even more how much he knew it was a bad decision.
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Post by Khaniel Smith on Sept 5, 2023 18:41:26 GMT -5
In the essay "Shooting an elephant," Orwell shoots the elephant because he finds himself pressured in a spot that he wished to never be in, him being stuck between feeling like a coward and scared to wanting to be seen as strong and fearless. That caused him to have an overwhelming feeling with his moral but also emotional biases which brought the situation to become an even more difficult situation, from when he came to the village in the first place he realized that he would not gain immediate acceptance and respect from the community which complicated his views of himself with wanting more impact of control with their societal expectations. Even though he didn't want to hurt the elephant he felt a sense of pressure from the crowd he still felt as though he needed to advance his imagine and maintain a higher outlook from the locals and by doing this he would. Orwell's decision was made with reflection of navigating the interplay of power, colonialism, and the desire to uplift his imagine within the village.
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Post by zanderligman on Sept 6, 2023 21:50:56 GMT -5
Orwell shoots the elephant in order to not disappoint the crowd of people behind him. He didn't plan on shooting the elephant originally, but there were so many people following him that wanted him to shoot the elephant. He felt like he owed it to the crowd to shoot it. I also think that him being bullied in a sense also played a part in it. Maybe if all of the Burman's didn't always treat him so badly, he wouldn't have felt like he had to shoot it. In his mind it was wrong to kill the elephant, but since he had such an audience who he knows doesn't like him already, he decides to shoot it to try and show all of the people that he is not so bad, or that he's not scared. Maybe he had some desperation that if he killed the elephant then some people would treat him better or he'd gain some fame.
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Post by krystalin on Sept 6, 2023 23:00:03 GMT -5
In the essay "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, shoots the elephant because there was a crowd behind him and he didn't to appear as a fool or weak in front of the crowd. It was obvious that he was struggling with being self conscious in this situation and being felt peer pressured into shooting the elephant. As the crowd began to form they expected it from him. He says he "had no intention of shooting the elephant." He just wanted to impress the towns people. Even after the elephant dying he had mixed feeling about the killing. The whole situation happened all because he didn't want to get made fun of.
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Post by berenice on Sept 11, 2023 20:25:50 GMT -5
Orwell shot the elephant not because he wanted to instead it was the opposite. He looked at the animal; it was calm and didn't harm anyone. It wasn't his intention to shoot the elephant. A crowd followed him it grew as the minutes passed by, waiting for the animal's death. He knew the people wanted him to shoot the animal. Not wanting to disappoint the crowd and be ridiculed for not shooting. Not wanting to be called a coward and humiliated he shot the elephant.
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