George Orwells Shooting An Elephant And Animal Farm Essay Example

George Orwell is one of the greatest English writers. Orwell expressed his views in an independent manner and raised various significant issues that he witnessed in the society while serving in different roles. “Shooting an Elephant” is one of highly acclaimed literary works of the author. “Animal Farm” is a novel that was written by Orwell and is known for the portrayal of various crucial issues. This paper intends to discuss both of these literary works of the author along with presenting a succinct and comparative analysis of “Shooting an Elephant” and “Animal Farm”.
Both “Shooting an Elephant” and “Animal Farm” describe the use and misuse of the power. However, the themes of both these stories are different. In shooting an elephant, people were not living in a free environment. They used to hate authorities and their rulers. Prejudice and resentment were important themes of the “Shooting an Elephant”. However, in “Animal Farm” the main focus was on corruption, manipulation of powers and how leaders misuse their power in order to fool people including their followers.
Orwell wrote “shooting an elephant” story while he was posted in British ruled Burma as a police official. Orwell shot an aggressive elephant but after shooting elephant, he was plunged in deep thoughts. Orwell was highly confused about shooting the elephant. Orwell appears facing a dilemma while shooting the elephant. He did not want to shoot the elephant but had to shoot the animal. Orwell is considered as an anti-imperialist who criticized imperialistic practices even though he was working for the British government.
Orwell symbolizes the British Empire in this story while the elephant is portrayed as “stricken and immensely old” that symbolizes a helpless country that has been ravaged by imperialistic British Empire. It also represents one of colonies that is conquered and oppressed without justifiable reasons. People, portrayed in the story, symbolize the people of British colonies and the bullet symbolizes the innovation and use of latest technology that helped British in occupying other countries.
George Orwell wrote “Animal Farm” in the era of World War II when Russians emerged as one of the biggest powers of the world. Orwell belonged to England and his biasness is prominently visible against Russia and communists. Though he raises some relevant issues in his novel but at the same time he is not impartial and uses derogatory language for communists. Being an author he should have avoided his partial behavior. Orwell represents napoleon and Stalin as pigs in his novel.
George Orwell portrays communism in his novel, “Animal Farm.” and mocks this ideology. Orwell describes his anguish against imperialistic practices in “Shooting an Elephant” while he raises his voice against oppressions in a satirical manner in Animal Farm. Orwell targets communists and their practices in “Animal Farm”. The author portrays beautifully and satirically how pigs and other animals plot a conspiracy against their master to get rid of him. Human beings are portrays as parasites in this story. Orwell have named a pig as Napoleon in this story.
George mocks communism in his novel “Animal Farm.” he describes pigs and animals as communists and represents Russian revolutionist Stalin as a pig named, Napoleon. The conspiracy of revolting by the animals has been portrayed as the 1917 Bolshevik revolution. By derogatory portrayal of communists and their ideology, Orwell describes his mentality. Orwell through the story, describes power as corrupt practice. However, the author mentions correctly that any political institution will certainly fail if its leaders misuse their power more often. The author also describes how lies can be presented in the form of truth when seven commandments of animalism were amended for the benefits of the pigs. The author also portrays how blind following of power often results into misleading people or power abuse.
Both these stories appear to be against oppressive and manipulative practices. Orwell uses different characters in order to portray oppressions of people in British colonies by imperialistic powers. He suggests ideas of humanism in both these stories. Prima-facie Orwell appears to be anti-imperialistic but at the same time, Orwell’s disguised personality is revealed by his acts and words. Though he tries to portray himself as anti-imperialistic, his expressions and selection of words suggest his imperialistic mindset.
Having observed an overview and succinct analysis of the abovementioned stories, this paper concludes that both these stories are well written and full of ideas. Orwell expresses his disagreement against the imperialistic practices and oppressions of people in colonies and dominions. Orwell is a British and even though he writes against the imperialism. Orwell does not appear to be free from his feudal mentality while he uses derogatory words for followers of other ideologies. The way, he uses expressions and opts words to describes his ideas, his masquerading character reveals and Orwell himself appears to be in support of imperialism.