Essay on Elephant,Ethos In Shooting An Elephant
WebJan 25, · The elephant is the world's largest and most powerful mammal. It has thick legs, massive sides and back, large hanging ears, a short tail, small eyes, long white WebJan 19, · The elephant is the biggest land mammal in the world. They are known for their large floppy ears, tusks made of ivory, long trunks, and intelligence. You can tell the difference between Asian and African WebEssay on Elephant in English There are many types of animals found around the world. Some are very big and some very small. The elephant is the largest animal living today WebThe essay “Shooting an Elephant” is a self-portraying, non-fiction entry written by George Orwell, in which he is forced to shoot an elephant. In the essay he talks about struggle ... read more
In fact, the two are considered to be of different species. In both countries, they live in herds in jungles and are shy and keep away from men. The elephant is a very intelligent animal and its intelligence and strength make it a very useful servant of man. It can be trained to serve in various ways. The trained elephant will kneel down, lift a heavy log of wood with its tusks, carry it to the place where it is wanted and lay it exactly in position. Elephants are also trained for tiger-hunting. In the olden days, elephants were used in battles and armies had their regiments of trained fighter elephants. They still have their places in state processions. Many elephants are caught alive to be tamed and trained. But catching elephants alive is difficult and dangerous work; for, though the elephant is a shy, wild animal when left alone, it can be a dangerous enemy when attacked.
Elephants are very useful for men and their work. I took my rifle, an old 44 Winchester and much too small to kill an elephant, but I thought the noise might be useful in terrorem. The Burmese population had no weapons and were quite helpless against it. The Burmese sub-inspector and some Indian constables were waiting for me in the quarter where the elephant had been seen. It was a very poor quarter, a labyrinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palmleaf, winding all over a steep hillside. I remember that it was a cloudy, stuffy morning at the beginning of the rains.
We began questioning the people as to where the elephant had gone and, as usual, failed to get any definite information. That is invariably the case in the East; a story always sounds clear enough at a distance, but the nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes. Some of the people said that the elephant had gone in one direction, some said that he had gone in another, some professed not even to have heard of any elephant. I had almost made up my mind that the whole story was a pack of lies, when we heard yells a little distance away. Go away this instant! Some more women followed, clicking their tongues and exclaiming; evidently there was something that the children ought not to have seen. He was an Indian, a black Dravidian coolie, almost naked, and he could not have been dead many minutes.
The people said that the elephant had come suddenly upon him round the corner of the hut, caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and ground him into the earth. This was the rainy season and the ground was soft, and his face had scored a trench a foot deep and a couple of yards long. He 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. Never tell me, by the way, that the dead look peaceful.
Most of the corpses I have seen looked devilish. I had already sent back the pony, not wanting it to go mad with fright and throw me if it smelt the elephant. The orderly came back in a few minutes with a rifle and five cartridges, and meanwhile some Burmans had arrived and told us that the elephant was in the paddy fields below, only a few hundred yards away. As I started forward practically the whole population of the quarter flocked out of the houses and followed me. They had seen the rifle and were all shouting excitedly that I was going to shoot the elephant. They had not shown much interest in the elephant when he was merely ravaging their homes, but it was different now that he was going to be shot. It was a bit of fun to them, as it would be to an English crowd; besides they wanted the meat.
It made me vaguely uneasy. I had no intention of shooting the elephant — I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary — and it is always unnerving to have a crowd following you. I marched down the hill, looking and feeling a fool, with the rifle over my shoulder and an ever-growing army of people jostling at my heels. At the bottom, when you got away from the huts, there was a metalled road and beyond that a miry waste of paddy fields a thousand yards across, not yet ploughed but soggy from the first rains and dotted with coarse grass. The elephant was standing eight yards from the road, his left side towards us. He was tearing up bunches of grass, beating them against his knees to clean them and stuffing them into his mouth. I had halted on the road. As 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 — it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery — 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. Moreover, I did not in the least want to shoot him. I decided that I would watch him for a little while to make sure that he did not turn savage again, and then go home. But at that moment I glanced round at the crowd that had followed me. It was an immense crowd, two thousand at the least and growing every minute. It blocked the road for a long distance on either side.
I looked at the sea of yellow faces above the garish clothes-faces all happy and excited over this bit of fun, all certain that the elephant was going to be shot. They were watching me as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick. They did not like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watching. And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly. Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd — seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.
I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it. I had got to shoot the elephant. I had committed myself to doing it when I sent for the rifle. A sahib has got to act like a sahib; he has got to appear resolute, to know his own mind and do definite things. To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing — no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. But I did not want to shoot the elephant. I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with that preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have.
It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him. At that age I was not squeamish about killing animals, but I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. Somehow it always seems worse to kill a large animal. Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds; dead, he would only be worth the value of his tusks, five pounds, possibly. But I had got to act quickly. I turned to some experienced-looking Burmans who had been there when we arrived, and asked them how the elephant had been behaving. They all said the same thing: he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.
It was perfectly clear to me what I ought to do. I ought to walk up to within, say, twenty-five yards of the elephant and test his behavior. If he charged, I could shoot; if he took no notice of me, it would be safe to leave him until the mahout came back. But also I knew that I was going to do no such thing. I was a poor shot with a rifle and the ground was soft mud into which one would sink at every step. If the elephant charged and I missed him, I should have about as much chance as a toad under a steam-roller. But even then I was not thinking particularly of my own skin, only of the watchful yellow faces behind.
For at that moment, with the crowd watching me, I was not afraid in the ordinary sense, as I would have been if I had been alone. The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill. And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh. That would never do. There was only one alternative. I shoved the cartridges into the magazine and lay down on the road to get a better aim. The crowd grew very still, and a deep, low, happy sigh, as of people who see the theatre curtain go up at last, breathed from innumerable throats.
There are many types of animals found around the world. Some are very big and some very small. The elephant is the largest animal living today and the strongest too. It has thick legs, huge sides and back, large hanging ears, a small tail, little eyes, long white tusks and above all long nose called trunk. It draws up water by it and can squirt it all over its body like a shower bath, picks leaves from the trees and puts them into the mouth. Elephants look very clumsy and heavy. Elephants are found in India and Africa. The African elephant differs in some respects from the Indian, it is larger, stronger, with longer tusks and bigger ears. In fact, the two are considered to be of different species.
In both countries, they live in herds in jungles and are shy and keep away from men. The elephant is a very intelligent animal and its intelligence and strength make it a very useful servant of man. It can be trained to serve in various ways. The trained elephant will kneel down, lift a heavy log of wood with its tusks, carry it to the place where it is wanted and lay it exactly in position. Elephants are also trained for tiger-hunting. In the olden days, elephants were used in battles and armies had their regiments of trained fighter elephants.
They still have their places in state processions. Many elephants are caught alive to be tamed and trained. But catching elephants alive is difficult and dangerous work; for, though the elephant is a shy, wild animal when left alone, it can be a dangerous enemy when attacked. Elephants are very useful for men and their work. At a few places, elephants are hunted mainly for their tusks, which are made of ivory and are very valuable. Law does not permit the hunting of elephants. We should protect them to keep a balanced environment. Have you read these?
Shooting An Elephant Essay,Essay topics
WebThe essay “Shooting an Elephant” is a self-portraying, non-fiction entry written by George Orwell, in which he is forced to shoot an elephant. In the essay he talks about struggle WebEssay on Elephant in English There are many types of animals found around the world. Some are very big and some very small. The elephant is the largest animal living today WebJan 25, · The elephant is the world's largest and most powerful mammal. It has thick legs, massive sides and back, large hanging ears, a short tail, small eyes, long white WebJan 19, · The elephant is the biggest land mammal in the world. They are known for their large floppy ears, tusks made of ivory, long trunks, and intelligence. You can tell the difference between Asian and African ... read more
But also I knew that I was going to do no such thing. Yet the eye or tails of an elephant are short. His mouth was wide open — I could see far down into caverns of pale pink throat. We regard them as descendants for an extinct species named mammals. At that age I was not squeamish about killing animals, but I had never shot an elephant and never wanted to. They had not shown much interest in the elephant when he was merely ravaging their homes, but it was different now that he was going to be shot. They all said the same thing: he took no notice of you if you left him alone, but he might charge if you went too close to him.
It may be used to drink, dress food, and even as a snorkel. In fact, the two are considered to be of different species. It was a very poor quarter, a labyrinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palmleaf, an essay on elephant, winding all over a steep hillside. He writes his essay to reveal the cruelty and disastrous outcome of imperialism he witnesses. Only a few creatures have a calm mind when we talk about animals.
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