Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

George Orwell(1903–1950) was an English novelist and journalist. His work is marked by a profound awareness of social injustice, an intense, revolutionary opposition to totalitarianism, his passion for clarity in language and a belief in democratic socialism. He wrote Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four. His grandmother lived at Moulmein, and with family connections in the area, his choice of posting was Burma.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell

Transcendentalism: Transcendentalism is an American literary, political, and philosophical movement of the early nineteenth century, centered around Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Stimulated by English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, and the skepticism of Hume, the transcendentalists operated with the sense that a new era was at hand. They were critics of their contemporary society for its conformity, and urged that each individual find, in Emerson's words, “an original relation to the universe”. Emerson and Thoreau sought this relation in solitude amidst nature, and in their writing. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/transcendentalism/

Thesis quote: “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. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the "natives," and so in every crisis he has got to do what the "natives" expect of him. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.”

Vocabulary from the story: Bog: a wet spongy area of land (swamp) or (to) cause to slow down or get stuck. saecula saeculorum: for ages and ages, forever and ever. Prostrate: Lying face down, as in submission or adoration. Despotic: tyrannical, repressive. In terrorem: In [order to] frighten, legal term for warning. Musth: periodic condition in bull elephants, characterized by highly aggressive behavior, accompanied by a large rise in reproductive hormones – as much as 60 times greater than in the same elephant at other times. Took to his heels: Ran away. Thatch: Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation. Dravidians: People that natively speak languages belonging to the Dravidian language family, southern or central India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. Coolie: Unskilled laborer or porter hired for little money. Unnerving: frightening. Jostle: (to) elbow, push, shove. Metalled road: The durable surface material laid down on an area intended to sustain traffic. Miry: swampy. Coarse: That is rough to the touch or substances consisting of relatively large particles. Plough: to break and turn over earth especially with a plow. Conjurer: magician. Sahib: Arabic term of respect, meaning Sir, master or lord. Tusk: Ivory, large tooth. Mound: Load, stack. Coringhee: Ethnic group. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63o8exNK4-Q

“Rule Britannia Britannia Rules the waves Britannia never never never never shall be slaves”

“The sun never sets on the British Empire”

Topics: Imperialism, Social pressure, Regret, Living according to others, Liberty/Oppression, Cruelty, Respect of Hierarchy, Humanity, Death, Dilemma.

Word choice and Imagery: Theater, mask, Tragedy, death. Elephant: The colonies are very large, they are worth a lot of money. Both start by trampling everything around them.