In responce to George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" I ask:
1. Why do people feel the need to impress others?
2. Why did the author refer to the 'natives' as 'yellow faces'?
3. Why did the author care if he was being laughed at by the 'natives"?
I am going to answer the first question.
In Orwell's article he talks about not wanting to do anything to get laughed at by the 'natives' and ends up shooting an elephant because he wants to impress the crowd that had formed around him, but why do people do things like that to impress others? Orwell is an English soldier living in Burma, at that time he was considered the "superior race" so why did he feel the need to impress them?He admitted to hating the 'natives' and the job that he was doing there so why did he shoot the elephant?
In Bhuddhism elephants represent mental strenght. I think its ironic that Orwell shot the elephant to impress and entertain the natives. In doing so he shows his mental weakness, he wouldent do the right thing because he couldn't bare to be laughed at by the natives. Someone with mental strenght would have done the right thing solely based on the fact that it was right.
I like to think of myself as someone who doesnt care what people think of me, but I constantly find myself seeking the approval of others. My theory on this is that people as a whole are affraid to be alone. I think we all have this strange delusion that if we dont constantly impress and gain approval that we might end up alone, So we unconciously (or conciously) impress others with the hope of finding approval from someone so we dont have to be alone.
It's true that humans seek out the approval of others, most definitely! We all want to be accepted and liked. I say the same thing all the time (kidding myself) that I don't care what people think. But I do...honestly...I think we all do.
ReplyDeleteAnd nice reference to the symbolism of the elephant in Buddhism. In my opinion the elephant in this story represented something that just the animal itself. Maybe it was a symbol of his mental weakness when it came to the approval of the natives?
Interesting insight. I did not think too much of his ego as I did think that he felt that he as a representative of the "better" or "dominant" culture, needed to insure his dominance. The villagers would have killed it if they had weapons but no villagers had weapons because dominated cultures are stripped of weapons so they cannot fight back. The only ones who had the elephant gun was someone who was lower ranking than him.
ReplyDeleteI feel like you are totally correct in that people are secretly seeking the approval of others. That is what all humans crave I think as it is an innate instinct in apes generally. It starts with our parents and our relationships with them and as we get older it translates to the outside world. I think in this instance he more than anything was trying to approve of himself. He already was questioning why he was even in Burma since he was against oppressive regimes. On top of being ridiculed regularly, I think his sense of self respect was also diminishing. Not only did he think his position was not noble, he was also the butt of jokes by EVERYONE around him. I feel like he might have been showing himself that he was at least worth this by doing such a heinous act as the oppressor. At the same time, he once again found himself a puppet, not of his country but of the villagers he was occupying.