Shooting an Elephant

  The author of Shooting an Elephant uses vivid word choice to convey the graphic and melancholy scene of an elephant's final moments by the hands of the protagonist hunter. The writer, going by the pen name of George Orwell, structured this story in a way that is obviously deeply contemplated so the reader will feel time like the protagonist experienced it. His description of the scene and lexical choices add personality to the elephant but also perfectly convey the feelings of guilt portrayed by the protagonist. The author uses language and tone perfectly so that this fictional short story seems like a vivid autobiography. 

The author’s form rides the weird line between an autobiography and fictional short story. The author’s use of inner thoughts of the protagonist intruding into actions is indicative of an autobiography, however, the story is completely fictional. Sentences such as “what seemed like a long time - it might have been five seconds, I dare say - he sagged…”

The author structures this story with decently long paragraphs. This makes the whole encounter feel much longer and the elephant’s death drawn out even though it probably one lasted a few minutes. The author uses these long paragraphs to give detailed descriptions of the elephant’s demise.

The author’s lexical choices and tone make the piece feel chaotic and dark but at the same time the reader feels the regretful sentiment the protagonist feels towards the elephant. “It seemed dreadful… powerless… tortured gasps… I could not stand it any longer and went.” I also believe that in the one sentence the other characters (the Burmans) were mentioned, “I got up. The Burmans were already racing past me across the mud,” the author used a tone that made them look like uncivilized people with no remorse.