11. 201. Shooting an Elephant(36)

1. Who is the author of 'Shooting an Elephant'?

Ans:- George Orwell is the author of Shooting an elephant.

2. What was the narrator's profession?

Ans:- The narrator was a police officer.

3. Where was the narrator working?

Ans:- The narrator was working in Burma or present Myanmar.

4. Burma was the colony of which country?

Ans:- Burma was one of the colonies of the British Empire.

5. How did the Burmese treat the narrator?

Ans:- The Burmese harassed and insulted the narrator whenever they could.

6. In principle, with whom did the narrator side?

Ans:- The narrator sided with the Burmese.

7. What had the elephant destroyed?

Ans:- The elephant destroyed a bamboo hut, some fruit stalls and a rubbish van.

8. Where did the elephant come from?

Ans:- The elephant was a domesticated one.

9. What is the point or theme of "Shooting an Elephant"?

Ans:- The writing of "Shooting an Elephant" shows how colonialism corrupts the soul of both the colonized and the colonizers. It exposes the conflict between the law and one's moral conscience.

     The colonial policeman or Orwell himself did not wanted to kill the elephant but had to do so to carry on the orders of his superiors and the indigenous Burmese. In the process of unwillingly killing it, he realizes that he became someone who he did not wanted to be so. The Burmese also disliked him for shooting it. Orwell also shows that colonial rule is ultimately evil and colonialism persists only by inviting hatred from the native people.

10. Why did Orwell decide to shoot the elephant at last?

Ans:- The narrator and police officer Orwell had no intentions to shoot the elephant. It is when the British police officer requested an elephant gun to ensure his safety a huge crowd started gathering and follow him towards the elephant. The animal was calmly eating grass and the narrator was finding no reason why it should be killed. But the police officer was under pressure from above officers and the following crowd to shoot it. He came under the egotistical thoughts on completing the shoot because represented colonial authority and he should not look like a fool in front of the local people who were watching him.

11. How many times was the elephant shot?

Ans:- The elephant was shot three times with the 44 Winchester rifle. After his initial shot, the elephant remained standing. So the narrator shot him two more times to pull the elephant out of its pain from the first shot. In total it was shot five times.

12. What is the irony in the essay?

Ans:- The principal irony is that the Britishers have taken charge of an Asian country whose owners were not them at all. Another parallely important irony is that Orwell who represented that powerful colonialism was himself under pressure of the colonized crowd to kill the elephant. The power dynamics looked reversed in this irony.

13. Was the elephant really violent?

Ans:- The elephant had killed a Dravidian coolie but it's violent behaviour was only temporary. Orwell's judgement was that there was no longer any reason to kill it. It could be easily recaptured by its owner without further mayhem.

14. What was the attitude of the people in lower Burma towards the Europeans?

Ans:- The attitude of the people of lower Burma towards the Europeans was not of full allegiance as expected by the colonizers. The common people would spit beetle juice over the European lady's dress as she went through the bazaar. The young Buddhist priest standing on street corners jeered or mocked at all Europeans. The author Orwell was also a target of their insults and fun.

15. Why does Orwell say that imperial is an evil thing?

Ans:- The author Orwell was part of the British colonizers but he was ab anti-imperialist and sympathetic towards the native Burmese people. His British government ruled these people with an iron hand. The scene of the native prisoners huddling in the stinking cages, ruthlessly caned and filled with wounds and made him cry and filled him with sense of guilt. The government hardly worked for the development of the country. He was very clear in his mind that the "imperialism was an evil thing." It destroyed the minds of both the conqueror and the conquered.

16. Is the essay/short story a political one?

Ans:- "Shooting an Elephant" is a political essay.

17. How and when did the Burmese made fun of Orwell? 

Ans:- A Burmese had tripped Orwell on the football field with leg.  The referee who was a Burmese too pretended as if he did not witness it. At this incident the Burmese crowd yelled at Orwell with hideous laughter. 

18. What could be the different themes in the short story?

Ans:- The different themes in the short story are cultural identity, political identity,  hatred, hegemony,  political consciousness, alienization, racism and marginalization.

19. Is it based on true incidents?

Ans:- Yes,  the story is based on true incidents which the author Orwell witnessed in Burma.

20. Who are the "evil spirited little beasts"?

Ans:- Orwell calls the Burmese people as "evil spirited little beasts". This image shows his racist side.

21. What is hegemony? How is it seen in the story? 

Ans:-     Hegemony is control or dominance of one country,  organization, race,  class, gender,  etc's political or cultural control over another.

     Orwell hated the British imperialism and at the same time he hated the Burmese people too.  His hate for the Burmese shows his white,  male,  hegemonic attitude.

22. What kind of weapon was Orwell carrying after the phone call? 

Ans:- Orwell was carrying an old 44 Winchester rifle after the phone call informing about an elephant causing ravage in the bazaar. 

23. What was Orwell's job? 

Ans:- Orwell was a sub-inspector.

24. Name some Indian words preponderant  in the essay.

Ans:- Bazaar, mahout and coolie,  are two Indian words preponderant or present in the essay or short essay.

25. How did Orwell find the Dravidian coolie?

Ans:- Orwell found the Dravidian coolie dead and lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply bent or twisted to one side.  His face was covered with mud, the eyes wide open, teeth looked grinning in pain and his back's skins stripped.

26. Where was the elephant found? 

Ans:- The elephant was found by Orwell in the paddy field.

27. Apart from the fun in watching how the elephant is shot what else did the Burmese expected? 

Ans:- Apart from the fun in watching how a white man shoots an elephant,  the Burmese wanted the meat of the elephant.

28. Describe any metaphor from the story. 

Ans:- One of the metaphors is how the people had come to watch Orwell shoot the elephant as if to "see the theater curtain go up at last".

29. What is hegemony?

Ans:- Hegemony is a Modern Marxist coinage which describes the mental control of one group of people over another. There is no freedom of the controlled. The hegemonic controller becomes the agency. Everything is decided by the people in power. They are the rule-makers.

30. Describe the dead Indian coolie.

Ans:- The dead Indian was a black, Dravidian coolie. The dead body was naked and the people disclosed that the elephant had suddenly come upon him around the hut's corner. It caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and grounded him into the earth. He was lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side.

31. Where did Orwell first see the elephant and what was it doing?

Ans:- Orwell first saw the elephant in paddy fields. It was a thousand yards away. It was tearing up branches and grass, beating them against his knees to clean them and stuffing them into his mouth.

32. How many total times was the elephant shot?

Ans:- The elephant was shot five times in total.

33. What does Orwell say about the worth of the elephant?

Ans:- Orwell says that the living elephant is worth atleast a hundred pounds.

34. Who first informed Orwell about the ravages caused by the elephant?

Ans:- The neighborhood's residents first informed Orwell about the ravages caused by the elephant.

35. In which place was Orwell posted as a police officer?

Ans:- George Orwell was posted in Burma as a police officer.

36. What is George Orwell's real name?

Ans:- The actual name of George Orwell is Eric Arthur Blair.