"Following The Crowd"
In George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" he was basically following the crowd, and not thinking on his own. The elephant didn't deserve to be shot and killed, but this was his opportunity to be accepted by this culture. Personally Orwell didn't want to kill the elephant, but the pressure of fitting in, and saving himself the embarrasment made him go through with it.
Orwell was thinking on his own because he stated, "As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him." This sentence is proof that he had no intentions on killing the elephant until he was actually pressured by the crowd. Orwell didn't even have success with his first shot at taking the elephant down. When Orwell got to the elephant he wasn't harming anyone, and wasn't doing any damage. The people in the village insisted that the elephant be killed and Orwell followed the crowd, only to earn some points from them.
In the end result Orwell wasn't satisfied because he didn't really feel as if he needed to kill him. Orwell said, "It seemed dreadful to see the great beast lying there, powerless to move and yet powerless to die, and not even to be able to finish him. This sentence goes to show that Orwell isn't a murderer. Orwell was just an ordinary person that wanted to get along with everyone, but had to murder just fit in with everybody else.
7 comments:
I think that nobody should follow the crowd. I think that everyone needs to stand up for what they believe in. You wouldn't have that guilty feeling if you knew that it was right. That is why people always say "Listen to your gut." I think that if Orwell had not killed the elephant the outcome would have been alot better. He wouldn't be writing about it so it effected him alot. I think that his punishment was having to watch the poor little elephant suffer. So I don't think that anyone should follow what the crowd wants them to do they should always listen to their gut.
I agree sarah. I believe that this just goes to show how much leadership and remorse we contain within ourselves, and if we don't have much, we'll do anything to fit in, and that in any case, is a negative
I believe that everyone should show their unique personality because if they don't then the world would end up plain and boring. Nobody likes it when somebody copies their work or style so why should we be okay with someone stealing our personality.
I agree with what everyone has said, saying that we shouldn't follow the crowd and we should do what our gut says. And make the world special with what you bring to the table.
I would have to agree with everyone. Trust your feelings you will love yourself more for doing it and might even brign yourslef into a situation to learn something new. Because it you were wrong in your assumptions then you will most likely learn how they were wrong.
I agree with everyone that people should stand up for what they believe in. But as a society today, how many of us actually do it. If you do something outside of our norm then people look at you in a different way. As for example, (I know that this is a bit extreme and I do not intend to upset anyone), the suicide bomber, he kills people and himself because he thinks it is right. If he would've listened to the 'crowd' then he whould not have done it!
I feel as though everyone should have the right to be themseleves. You should not have to follow the crowd to try to fit in with crowd. In the end, you be copying off of other people instead of being your self.
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