Question

the Elements of Style, read the following excerpts -- both from the same author, George Orwell, and explain the different stylistic forms he uses in each.

Excerpt from 1984

Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.

Excerpt from "Shooting an Elephant"

In Moulmein, in lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people – the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me. I was sub-divisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way anti-European feeling was very bitter.

Answer 1

The author was a sub-divisional police officer posted in Moulmein as an employee under the British Raj. He was constantly under mental pressure because of the despise of the natives for the white people. These people did not have the courage to oppose the sahib face to face. Like cowards they tried secretly to tease the author simply because he was a white man. He felt sympathy with the suffering natives in the prison. They were beaten mercilessly. As a police officer the author had at times to take merciless measures against them.

Usually, to the native people it is known that a sahib is all powerful to dominate over the natives. He as a part of the British imperialism is sure to be an ardent supporter of the colonial system. He can not convince that native people that he himself is not satisfied with the imperialist ways. He is watched constantly by the native men with fear and a sort of division. He realized this bitterly only after the situation that compelle4d him to commit the heinous deed of killing the innocent elephant. The contention of the author was fully correct. He concluded that the authority and position enjoyed by the white men in India was basically hollow.

The author critically analyses his personal experiences as a police officer under the British Raj. He himself was an employee under the imperialist rule. He despised his own job of oppressing the natives of India. But these people regarded him as a representative of imperialism. They hated him to their heart’s content. The author could not tolerate the cowardice of the native people. He had to kill the elephant in a helpless situation. This was obviously a dilemma of the white men living in India. The pretension and the pose of his authority had to be maintained to exercise his authority: “ I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East”.

The psychological exploration of the natives and the white men in India is beautifully attempted. He thinks that a white man was not free to do any thing. He was not free to move. On the other hand the native Burmese would hate the white men. Being a white man he author felt a compulsion to kill the elephant in order to impress the crowd. There was the silent psychological pressure on behalf of the native crowd.

The ironical tone of the essay reflects a criticism of the British Imperialism and the curiosity of a British official who himself was a white man. The author beautifully conveyed the psychological pressure put on him by the eager and expectant crowd. Besides, there is a paradoxical situation depicted. The natives themselves being poor, were the victim of the imperialistic exploitation. They required human treatment. But their wild ecstasy over the slow and painful death of the huge animal was inhuman to a great extent. The author’s personal agony knew no bound. The essay is significant not merely as a political criticism but also as a plea for humanity that suffers.