4.4

George Orwell take his audience on a roller coaster of emotions through this captivating story of a hunter and his experience killing an elephant. Orwell starts the story with showing a clear dilemma plaguing the hunter, the dilemma the hunter is facing is whether he has the capabilities to take on this beast, then the action of killing the animal and the overwhelming guilt that came form watching the consequences of his actions. The purpose of this short story is to show reader that despite the hunters capability to kill the elephant, doesn’t mean it was worth it in the end. According to the text “I felt that I had got to put an end to that dreadful noise.” after killing the elephant orwell shos the hunters spiral of guilt and panic by displaying his need for the elephant to die faster, either to end its suffering, or to stop being forced to face it himself. The entirety of this short story is told in first story, as it’s narration includes the actions of others but mainly the forethoughts of the main character, the hunter.

The focus of the first paragraph is on the hunters debate on his ability to take this elephant down, with endangering himself. Orwell displays the hunters desperate impulse or urge to prove himself, by creating shorter choppier sentences, or longer sentences with multiple pauses throughout. According to the text “I ought to..” the author uses this phase several times creating strong use of repetition to explain his innermost thoughts. He starts the paragraph stating what he felt he should be doing, with bold remarks on how exactly he would kill the elephant, however throughout the paragraph he comes to somewhat of a realization, on his own personal limits bring him back down to earth. This flipping between perspectives helps keep the readers on their toes, creating and increased sense of adrenaline.

The focus of the second paragraph is on self reflection, this paragraph highlights the original thought process on how he should go about killing elephant, and afterwards what he should’ve actually done. The main theme of this paragraph is self reflection, in the presence of the elephant the hunter feels the need to perform for the Burmans. According to the text “people who see the theatre curtain” by comparing the crowd of people to those who would be watching a theatre performance the hunter sets himself up for a performance, adding pressure to both him and the readers. Due to the severe amount of self reflection, the readers are able to witness the stark contrast in ego, according to the text “their bit of fun after all” whereas when reflecting “I ought to…” in his reflection he no longer displays the need to perform.

In the third paragraph the hunter finally shoots the elephant and details the gruesome death. A sense of resentment is beginning to be created between the hunter and the Burmans, as he describes their reactions using lexical choices like “devilish” giving them a negative connotation. He then details the elephants struggle to survive, according to the text “desperate slowness” and “agony of it jolt his whole body” setting the author up for later self reflection or guilt.

All of the paragraphs take place in chronological order, with large events occurring, and self reflection directly after, in every other paragraph. The overall theme of this short story is self reflection and guilt, the hunter feels almost disgusted with himself after watching the consequences of his actions, the death of the elephant in front of him. The short story ends with “In the end I could not stand it any longer and went away.” This displays how the hunters overwhelming guilt overtook him.