Shooting an Elephant, Critical AnalysisShooting an Elephant, Critical AnalysisThroughout Orwell’s literary career, he avidly stood against totalitarian and imperialistic forms of government. His two most famous works (1984 and Animal Farm) both exemplify this point, but at the same time weaken it. These two works were written in protest of those governments, but in a fictional back ground. In Orwell’s essay Shooting an Elephant, he uses a personal experience to more clearly emphasize the impact of imperialism at the sociological and psychological level, in conjunction with other literary elements. This symposium of devices help drive the purpose of his paper and ultimately creates a more substantial impact on any reader.
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It is not a coincidence that the two leading literary figures were both pacifists and communists, but in our time, we know how these two individuals came to understand “civilization” through a revolutionary perspective, and how they came to view the world through revolutionary movements. But in the absence of a revolutionary perspective, we can only view the world through the lens of an imperialist worldview. This perspective is a product of Marx’s struggle against capitalism, and his historical contribution, namely The Age of the Social. The Age of the Social came about when socialist, neoliberal, social democratic regimes took on a more military and economic dimension by attacking the basic concepts of sovereignty and democratic self-determination that had served to consolidate power both in the West and the capitalist world. The Age of the Social was a response to neoliberalism’s invasion of political and economic power in the West—all of which culminated in the invasion of the “New World Order” by imperialism…[but] they also did not succeed at a moment when the ruling classes are beginning to make the first attempt at building up the military power itself from the ground up.[9] By studying the historical and social experience of these two leaders, the authors can present them at the center of a new struggle amongst socialists that will ultimately drive up their own revolutionary project.[10]
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An ideal of a postmodern world—a world in which there is not only equality for all but fairness and compassion in the world—has been given a revolutionary outlook and given a new way of seeing the world.[10]
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- In contrast to their political and social ideals, communist and socialist ideologies often fail to reflect and understand the full dimension of the revolutionary struggle of the people and the needs of the people.[11]
C.2.2 The Idea of the ‘Evaluating Revolution’
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Every new social, political, and ecological movement must consider: How do we achieve it?
One way or another, socialism tends to come to be seen as an attempt to build the future at the top. The revolutionary idea of a revolution as a goal of the working people is always a product of many different approaches at the local level. But as the term expresses itself in political activity, it is also usually associated with the idea of a new sort of revolution.
- First, it should be pointed out that socialist ideology is a fundamentally post-Marxist ideology. It rejects, for instance, what is termed an “economic system based on trade relations with each other”.[12] This approach is not only contradictory, but fails to understand and articulate the full potential that capitalism presents to socialism when it seeks to create a new system of free economic capitalism. The economic system aspires
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It is not a coincidence that the two leading literary figures were both pacifists and communists, but in our time, we know how these two individuals came to understand “civilization” through a revolutionary perspective, and how they came to view the world through revolutionary movements. But in the absence of a revolutionary perspective, we can only view the world through the lens of an imperialist worldview. This perspective is a product of Marx’s struggle against capitalism, and his historical contribution, namely The Age of the Social. The Age of the Social came about when socialist, neoliberal, social democratic regimes took on a more military and economic dimension by attacking the basic concepts of sovereignty and democratic self-determination that had served to consolidate power both in the West and the capitalist world. The Age of the Social was a response to neoliberalism’s invasion of political and economic power in the West—all of which culminated in the invasion of the “New World Order” by imperialism…[but] they also did not succeed at a moment when the ruling classes are beginning to make the first attempt at building up the military power itself from the ground up.[9] By studying the historical and social experience of these two leaders, the authors can present them at the center of a new struggle amongst socialists that will ultimately drive up their own revolutionary project.[10]
’
An ideal of a postmodern world—a world in which there is not only equality for all but fairness and compassion in the world—has been given a revolutionary outlook and given a new way of seeing the world.[10]
C.
’
- In contrast to their political and social ideals, communist and socialist ideologies often fail to reflect and understand the full dimension of the revolutionary struggle of the people and the needs of the people.[11]
C.2.2 The Idea of the ‘Evaluating Revolution’
’
Every new social, political, and ecological movement must consider: How do we achieve it?
One way or another, socialism tends to come to be seen as an attempt to build the future at the top. The revolutionary idea of a revolution as a goal of the working people is always a product of many different approaches at the local level. But as the term expresses itself in political activity, it is also usually associated with the idea of a new sort of revolution.
- First, it should be pointed out that socialist ideology is a fundamentally post-Marxist ideology. It rejects, for instance, what is termed an “economic system based on trade relations with each other”.[12] This approach is not only contradictory, but fails to understand and articulate the full potential that capitalism presents to socialism when it seeks to create a new system of free economic capitalism. The economic system aspires
’
It is not a coincidence that the two leading literary figures were both pacifists and communists, but in our time, we know how these two individuals came to understand “civilization” through a revolutionary perspective, and how they came to view the world through revolutionary movements. But in the absence of a revolutionary perspective, we can only view the world through the lens of an imperialist worldview. This perspective is a product of Marx’s struggle against capitalism, and his historical contribution, namely The Age of the Social. The Age of the Social came about when socialist, neoliberal, social democratic regimes took on a more military and economic dimension by attacking the basic concepts of sovereignty and democratic self-determination that had served to consolidate power both in the West and the capitalist world. The Age of the Social was a response to neoliberalism’s invasion of political and economic power in the West—all of which culminated in the invasion of the “New World Order” by imperialism…[but] they also did not succeed at a moment when the ruling classes are beginning to make the first attempt at building up the military power itself from the ground up.[9] By studying the historical and social experience of these two leaders, the authors can present them at the center of a new struggle amongst socialists that will ultimately drive up their own revolutionary project.[10]
’
An ideal of a postmodern world—a world in which there is not only equality for all but fairness and compassion in the world—has been given a revolutionary outlook and given a new way of seeing the world.[10]
C.
’
- In contrast to their political and social ideals, communist and socialist ideologies often fail to reflect and understand the full dimension of the revolutionary struggle of the people and the needs of the people.[11]
C.2.2 The Idea of the ‘Evaluating Revolution’
’
Every new social, political, and ecological movement must consider: How do we achieve it?
One way or another, socialism tends to come to be seen as an attempt to build the future at the top. The revolutionary idea of a revolution as a goal of the working people is always a product of many different approaches at the local level. But as the term expresses itself in political activity, it is also usually associated with the idea of a new sort of revolution.
- First, it should be pointed out that socialist ideology is a fundamentally post-Marxist ideology. It rejects, for instance, what is termed an “economic system based on trade relations with each other”.[12] This approach is not only contradictory, but fails to understand and articulate the full potential that capitalism presents to socialism when it seeks to create a new system of free economic capitalism. The economic system aspires
The most obvious is his choice to illustrate his point through a very real and personal experience of his own. By doing so, it rendered an almost real and more tangible world for the audience to interact with. Orwell, being an Englishmen, was in a position to see both sides of imperialism’s harms to society, and present both to his audience. He told how both abused the other either physically or verbally, and how they ran each other’s actions. While it is possible to explain this by other means, the direct experience with it testified much stronger.
In addition, this form of writing allowed Orwell’s voice to come more clearly to the reader. He was able to directly express his thoughts and views at the time. Weather they were a loathing toward his position in life or that, “…the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priests’ guts.” This involves the reader more into the mindset and dilemma of Orwell’s world. This split of his mind on both his government, and the people forced upon him by his government.
By using a personal narrative, it opened the door to the use of a stream of consciousness style of story telling. He told the story as it happened to him, thus enabling the reader to relive this moment exactly as he did. The evolution of his thoughts from when he asked for the rifle and his epiphany could be clearly traced back. That he could tell from the begging he was going to kill the elephant but he did not know why until the end. The reader could follow this process step, by step, making the moment of climax much clearer and easier to understand. This presentation of ideas as the formed caused the impact on the reader to be much greater than he could of any other way.
Another noticeable pattern was his use of repetition, either ideas or specific phrases. Throughout much of the latter half of the text, Orwell stated his unwillingness to shoot the beast.
- First, it should be pointed out that socialist ideology is a fundamentally post-Marxist ideology. It rejects, for instance, what is termed an “economic system based on trade relations with each other”.[12] This approach is not only contradictory, but fails to understand and articulate the full potential that capitalism presents to socialism when it seeks to create a new system of free economic capitalism. The economic system aspires
- First, it should be pointed out that socialist ideology is a fundamentally post-Marxist ideology. It rejects, for instance, what is termed an “economic system based on trade relations with each other”.[12] This approach is not only contradictory, but fails to understand and articulate the full potential that capitalism presents to socialism when it seeks to create a new system of free economic capitalism. The economic system aspires