The short narrative, Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, talks about Orwell's incident while he was working as a British Imperial. His job often made him act violently to show authority to the villagers that he was on patrol for. His narrative starts out when an elephant went lose and starts making a mayhem in his village.
After reading I Thought to myself two questions: Why did he shoot the elephant?, and what would I have done if that was me in that situation. Orwell shoots the elephant because of social phobia. Social phobia is a fear of being judged, laughed at, or left out, so he/she acts in a certain way to satisfy the social crowd, even though it was not their intention. Orwell feared being laughed at. He knew if he hadn't shot the elephant he would have become a laughing stock in his village. He knew his morals told him not to shoot the elephant. He knew at the moment the elephant was peaceful and the situation could have been taken care of easily. However his fear has taken over him, causing to shoot the elephant.
After reading Orwell's narrative, it made me think about myself as a reader: What would I have done if that was me? I think people in general, in our society nowadays, all have a bit of social phobia or the feeling of wanting to "fit it". If I was in Orwell's shoes I would have shot the elephant. We can see in people nowadays that they would dress differently, talk differently, and even act differently just to fit in to a social group. Whether you like to believe it or not, we all do. I know that if I was in Orwell's shoes I would have shot the elephant to make the crowd happy.
Orwell uses many descriptive language to portray images inside the readers head. He also tells the readers how he felt during that situation. He gave the readers a picture of what he had saw. Comparing himself to a toad under a steam roller, or the stomped Indian man to a skinned rabbit shows the readers how dangerous the elephant was. Later on Orwell describes the elephant as being grandmotherly. This give the readers a picture of a harmless elephant that can't even hurt a fly. He describes his feeling of shooting the elephant to Imperialism. Orwell expressed his hatred towards Imperialism in the beginning of the narrative. The thought of extending a country's power by using military force bothered him. Readers now can tell how Orwell felt about the shooting. Him comparing the shooting to his thought on Imperialism tells us that he was really bothered by shooting the elephant, and even hate it himself for doing it.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Jae Hoon Lee
A light browned Asian teen, 5 foot 5, Short black hair, black eyes, dresses casually, and that's just the beginning of me. Born one evening of November, the doctors had never seen such a huge new born baby. The doctors thought I was already 2 years old when I was born. Since then I grew up in 3 different countries: Japan, Korean, and America. I was a troublesome in all three countries, and all my teachers had my mom's phone number on speed dial. I live in a family of four: me, my mom, dad, and one younger brother. There are times when we yell at each others like dogs in a park, however we get along most of the times and we're one big happy family.
My name Jae Hoon Lee means calm, or something like that in Chinese character, but I am nothing like that. Just imagine a 5 year old boy, who discovered playgrounds for the first time. I may be shy around new people , but once you get enough to know me, I'm like a broken record saying the same thing over and and over not knowing went to stop talking. When I'm with a girl I like or with friends, I smell like the Armani Exchange store, but when I'm lazy and home in bed, I too can smell sometimes like a rear end of a cow's butt. I guess my identity is... I'm a very outgoing person. I can be lazy at times like Monday mornings after a long weekend, but I'm fun to be around to with.
My name Jae Hoon Lee means calm, or something like that in Chinese character, but I am nothing like that. Just imagine a 5 year old boy, who discovered playgrounds for the first time. I may be shy around new people , but once you get enough to know me, I'm like a broken record saying the same thing over and and over not knowing went to stop talking. When I'm with a girl I like or with friends, I smell like the Armani Exchange store, but when I'm lazy and home in bed, I too can smell sometimes like a rear end of a cow's butt. I guess my identity is... I'm a very outgoing person. I can be lazy at times like Monday mornings after a long weekend, but I'm fun to be around to with.
Sunday, September 15, 2013
September 16th Homework
Option #1
There are many things that can be added to a narrative to make it an interesting one, and a well written one as well. To make a narrative first off, one must have an event. This event can be major or small, but must tell a story about one's life. The author of the narrative should include consistent POV, dialogue, transitions, and also correct verb tenses to write a well written narrative. The author should also should include many details of the event, so the reader can smell, hear, see, and felt what the author experienced at that moment.
I loved the narrative, "Clinic". As a reader I was able to picture, like a movie, of what was going on. I saw the skinny boy in front of my eyes suffering. The use of the author's language made the story flow, and interesting through out the end. As a writer I can see that he uses many techniques such as including dialogues, using correct verb tense, consisting use of the same POV, and using transition words to make the narrative flow. I liked how the story kept me interested through the end, and made me want to find out what was wrong with the boy. I think I felt even more sad for the boy because I too had a friend that was abused by her stepfather, and was able to relate how the boy felt.
I would say this story is the medical student's story. The story, written in first person view, is talking about an incident that changed the medical student's perspective when looking at his patients. The boy the medical student encounters changes him. The medical student student states in the end that what he encountered in that 5 days thought him more than what he has learned in medical schools. Even though the boy was important in the narrative, I think it did not have enough back story on the boy to call it his story as well.
Gremmel's purpose in writing this narrative was to share what he had learned when he encountered the boy. Gremmel even states in his own story towards the end that he had learned so much through this boy. Gremmel also ends his last sentence stating his main point of the narrative by saying he has learned more from this boy than all the years of school that he has gone to. Gremmel also wrote this story as a medical detective story. The reason Gremmel did this was to keep a suspense while the readers are reading. The suspense makes the readers are help captive throughout the story, thinking and questioning till the end what is wrong with the boy. It keeps the readers occupied, the reader is always entertained. Overall Gremmel wrote this as a medical detective story, for flow, and suspense, so that the readers do no get bored.
There are many things that can be added to a narrative to make it an interesting one, and a well written one as well. To make a narrative first off, one must have an event. This event can be major or small, but must tell a story about one's life. The author of the narrative should include consistent POV, dialogue, transitions, and also correct verb tenses to write a well written narrative. The author should also should include many details of the event, so the reader can smell, hear, see, and felt what the author experienced at that moment.
I loved the narrative, "Clinic". As a reader I was able to picture, like a movie, of what was going on. I saw the skinny boy in front of my eyes suffering. The use of the author's language made the story flow, and interesting through out the end. As a writer I can see that he uses many techniques such as including dialogues, using correct verb tense, consisting use of the same POV, and using transition words to make the narrative flow. I liked how the story kept me interested through the end, and made me want to find out what was wrong with the boy. I think I felt even more sad for the boy because I too had a friend that was abused by her stepfather, and was able to relate how the boy felt.
I would say this story is the medical student's story. The story, written in first person view, is talking about an incident that changed the medical student's perspective when looking at his patients. The boy the medical student encounters changes him. The medical student student states in the end that what he encountered in that 5 days thought him more than what he has learned in medical schools. Even though the boy was important in the narrative, I think it did not have enough back story on the boy to call it his story as well.
Gremmel's purpose in writing this narrative was to share what he had learned when he encountered the boy. Gremmel even states in his own story towards the end that he had learned so much through this boy. Gremmel also ends his last sentence stating his main point of the narrative by saying he has learned more from this boy than all the years of school that he has gone to. Gremmel also wrote this story as a medical detective story. The reason Gremmel did this was to keep a suspense while the readers are reading. The suspense makes the readers are help captive throughout the story, thinking and questioning till the end what is wrong with the boy. It keeps the readers occupied, the reader is always entertained. Overall Gremmel wrote this as a medical detective story, for flow, and suspense, so that the readers do no get bored.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)