Monday, October 5, 2009

How is the motif of colors in "Shooting an Elephant" related to the theme? Support this with evidence and examples.

"Shooting an Elephant" shows the cruelties of imperialism, because to maintain power and control over the Burmese, the narrator, an English policeman representing British imperial interests, must shoot an elephant unnecessarily, causing it to suffer, so that he doesn't lose face with the native population. 


Orwell uses color to illustrate the sense of the difference or gulf the narrator feels between himself and the people his government rules, showing the dehumanization British imperialism engenders. From the start, the Burmese are not humans anymore, "but sneering yellow faces." Later, the narrator will look at a "sea of yellow faces--" not distinct humans but the "yellow" Other. Yellow is used two more times in the essay along with the word "faces" to describe a dehumanized mass. 


"White" is used in close proximity to words such as "dominion," "gun" and "tyrant." The  term "white man" is also used as a generic, faceless term, showing that imperialism dehumanizes the ruling class as well as the natives. 

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