To what extent is the reflection of colonialism in “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe and “A Passage to India” by E.M. Forster parallel to the concept of colonialism in George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant
This extended essay aims to investigate the colonial community given in George Orwell’s
“Shooting an Elephant” and to compare this concept with the two other views from Chinua
Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” and E.M. Forster’s “A Passage to India”. The investigation in
this essay begins with the scrutiny of Orwell’s piece and the narrator’s place in the
community he is telling about. Through the delineations of the happenings and the reactions
of the people in “Shooting an Elephant” are examined along with the symbols used by Orwell
to describe the whole process of colonialism, which can also be seen by considering the title:
The elephant and the gun imageries given with Orwell’s perspective. From one aspect the
protagonist of the essay, Orwell himself, tells about his dilemma in Burma, and the pressure
he feels he is under, exerted by the natives. Although he wants independence for all, he also
hates the natives for the harsh situation they put him in. He realizes that colonialism affected
both sides: Oppressed and oppressor. From another aspect, the elephant and the gun can be
seen as symbols of East and West, as a miniature process of colonialism.
In the other two texts by Achebe and Forster, the issues Orwell mentions in his essay are also
examined through both native and British characters Although these two pieces( Achebe’s
and Forster’s) take place in different countries and are about different processes, both
Okonkwo’s and Aziz’s lives have common problems with Orwell of “Shooting an Elephant”.
But what are those common issues? In what ways exactly these three pieces similar and
different? To what extent are these two pieces are parallel in societal aspect to Orwell’s
essay
