Moral Issues and Decisions in George Orwells Shooting an...

Moral Issues and Decisions in Shooting an Elephant Throughout Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, he addresses his internal battle with the issues of morality and immorality. He writes of several situations that show his immoral doings. When George Orwell signed up for a five-year position as a British officer in Burma he was unaware of the moral struggle that he was going to face. Likewise, he has an internal clash between his moral conscious and his immoral actions. Therefore, Orwell becomes a puppet to the will of the Burmese by abandoning his thoughts of moral righteousness. This conflicts with the moral issue of relying upon others morals, rather than ones own conscience. During Orwells time in India he†¦show more content†¦Orwell next faces the moral dilemma of whether or not to shoot the elephant. At first, it is clear that he does not feel the internal urge to shoot the elephant: It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him (Orwell.525). However, Orwells virtue becomes dwarfed as the Burmeses two thousand wills [press him] forward(524) to kill the elephant. At this point there is an obvious role reversal as the Burmese begin to strongly influence Orwells decisions. Because he constantly dwells on what the crowd will think of him he shoots the elephant. Thus submitting to the will of the people and committing the immoral deed of abandoning ones own conscious because of the pressure of others. The reader sees a glimpse of Orwells moral conscious when he displays his feelings of unrest at his unethical decision. He writes, It seemed dreadful to see the great beast lying there, powerless to move and yet powerless to die(526). The elephant suffers a prolonged, agonizing death because Orwell did not have a hunters knowledge of how to kill the elephant; thus his shot penetrated the elephant in the wrong spot. As a result, the guilt grows and he could not stand it any longer(527) and left the site. Orwell realizes that he committed an atrocity. However he tries to defend his action. It seems that Orwell is trying to make himself feel better by justifying his wrongdoing. HeShow MoreRelatedEssay about Ethical Decision Making3074 Words   |  13 PagesEthical Decision Making We do not quite say that the new is more valuable because it fits in; but its fitting in is a test of its value--a test, it is true, which can only be slowly and cautiously applied, for we are none of us infallible judges of conformity., the famous poet T. S. Elliot once said. Ethics and conformity go hand in hand; it is hard to talk about one subject without involving the other. The past two weeks of this humanities course has been centered around the relationship

Rape And The Connection Of Feminist Criminology And...

The term rape is defined as an ‘unlawful sexual intercourse by force, and without legal or factual consent’ by Gennaro Vito, Jeffrey Maahs and Ronald Holmes (2006) in ‘Criminology: Theory, Research and Policy’ (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006: p. 280). Rape can be in the form of the penis penetrating the vagina, oral, anal and an assault using a foreign object. However, there have been many controversies of what is rape and the use of force that is required. Several researchers, practitioners, legal jurisdiction, as well as, a few rape statutes involving coercive rape rely on the use of force as part of evidence in their definition (Vito, Maahs, and Holmes, 2006: p. 280). Rape can occur both in men and women, however, most accounts of rape indicate that majority of men are perpetrators and women are the victims. This essay will discuss the gender differences of rape victims and the connection of feminist criminology and labelling theory, and stigmatisation; as followed with case studies that are relevant with both theories. Feminist criminologists states that rape is wrong, and sometimes it is ignored, legitimised and mischaracterised. Furthermore, feminist criminologists believe that there is difference in how the crime of rape is best acknowledgeable and how rape can be prevented both legally and socially (Whisnant, 2013). Feminist criminologists suggest that there are two approaches of rape per the liberal and radical feminists. Liberal feminist’s perspectives in regardsShow MoreRelatedLimitations of theories of sociology of deviance2475 Words   |  10 PagesTheories of Deviance are limited in their ability to explain deviant acts if one adopts the view that these theories are universal. There is no universal, right or wrong theory, rather each theory provides a different perspective which only fully makes sense when set within an appropriate societal context and values framework . The functionalist theories share a common structural explanation of causes of deviance . They assume that conformity in society is achieved through the existence of norms

In Search of the Real Bill Gates Essay Example For Students

In Search of the Real Bill Gates Essay Bill Gates, the wealthiest man in North America. Readers Digest did a well brought out biography the most well know man in the business today, but doesnt go into his role in Microsoft itself, but rather in his home life and how he got so smart at what he does. Everything between him as a child dreaming of the perfect computer system (and making his own) to his early stages to making Microsoft, including his family lift, his marriage to his wife and having his first child, Jennifer. His life started out quite the same as every other kids life started out until the age of about when he became less aware of his parents needs as a family. Gates spent most of his time in the basement where he did most of his thinking, fights would often arise due to the fact that Gates would not do anything around the house. Bill had reached grade ten, already fully knowledgeable about the computer industry as it was. Bill Gates was still fighting with his mother until a councilor told them it was useless to reason with him. This continued until Gates graduated from high school and went to university for a degree of business and computer science. The article also goes on to explain when Bill Gates planes to retire his position at Microsoft, which is in ten or so years and to switch back to a family life. His wife was a lot like his mother, he says the person you fight with is the one who is most like you, smart and independent as he describes her. There seems to be a lot of web sites today on the Internet that try to make Bill Gates seem like a bad person. Trying to undermine other companies like Netscape, Sun Microsystems and Apple computer, he says there is a lot of internet hate sites out there that have my name on it, it doesnt affect him in any way or his cutthroat instincts. But like other things, moves by other companies like Netscape or Sun Microsystems keep him awake at night and keep him on his toes. The article was well written, although television programs like AE Biography probably did a show on him. But where as the other people in the world wanted to know just a bit more about the infamous Bill Gates, this article will provide more than enough information about the richest man on this continent. May even the world. Even now, Bill Gates is already giving away a fair amount of his money to a charity fund somewhere. He has paid or given money for new universities and other learning facilities, by the time he dies; Bill Gates will have donated at least 95% of his funds to organizations around the world and still going. But right now, Bill Gates is more concerned with his daughter Jennifer and planes to run Microsoft as long as he has to, contently making sure that no one is trying to debunk him from his work. After all he is only holding it up for another ten years before he calls it a night.