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