George Orwell

George Orwell’s essays, “In a Hanging”, “Why I Write”, “Shooting an Elephant” are harmonious together because they bring out the inner conflict that he faces. As Orwell narrates a story he faces the struggle between simply narrating a story and adding his opinions about the plot while narrating it. He faces difficulty in stepping out of the characters shoes to not influence the characters thinking by his own opinions. The sorrows and real life agony conflicted by the duties or social obligation that Orwell has to follow make his writings strong as the readers are able to relate to his struggle. His writing is philosophical for the reader; every word he writes seems to be a meaningful advice.

George Orwell's essay 'Shooting an Elephant' gives a remarkable insight into the human psyche. The essay presents a powerful theme of inner conflict. Orwell feels a strong inner conflict between what he believes as a human being, and what he believes and should do as an imperial police officer. The author is amazingly effective in illustrating this conflict by providing specific examples of contradictory feelings, by providing an anecdote that exemplified his feelings about his situation, and by using vivid imagery to describe his circumstances. The internal conflict that Orwell faces in the essay is that he embodies a job that he hates. His internal conflict is present in the fact that he hates what he does and what it represents:

“All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.”

Orwell details his internal conflict as one in which he wishes the Empire to fail just as much, if not more, than the Burmese. Yet, he needs a job and this is the job he has. For Orwell, it is a self-hating internal conflict that requires him to don a uniform that embodies the very worst for him. His internal conflict is rooted in doing something he hates, but knowing that at this...