Lesson 6 Shooting an Elephant Continued George Orwell

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Lesson 6 Shooting an Elephant(Continued)(Georg
e Orwell)
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Time allowed

• Time 10 periods
• Arrangement
• Introduction (1 period)
• Text analysis (5 periods)
• Interactive activities ( 1 period)
• Exercises (3 periods)

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Teaching Aims

• 1.Read between the lines and distinguish the
  denotative and connotative meaning of words
• 2. Master the language points hollowness,
  alternative, glee, seemingly, senility, remnant,
  gasp, pretext, as would, and the structure verb
  a complex object (to) do/-ing/-ed/adj./noun
• 3. Understand the effect of rhetorical devices
  symbolism, metaphor, and irony
• 4. Analyse the characters and point of view
• 5. Recite Para. 1 and 4

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Teaching plan

• Duty report
• Pre-study activities
• The essay
• General questions
• Text Analysis
• Comprehension questions
• Language points
• Structures
• Text comprehension and appreciation
• Classroom activities
• Exercises

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Pre-study activities

• Review of the first part of the essay
• What is the second part of the essay about?
• The organization of the essay

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Continued

• Orwell repeatedly states in the essay that he
  does not want to shoot the elephant. In addition,
  by the time that he has found the elephant, the
  animal has become calm and has ceased to be an
  immediate danger. Despite this, Orwell feels
  compelled to execute the creature. Why?

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Para. 1

• Main idea
• Interpret the series of metaphors and their
  meanings
• Paraphrase some key sentences

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Key words

• Hollowness
• Futility
• Puppet
• Perceive
• Dummy
• Impress
• Commit oneself to doing sth
• At/on ones heels

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Text analysis

• 1. With the magical rifle in my hands, the
  unarmed native crowd
• 2. And suddenly I realized that I should have to
  shoot the elephant after all.
• What does after all suggest?
• 3. with the rifle in my hands, first grasped
  the hollowness, the futility of the white man's
  dominion in the East

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Continued

• 4. when the white man turns tyrant it is his own
  freedom that he destroys
• 5. He wears a mask and his face grows to fit it.
• 6. Every white man's life in the East, was one
  long struggle not to be laughed at.

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Metaphors in Para. 1

• Examine this series of metaphors individually as
  well as collectively
• How does Orwell use metaphors in order to
  describe a people and a situation geographically
  and culturally unfamiliar understandable to his
  readers?

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Metaphors used in Para. 1

• seemingly the leading actor
• an absurd puppet
• he wears a mask
• a conjurer about to perform a trick, as well as
  comparing the colonial official to a "posing
  dummy"

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Para. 2

• Main idea
• Key words preoccupied, squeamish, take no notice
  of, charge

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Para. 3

• Main idea
• Key words trample on, reduced to alternative
  shove magazine

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Questions for Para. 3

• 1. Why did the narrator waver between shooting
  the elephant and leaving it alone?
• 2. What induced him to decide on shooting the
  elephant at last?

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preoccupied

• Give the similar expressions for preoccupied
• engrossed (in) absorbed (in) concentrating
  (on)

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Para. 4

• Main idea
• Key words cross-hair sights
• Metaphor

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Question

• How should an elephant be shot and what mistake
  did the narrator make in shooting the elephant?

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Metaphor

• The crowd grew very still, as of people who see
  the theatre curtain go up at last,
• Each of these metaphors (including those in Para.
  1)has a theatrical basis. What is the theater
  in which this scene is being played? What is
  the play?

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Paragraphs 5-7

• Main idea
• Key words glee sag flabbily slobber
  senility jolt remnant topple trumpet rattle
  mound cavern well

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Questions for Paragraphs 5-7

• 1. How did the narrator kill the elephant?
• 2. I got up. To interpret this short simple
  sentence. How did the narrator feel at the time?
• 3. Why did the narrator send for his own rifle?

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continued

• 4. What details in the whole essay impress you
  most? Why does Orwell devote so much attention to
  the death of the elephant? What do you feel and
  think as you read this section?
• 5. What glimpses of the real nature of
  imperialism do you gain from the shooting of the
  elephant scene?

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remnant

• remnant of the feast
• Syn. remainings leftovers leavings

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Para. 8

• Main idea
• Key words furious divided pretext

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Questions for Para.8

• What is Orwells attitude behind the phrases he
  was only an Indian and I was very glad?
• Illustrate the last sentence from your own
  experience. Have you ever acted against your
  better judgment because you feared what other
  people might think of you? Describe how you acted
  to avoid looking like a fool.
• Comment on the discussions in the last paragraph
  about the shooting of the elephant.

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Language points

• divide divided (adj.)
• The issue of education policy divided the party.
• Wilson found himself leading a weak, divided
  party.
• deeply/sharply/bitterly/hopelessly divided
• Opinion on Iraq was deeply divided.

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pretext

• pretext (of, for) a reason for an action excuse
• on/under the pretext of doing sth
• a pretext to do sth
• He came to the house under/on the pretext of
  seeing Jack, but he really want to see Jacks
  daughter.

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Group discussions

• Does Orwell develop his thesis and his essay
  inductively or deductively? Why do
• you think so?
• Your opinion of living up to the expectations of
  others

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Classroom activities

• 1. If you were in Orwells position, how would
  you feel and what would you do?
• 2. Is it a completely anti-imperialist essay?
• 3. What might the elephant's slow death
  symbolize?
• 4. How do you like Orwells style?
• 5. When you get along with the white people, can
  you sense a tinge of white mans superiority?

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Appreciation of the essay

• 1. plot, atmosphere, tone, and conflict
• 2. characters
• 3. symbolism
• 4. irony
• 5. point of view / perspective
• 6. denotation and connotation
• 7. the language
• 8. realistic significance

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Plot, ...

• 1. Plot, atmosphere, tone, and conflict revolve
  around Orwells theme. This helps build suspense
  and express the ideas clearly.
• 2. This incident taught him more than he
  expected. The plot contributes to the attack on
  imperialism because without the anecdote of the
  shooting the author could not have been very
  convincing as the plot includes the argument for
  his repulsion towards imperialism.

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the two dominant characters, the elephant and its
executioner

• The unjust shooting of an elephant in Orwell's
  story is the central focus from which Orwell
  builds his argument through the two dominant
  characters, the elephant and its executioner. The
  British officer, the executioner, acts as a
  symbol of ____, while the elephant symbolizes
  ____.

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continued

• The importance in the shooting of the elephant
  lies in how the incident depicts the different
  aspects of imperialism. In this essay, the
  elephant and the British officer help prove that
  imperialism is a double-edged sword. The shooting
  of the elephant is the incident revealing that
  imperialism inflicts damage on both parties in an
  imperialistic relationship.

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Symbolism

• Discuss the symbolic meaning of the elephant and
  the executioner. (Open.)

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Irony

• Point out several illustrations of irony in the
  essay.

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Point of view

• Rhetorical strategy point of view/ perspective
  the first person POV and the third person POV
• Point of view also contributes to the total
  effect and support of the attack to imperialism.

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Continued

• How does the use of the first person perspective
  create a sense of sympathy or understanding for
  Orwell's position?
• If "Shooting an Elephant" was written from a
  different perspective- such as in the third
  person, what is gained by this shift in
  perspective? What is lost?

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Denotation and connotation

• Discuss the differences between the denotative
  and connotative meanings.
• Denotative meanings are generally the literal
  meaning of the word, while connotative meanings
  are the "coloring" attached to words beyond their
  literal meaning. For example, the "army of
  people" Orwell refers to in his essay bring to
  mind not only a large group of people, but also a
  military and oppositional force.

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Explain the connotative meaning of the
expressions

• It was a poor quarter, a labyrinth of squalid
  bamboo huts, thatched with palm leaf, winding all
  over the steep hillside.
• They were watching me as they would watch a
  conjurer about to perform a trick. They did not
  like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I
  was momentarily worth watching.
• He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it.

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The language

• 1. Diction the words and phrases that impress
  you with the sound, the sight, and the action
• 2. The description of details

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Realistic significance

• The hidden imperialist policy of some countries
• hegemony
• When the White man turns tyrant it is his own
  freedom that he destroys self-destruction
• We understand metaphorically, how, even in
  modern times, imperialism can be a double-edged
  sword that destroys both the conqueror and the
  conquered.

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Conclusion

• Theme, plot, setting, tone, point of view,
  characterization, irony, symbolism, and the
  language, all these work together to create an
  impact on the reader.

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Exercises

• 1. Write a summary of the essay and comment on
  one of its aspect which gives you the deepest
  impression.
• 2. Finish the exercises attached to the text
  (Checked at class)