Blog Post #2

“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell and “A Rose for Emily” by William Faulkner present stories that revolve around power dynamics. In “Shooting an Elephant”, the power is in the hands of the British Colonialists and the story is set in Colonial Burma in the mid-1930s. “A Rose for Emily” is set in Mississippi in the late 18^th century and early 19^th century; a time known for extreme racial discrimination towards African Americans. The two texts convey the unfair treatments of two groups of people (African Americans and the Burmese), in two different settings.

To understand the power dynamic in “Shooting an Elephant”, the text can be looked at through a Colonial criticism. Orwell, presents a first-person narrative of an Englishman who is working for the Indian police in Burma. Right from the beginning of the story, it is clear that the Burmese have been treated poorly by the British. This can be seen through the animosity they have for “their oppressors, the British.” The Burmese had been through a lot of pain and struggle due to Colonialism. They were being enslaved and governed by foreigners in their own country. Therefore, as the reader, we can understand the anger the Burmese have towards the Colonialists.

In the beginning, Orwell is sympathetic of the Burmese and is upset by their imperialistic ways. However, over the course of the story, we get to know that Orwell is the same as every other British imperialist. “For at the time I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing.” He says he does not approve of colonialism but is working as a police officer in Burma, which is an oppressive role, which, in turn is perpetuating imperialism. In addition to this, Orwell is called in to to deal with “an elephant [that] was ravaging [a] bazaar.”  Orwell first goes to grab his gun. This is symbolic of oppression because a gun gives the person on the trigger the power over whatever they are aiming at. By grabbing the gun Orwell is showing himself as an oppressor. By shooting the elephant with the gun, Orwell is showing the Burmese the power and control he has. In return he gets authority from the Burmese, who were previously abusing him and the other British people.

Similarly, “A Rose for Emily” presents a different power dynamic; that of the African Americans being the oppressed. We first see this through the diction that Faulkner uses. Faulkner makes use of the derogatory term “negro”, a plethora of times. By using this word, the African American community in the story are faced with an inferiority complex; they are reduced to sub-human. One of many quotes that exemplifies this, is when Faulkner writes “The Negro opened the blinds of one window.” Normally when talking about a person doing such an action, a writer would say “the man/woman opened the blinds of one window” or if describing them, they would say “the tall man” for example. This shows the deep-seated racism that existed in the post-civil war southern society. We also get to see the prejudice that African Americans faced in the South. “no Negro woman should appear on the streets without an apron-remitted her taxes, the dispensation dating from the death of her father on into perpetuity.” We get to see the discrimination they faced here because wherever they went the Southern Whites didn’t want them to fit in with society so they were made to seem poor. This was done by making them wear aprons, a piece of clothing normally worn by house helps and people of low class. In addition to this, the fact that they were forced to wear certain outfits shows the unfair treatment they received and the authority that the Southern whites people had over them.

The two stories are successful in representing the unfair treatment of the Burmese and African Americans. Using symbolism and diction, Orwell and Faulkner present pieces of work that give us a glimpse of race relations and power dynamics that existed in 1930s Colonial Burma and Post Civil War Mississippi.