Copy of “Shooting an Elephant” Rhetorical Analysis .docx

“Shooting an Elephant” Rhetorical Analysis Period 2 2017
Paragraph Device/Strategy Intended Effect on Audience
1. Anabel
Imagery:
“The sneering yellow
faces of young men, the
insults hooted after me
when I was at a safe
distance, got badly on
my nerves.”
“When a nimble
Burman tripped me up
on the football field and
the referee looked, the
crowd yelled with
hideous laughter.”
This rhetorical device conveys a depressing
mood in order for the reader to understand how
he feels in response to the people of Burma
hating him for being a police officer. This sets
the scene for the rest of the narrative
foreshadowing that the elephant will be a
symbol for the oppression of the Burman
people.
2: Ananya 1.Simile: “With one
part of my mind I
thought of the British
Raj as an unbreakable
tyranny, as something
clamped down, in
saecula saeculorum
upon the will of the
prostrate peoples…”
2. Imagery:“The
wretched prisoners
huddling in the stinking
cages of the lock-ups,
the grey, cowed faces
of the long-term
convict, the scarred
buttocks of the men
who had been flogged
with bamboos...
1. By comparing the British Raj to an
unbreakable tyranny, the author intends for
the reader to understand that the British
empire is very oppressive on its people and to
convey that he despises imperialism.
2. This use of imagery creates a visual to give
the reader insight into the
3: Gaby Hyperbole: “the sub-
inspector at a police
station at the other
end of the town rang
me up on the phone
and said that an
Throughout the paragraph, the author talks
about the elephant and what is occurring. He
tells the reader that this is what the sub-
inspector called him for and his reaction to it
shows that he believes the people are
exaggerating the elephant’s doings, and it gives

elephant was
ravaging the
bazaar… I took my
rifle...much too small
to kill an elephant,
but i thought the
noise might be useful
in terrorem .”
the reader insight on how the people were
scared and exaggerating the situation.
4. Carlos
Machado
Charles
Eaton
Imagery and Allusion:
“He was lying on his
belly with arms
crucified and head
sharply twisted to
one side… Most of
the corpses I’ve seen
look devilish.”
Imagery “I remember
that it was a cloudy,
stuffy morning at the
beginning of the
rains.”
This use of imagery has a gruesome effect on
the audience, and it is used as a way to
intensify the savageness of the elephant almost
as if to justify the events that are to come.The
allusions have a contradictory effect for they
first describes the body as being crucified giving
it holy properties,but then describes it as
devilish which strips it of that positive quality.