How Does Orwell Convey His Thoughts and Feelings to the Reader Essay

George Orwell conveys his thoughts and feelings to the reader in many numbers of ways. One way in which he does this, is with his use of language in the third paragraph. Although the third paragraph is very short, it is clear to see what George Orwell’s feelings are about the Elephant. ‘It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him’ shows the reader that Orwell did not want to shoot the Elephant as he would feel like he had murdered someone. From this evidence, we can deduce that Orwell believes that Elephants have human characteristics otherwise; he would not say that killing an Elephant was ‘murder. Also in the third paragraph, when George Orwell uses the word ‘grandmotherly’ to describe the ‘air that elephants have. ’ The reader is able to see that Orwell believes that the Elephant contains human characteristics. He would not being using a word like ‘grandmotherly’ to describe an Elephant as it is a word associated with humans. Another way in which Orwell conveys his thoughts and feelings to the reader is by his mention of the ‘immense’ crowd. Throughout the passage, Orwell is always making a point about the crowd which has gathered to watch him kill the Elephant. When Orwell is saying things such as ‘the immense crowd’ and ‘the will of the faces behind me’ it shows the reader that Orwell feels like without the crowd, he would be unable to shoot the poor defenceless giant. It is also clear to see that Orwell is put under intense pressure by the masses that are willing him on to kill the Elephant. When Orwell says ‘The crowd grew very still†¦happy sigh, as of people who see the theatre curtain go up at last’ shows to the reader that Orwell killing the Elephant is like a show for the thousands of Burmese people watching him. This creates pressure on Orwell as he is playing the role of a lone actor. It is as if he is the star of a one man show. As he is the only way ‘acting’ he is the only one under pressure from the large crowds, which have gathered with anticipation to see him perform. The performance is Orwell shooting the Elephant. The final way in which Orwell conveys his feelings and thoughts to the reader is the tone Orwell’s narrative adopts. The tone adopted by the narrative is friendly, revealing yet informal. This approach helps to draw the reader in to the passage. A revealing tone is created by Orwell throughout the passage as he is always revealing that he does not want to shoot the Elephant, but the presence of the crowd is forcing him to do it. Evidence for this is ‘it would be murder to shoot him’ and ‘To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away†¦no that was impossible. ’ Orwell creates a friendly tone in his passage by using words such as ‘laugh’ and ‘happy. ’ Although these words may be out of context, they still show the reader that Orwell is attempting to make as much of a friendly atmosphere for the reader as possible. The final tone Orwell creates is an informal one. This is clear to see throughout the passage as Orwell is always using an informal tone. The informal tone shows to the reader that Orwell believes (thinks) that the passage does not need to be formal as the topic which he is discussing is an informal topic. To conclude, George Orwell conveys his thoughts and feelings to the reader in three different ways. These three ways, are equally revealing as they all convey Orwell’s many different thoughts and feelings to the reader.