Save Face or Do What's Right?

Eng. 12 Essay #3 Revision

Save Face Or Do What's Right?

In the essay "Shooting an elephant" George Orwell describes an incident he had while working as an Imperial Police officer in Burma. An elephant had gone out of control and was loose in a town. He was forced to make a decision on whether to follow the will of the local people, or to save the elephant's life.

Orwell knew it was wrong to kill the elephant. He had not wanted to from the beginning. He had brought a gun just in case he might need it. When he finally came to the elephant, who was peacefully eating outside of the town it no longer posed a threat. But, a large group of people had formed behind him, and they were now expecting him to kill the elephant, giving them a show and some food. The people who had abused him the entire time he had been in Burma now found him worth some interest. If he didn't kill the elephant, he would be disappointing all of the people. He considered it his job at that point to impress the people. So he killed the elephant for the people, hoping to gain respect from them.

In my personal experience, I was once faced with a situation like Orwells. I was put in a situation where I had the choice of saving face or doing what was right, unlike Orwell I chose to do what was right. This passed week it happened, A couple of friends were going to Philadelphia to go to a overnight club. They were going to stay there for three days, which meant I would have missed three days of school and work. My friends were pressuring me to go, fortunately for me I don't care what people say or think about me. They called me names. They said I was chicken, nothing serious, but it hurts when your own friends call you names.

When they were leaving they called me one last time. They kept pressuring me to go. Like In "Shooting an elephant" where Orwell has people behind him wanting him to shoot the elephant, that was how I felt. I had people telling me to do something that I knew was wrong. The difference was Orwell didn't know the people pressuring him, the people pressuring me were my friends. Orwell shot the elephant to try and gain respect, which he never did, but I didn't