"Shooting an Elephant"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the major assumption in George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant" is that the average individual often withholds from exercising his or her free will and falls victim to determinism. The author points out that Orwell emphasizes the general emotions of the Englishman when he writes that the man was hated by a large number of people and was always an obvious target, since he was seen as an oddball. The paper concludes that determinism overtook this Englishman when he let external forces, such as the natives' previous actions towards him, come into play in his ultimate decision.

From the Paper:

"In the book, "Being and Nothingness", Sartre explores issues such as free will and determinism. Sartre argues that in order to make a decision or to choose, nothing other than one's own consciousness can motivate the decision. Sartre goes on to explain that only the consciousness can make predictions about the future, and the consciousness can will an act to achieve some future outcome. In other words our, own consciousness determines in what particular way we will ultimately choose to act in accordance to a personal value scheme we have somewhat constructed of what actions ought to be and ought not to be done. However, the problem arises when we begin to witness that no action is free from outside influences or forces."

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