To Shoot, or Not to Shoot: A Study of Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"

Process

Read THE STORY: http://orwell.ru/library/articles/elephant/english/e_eleph

Pick a point of view: When choosing which character to research, make sure you fully understand the story that Orwell wrote. The struggle of the protagonist (The soldier), is one of duty vs. humanity. The plight of each character is varies because of the extreme difference of circumstances. Make sure that you read the story carefully so that you have a good idea of the situation you are about to immerse yourself in.

Once you have selected a character from the story, research from that point of view with the links provided: I am looking for each student to use the platform Orwell provides and then use the research to build off of that to supplement your own revision of the original ending. You are more than welcome to use cites other than those I have provided; however, I ask that you first use the links and then build off of that if you need more info. Cite your sources as usual.

Get together with your group and create your alternate ending: Based off of your research, you will first share your findings with the group. Once the group is on the same page, together you will come up with a believable alternate ending. Make sure it is realistic based off of your research, because you will need to present it to the class.

Each person in the group will fulfill the necessary research for his or her P.O.V. and create at least 4 PowerPoint slides demonstrating knowledge of the chosen perspective and how it contributed to the group's alternate ending (or not). 

After your group presents, you will grade your fellow group members with the group evaluation sheet. If a group member was not participating, was not pulling their weight, just generally slacking off, then now is the time to grade them. You will not be docked due to a lame group member, however, if your group does poorly and you all grade each other with A’s, then I will take that as the whole group slacking off and grade accordingly.

Here are some resources for each character:

Town's People Resources: javascript:nicTemp()

How did British imperialist soldiers treat the Burmese people? What happened to Burmese customs? How did the Burmese people react to imperialism? 

http://www.cfob.org/HistoryofBurma/historyOfBurma.shtml

Soldier Resources: javascript:nicTemp();

You might consider that George Orwell was a British Officer in Burma. 

Research biographical information about the life of George Orwell to provide more context to the essay we read. 

Explore the following biographical sites about George Orwell, then answer the questions below:

The Literature Network: George Orwell Biography http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/

George Orwell Biography http://www.k-1.com/Orwell/site/about/biography.html

Biography of Orwell http://www.george-orwell.org/l_biography.html

NPR: Exploring Burma Through George Orwell http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4761169

Use the information you found to create at least 4 PowerPoint slides presenting important biographical information on George Orwell. Make sure to include:

• A timeline of Orwell's life.

• Images of Orwell.

• Important and interesting biographical information. 

• Information that answers the questions above. 

British Government Resources: javascript:nicTemp();

It was once said that the sun never set on the British Empire, whose territory touched every continent on earth. English imperialism evolved through several phases, including the early colonization of North America, to its involvement in South Asia, the colonization of Australia and New Zealand, its role in the nineteenth century scramble for Africa, involvement with politics in the Middle East, and its expansion into Southeast Asia. At the height of its power in the early twentieth century the British Empire had control over nearly two-fifths of the world's land mass and governed an empire of between 300 and 400 million people. It is the addition of the Southeast Asian countries today known as Burma (Myanmar), Malaysia and Singapore that set the stage for Orwell's vignette from the life of a colonial official.

Your task is to research the historical events that were occurring in Burma during the early 19th century, when Orwell was stationed as a British colonial officer in Burma. 

Use these sites to gather information about the history of the British Empire:

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/

https://www.britannica.com/place/British-Empire

http://www.britishempire.co.uk/timeline/19century.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:British_Empire_1897.jpg

Elephant Owner Resources: javascript:nicTemp();

Elephant Resources: javascript:nicTemp();