Shooting an elephant-George Orwell

     After reading Orwells's essay it seemed quite clear that he was a weak figure in his society because of his background.He was an ordinary english policeman that was liked by almost no one,until an escaped elephant gave him the chance to feel important in some way. Everyone around him was somehow pressuring him to shoot the elephant when he really had no wish to harm it. It almost seemed to me that he was basically a puppet in their hands at that moment because his actions did not reflect what was really on his mind. Of course after shooting the elephant he wanted to rationalize his actions by stating how the elephant killed a man so it could lessen his guilt. The situation that he had to go through made me realize that why he did what he did was quite normal because it's only human to fall under pressure and do what everybody else wants you to. It's easy to quickly be under a large group's control because you would want to please them.  
     George Orwell wrote this story in chronological order,event after event and included where it took place,which was India, all the people that he encountered,what happened,and we can assume it happened around the early to mid 1900's. He also added a small piece of dialogue where someone was screaming and warning the children to go away. This showed that he probably wanted to add the reactions or a personal encounter of someone who witnessed the elephant,bringing us back to that exact moment. He also had a plot, conflict,and climax. Orwell also incorporated figurative language into his essay. For example, he uses a simile when he says how the elephant stripped off the dead man's skin from his back "as neatly as one skins a rabbit," and also after he shot the elephant he said how the blood "welled out of him like red velvet." He was also very descriptive and included very specific details, like when he described the dark Indian coolie laying dead on his belly after the elephant cruelly killed him. 
     According to google, imperialism is the policy of extending a country's power and influence through diplomacy and military force. George Orwell uses the incident of the shooting of the elephant to illustrate his feelings of imperialism because he completely resented the whole idea of it. George Orwell hated imperialism but he was forced to stay under it, just like like he hated the idea of shooting the elephant, but was forced to shoot it because he was under the pressure of all the people around him. Also kinda like how imperialism gains power by using force, in a way Orwell also had some sort of power when he used his rifle to shoot the elephant. He took complete control and had all the power to do whatever he wished to with the elephant.

Extra credit assignment regarding Syria

     I'm pretty sure most of the world hasn't heard about Syria until recently this year. It's been on the news, it's on the morning newspapers, it's online, it's pretty much everywhere we  go. We know that there was a chemical massacre that occurred in Syria and the suspects are believed to be part of Asad's regime. The chemical massacre killed mostly young children and several adults. Children or adults, they were still innocent  civilians stuck in a situation they couldn't have avoided. Now recently, President Obama came out and declared in his speech that he wants to attack Syria by launching drones or missiles to warn Syria to never use chemical weapons. But the question is why get involved into another country's affairs when it has nothing to do with us? I understand that Obama wants to help Syria and wants to send a message to other powerful dictators to never use chemical weapons, but is this really the right way?
     Most Americans seem to be against Obama's decision including myself. I feel that if the U.S attacks Syria, then Syria may want to attack us back, which is inviting trouble for us basically. America has been in enough wars and attacking Syria may cause another. Syrian's are dying everyday and attacking them can prove to be even more fatal for them. We should let Syria solve their issues on their own because I'm pretty sure that us attacking them may anger Asad even more. I hope Obama realizes that 'fighting fire with fire ' is not the way to handle an issue. Perhaps instead of attacking Syria, we should send some aid by providing food and clothing to the many families now rendered homeless and alone.

A memorable place....

     We walked for about a half a mile from my grandpa's house. Then we stopped. My aunt just stood there while I did the same. I looked up and couldn't believe that stars could shine so bright. The way they sparkled and how scattered they were across the dark night sky. Maybe being away from the city has its perks. We continued to walk until we saw a beautiful lake. I didn't have to listen closely to hear the millions of crickets chirping. There was a beautiful breeze that felt so light as it moved through my body. I watched the lake splash against the rocks as the wind started to pick up. The smell of fresh rain filled the magnificent atmosphere around us. As the temperature started going down it seemed as if it suddenly got quieter. The air was still nice and warm and no longer hot.
     As I continued to take in the beautiful scenery I saw a firefly. Then two,then three until I couldn't count them anymore. I can still remember the huge smile on our faces and how happy we were seeing them. As I got up I realized that I was sitting on wet grass but I didn't matter because I was too caught up in the moment and wanted to catch some fireflies. It surely scared the heck out of my aunt because she was so afraid of bugs and insects yet she couldn't take her eyes away from the fireflies and their beauty. It was two hours away from midnight. We didn't notice how fast time flew by under the beautiful night sky. How close I was to nature and all that it had to offer was a feeling that nothing could compare. I can't wait to go back to Bangladesh.

Chapter 4 response

     To start off, a good narrative should answer some of our basic questions which consists of who, what, where, when, and why. It should answer them with great details that can allow the reading to come to life, or else it would be a bland piece of writing. A narrative should start off interesting so that it could attract readers. It should also be aware of what audience its trying to attract. The passage "The Clinic" was actually really interesting. Jeff Gremmels started off with a nervous young boy who was his patient which immediately got me thinking that either there's something wrong or the little boy is just scared of going to the doctors. He then continued his narrative by looking for answers for the boys mysterious condition. He kept trying to recall the things he learned so it could help him but it was no use. In the end he came to the realization that not everything can be treated with medicine. Sometimes you need to focus on the person and their emotions, whats really on the inside.
     I really liked how this little boy opened his mind to the other side of life. I also liked the way Gremmels was very descriptive in his writing. He was very detailed and it made the story very easy to picture. I feel as if this story is mainly about the medical student because it's more of what he was going through and all he learned along the way because in the end it was him who came to understand one of the most important things about an individual,their psyche.
      I think that Gremmels purpose for writing this specific experience is because it probably seemed like a life changing moment that involved something completely different than what he was used to. He learned something he had never expected to. I believe this is the reason why he wrote it because in the end he himself said he learned something in 5 days which couldn't compare to all the knowledge he learned during his research or lectures. Gremmels chose a medical detective genre because this narrative was like a detective story where he was looking for clues and answers that could help him diagnose the boy's condition. All his searching led him to a life changing moment.