Supporting and Opposing the Empire. Analysis of "A Pipe of Mystery" by G. A. Henty and "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell

Book excerpt: Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, LMU Munich (Englische Philologie), course: Postcolonial Theory and Fiction, language: English, abstract: This work is written in American English, reflecting in grammar, vocabulary, orthography and style. It will deal with one short story "A Pipe of Mystery" by George Alfred Henty and the essay "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell. Its aims are the following: finding the texts’ elements in support of colonial rule and those that oppose it; drawing up an analysis of these elements; and evaluating each author’s position on imperialism. The text below will be divided into three parts, the first two being the analysis of each short story, and the third containing a summary of both analyses and a comparison. Each analysis will begin with a brief synopsis of the plot, some information about the author, and a short historical abstract. The actual analysis will follow. Henty’s text was published as part of the five-story collection Tales of Daring and Danger, published around 1890. Orwell’s essay was published in a collection with the title Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays. While actually fitting the genre, the essay is not a short story because it does contain strong autobiographic references. One could best describe Shooting an Elephant as a hybridization between a political essay, a short story and an autobiography.