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Hyperbole
Definition of Imagery
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After Apple-Picking" contain imagery that engages... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines from Robert Frost's poem "After... read full definition
Imagery, in any sort of writing, refers to descriptive language that engages the human senses. For instance, the following lines... read full definition
Imagery
Explanation and Analysis—The Dying Elephant:
At the climax of the story, Orwell kills a rampaging elephant—shooting it multiple times with two different guns—and then watches it slowly die. He uses a pair of similes and imagery to convey the emotional weight of this moment, as seen in the following passage:
You could see the agony of it jolt his whole body and knock the last remnant of strength from his legs. But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, for as his hind legs collapsed beneath him he seemed to tower upward like a huge rock toppling, his trunk reaching skyward like a tree. He trumpeted, for the first and only time. And then down he came, his belly towards me, with a crash that seemed to shake the ground even where I lay.
The similes here—in which Orwell describes how the elephant “tower[ed] upward like a huge rock toppling” and how his trunk “reach[ed] skyward like a tree”—capture the immensity of the elephant’s size as well as the dramatic nature of the large creature falling to its death. The imagery also adds to the intensity of this moment, with Orwell describing how the elephant “trumpeted, for the first and only time” and how his crash “seemed to shake the ground.” These descriptions help readers to hear and feel the momentous experience alongside Orwell.
All of the figurative language in this passage shifts the story into a more earnest and emotional place. The language Orwell uses here communicates his awe and respect for the elephant (including the fact that he consistently refers to the elephant as “he” rather than “it”) and helps readers understand that he genuinely did not want to kill the creature. The elephant acts a symbol for the Burmese people in this story, and here Orwell reckons with the harm he is needlessly causing elephants and humans alike as an officer within the British colonial regime.
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—The Dirty Work of Empire:
Near the beginning of the story, Orwell uses imagery to capture “the dirty work” of the British Empire (that he, as a colonial police officer, is forced to uphold), as seen in the following passage:
As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had been flogged with bamboos – all these oppressed me with an intolerable sense of guilt.
Orwell uses imagery here to engage readers’ senses, bringing them more closely into the scene. His reference to the “stinking cages of the lock-ups” helps readers to smell the awful odors of British prisons in Burma, and his descriptions of “the grey, cowed faces” and “scarred buttocks” of the prisoners helps readers to picture the horrors of this scene.
It is likely that Orwell uses imagery here to communicate just how cruelly British colonizers treated the native Burmese population, and thereby communicate that, though he is critical of some Burmese people in this story, it is not because he is sympathetic with the British Empire. On the contrary, this story is ultimately one in which Orwell turns a critical eye on himself and the British, looking at how their colonial efforts dehumanize everyone, colonizer and colonized alike.
Related Themes:
