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Definition of Tone
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical, and so on. For instance... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical or mournful, praising or critical... read full definition
The tone of a piece of writing is its general character or attitude, which might be cheerful or depressive, sarcastic or sincere, comical... read full definition
Tone
Explanation and Analysis:
The tone of “Shooting an Elephant” is primarily bitter and resentful, with moments of melancholy and regret. Orwell, as both narrator and protagonist, spends most of the story begrudging the local Burmese population for making fun of him and thereby making it hard for him to perform his role as a British colonial police officer. Orwell not only resents the local population but resents the British Empire, with whom he is not ideologically aligned.
Orwell’s bitter and angry tone comes across in the following passage, as he reflects on being “stuck” between these warring impulses within himself:
I was young and ill-educated and I had had to think out my problems in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East. I did not even know that the British Empire is dying, still less did I know that it is a great deal better than the younger empires that are going to supplant it. All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.
Here Orwell resentfully notes how he can’t voice his concerns given “the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East,” likely a reference to the ways in which the British Empire sought to control its officers abroad, forcing them to do what they were told without asking questions. Orwell’s bitter tone also comes across in his reference to feeling “stuck” between his “hatred of the empire [he] served” and his “rage against the evil-spirited little beasts”—a reference to the native Burmese population—“who tried to make [his] job impossible” as a form of resistance against British colonial rule.
Despite all of the anger that comes across in Orwell’s tone here, there are other moments in the story in which his tone softens, particularly as he is reckoning with his decision to shoot and kill a rampaging elephant. In this scene, Orwell's tone becomes more melancholic and regretful about killing a creature who just wanted to be free from constraint, much the same way the colonized Burmese people seek to be free through their various forms of resistance.
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