George Orwell
...come a writer. It was not until 1933 when Eric Arthur Blair became “George Orwell" by which he would become famous. His experiences with poverty gave him the inspiration for his first novel called Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell published his second major work, Burmese Days, a few years later. Following the great luck he was having with his publications, he added another joy to his life, his wife Eileen O’Shaugnessy. In the midst of this excitement of becoming a writer as well as a husband he began to implement the views of a socialist and traveled to Spain to report on their civil war in which he ended up fighting in. His knew knowledge of being a soldier and experiences in Spain was the cause of his book on Spain, Homage to Catalonia, in 1938. It seems Orwell’s good luck streak had run out when the death of his wife occurred in 1945. Although he was stricken with grief, he eventually found the time to meet new people, leading to his second marriage to Sonia Browell. Orwell's second marriage was short-lived however, as he died from tuberculosis in London on January 21, 1950. After studying George Orwell’s background, it is time to introduce my favorite essay written by Orwell- “Shooting an Elephant”. This is because he does a superb job in expressing to the reader his negative feelings towards the Burmese which enables the reader to actually feel sympathy for Orwell and the elephant. In “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell finds himself in a difficult situation involving an elephant. The fate of the elephant lies in his hands which only he has control over. The result to his decision was the elephant lying on the ground, motionless, in a pool of blood. By expressing the pressures and anxieties of being an outsider to the Burmese people Orwell wins the sympathy of his readers while struggling with his morals, and showing a sense of compassion for the dying animal. Readers sympathize with Orwell because they can relate to his emotions in the moments before the shooting. Being the white “leader,” he should have been able to make an independent decision, but wa...