Battle of the Ants and Shooting an Elephant

MCU
#5 李惠芳 Tess Lee
65264 Time: Th 8:20-10:05
2005/10/27

Source of material: http://www.essays.cc/free_essays/c2/ezk204.shtml
Title: Battle of the Ants and Shooting an Elephant

Two items to be compared or contrasted:
1. Battle of the Ants
2. Shooting an Elephant

Point of view: The first person
Verb tense: Present
Tone: circumspect
Diction: connotative
Order of three points of similarity: general to particular


Relationship or class the items share:
1. Imperialistic view
2. The ways they involve in imperialism
3. Metaphor through animals
4. Their feeling about imperialism

Controlling idea: Four + main + similarities

Outline:
1. Have same imperialism views in both of two stories
2. Both of stories use animals to represent imperialism
3. The true feeling of both characters about imperialism
4. The ways they involve in imperialism
5. Conclusion


Introduction
Paragraph 1
Thesis statement:
Imperialistic view in both “The battle of the Ants” by Thoreau and “Shooting an Elephant” by Orwell, imperialism plays a role. Both authors present, to some degree, their perspectives and feelings about imperialism.
Subtopic sentence:
Orwell and Thoreau both present imperialism metaphorically through the use of animals and insects.

Body
Paragraph 2
Topic sentence:
The authors thus deliberate their introspection on imperialism by either being an imperialistic force or by taking part in imperialism.
Supporting details:
Item 1
In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell is taking part in imperialism by proving his power and dignity to the natives.
Item 2
In “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau acts as the imperialist, or emperor, watching over a metaphorical battle between ants in which he never interferes or takes part in.
Concluding sentence:
Thoreau represents imperialism by comparing the “black imperialist “ ants against the “red republican” ants. In “shooting an elephant” the elephant in symbolic of imperialism representing power as an untamed animal that has control over the village.

Paragraph 3
Topic sentence:
In both stories the authors use animals to represent a significant metaphor for imperialism.
Supporting details:
Item 1
In “shooting and elephant” If the narrator lets the elephant go free and unharmed the natives will laugh at him and make him feel inferior for not being able to protect the village.
Item 2
“The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau never expresses his feelings on imperialism, but uses the ants to metaphorically show how imperialism is unfair.
Concluding sentence:
This comparison leads to the understanding that the power behind imperialism is only as strong as its dominant rulers.

Paragraph 4
Topic sentence:
Orwell and Thoreau both use animals to represent imperialism articulating the narrator’s views in which they are either taking part in imperialism, or taking on the part of an imperialist.
Supporting details:
Item 1
In “Shooting an Elephant” the narrator feels forced by the natives to kill the elephant. The natives take on the role of imperialists as they stand in a big crowd behind him waiting for him to shoot the elephant.
Item 2
In “The Battle of the Ants” Imperialists use their people (metaphorically) as their little plastic figures they send out to fight.
Concluding sentence:
The Empires and Queens have control over them but never take part in the actual fighting, like how the natives never took part in shooting of the elephant.

Paragraph 5
Topic sentence:
The narrators speak of how they are so against imperialism
Supporting details:
Item 1
The narrator became the crowd’s puppet being “pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.” (Orwell 1837)
Item 2
Thoreau says: “I never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt for the rest of the day as if I had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage of human battle before my door.” (Thoreau 1747)
Concluding sentence:
Imperialists use their people for battle and have no remorse for them. As Thoreau watches over them fighting he realizes the struggle behind human battle and sees imperialism through the perspective of the ferocity that they endure. Thoreau also comes to realize the extent of the Internecine struggles the imperialist and republicans have.

Conclusion
Paragraph 6
In both perspectives each narrator gets a true feeling of imperialism and its divest affects among the people under imperialistic control.

Summary
“The Battle of the Ants” by Thoreau and “Shooting an Elephant” by Orwell both present imperialism metaphorically through the use of animals and insects.

In “Shooting an Elephant” if the narrator lets the elephant go free and unharmed the natives will laugh at him and make him feel inferior for not being able to protect the village. The narrator became the crowd’s puppet being “pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.”

In “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau never expresses his feelings on imperialism, but uses the ants to metaphorically show how imperialism is unfair. Thoreau says: “I never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt for the rest of the day as if I had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage of human battle before my door.”

In both perspectives each narrator gets a true feeling of imperialism and its divest affects among the people under imperialistic control.




Title: Battle of the Ants and Shooting an Elephant

Imperialistic View In both “The Battle of the Ants” by Thoreau and “Shooting an Elephant” by Orwell, imperialism plays a role. Both authors present, to some degree, their perspectives and feelings about imperialism. Orwell and Thoreau both present imperialism metaphorically through the use of animals and insects.

The authors thus deliberate their introspection on imperialism by either being an imperialistic force or by taking part in imperialism. In “The Battle of the Ants” by Thoreau and “Shooting an Elephant” by Orwell, both authors use metaphors to represent their perspectives on imperialism. In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell is taking part in imperialism by proving his power and dignity to the natives. In “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau acts as the imperialist, or emperor, watching over a metaphorical battle between ants in which he never interferes or takes part in. Thoreau represents imperialism by comparing the “black imperialist “ ants against the “red republican” ants. In “shooting an elephant” the elephant in symbolic of imperialism representing power as an untamed animal that has control over the village.

In both stories the authors use animals to represent a significant metaphor for imperialism. Orwell uses a large and very powerful animal to represent imperialism, while Thoreau uses a small yet strong animal. This comparison leads to the understanding that the power behind imperialism is only as strong as its dominant rulers. In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell represents the elephant as a force greater than the narrator has the ability to kill. It takes the narrator several shots to kill him, and a prolonged period of time for him to die. The elephants controlling force over the narrator is compared to that of an imperialist. Orwell is faced with a very important decision of whether or not he should shoot the elephant. If he does so, he will be a hero to his people. In turn, he would be giving in to the imperial force behind the elephant that he finds so unjust and evil. If the narrator lets the elephant go free and unharmed the natives will laugh at him and make him feel inferior for not being able to protect the village. In “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau never expresses his feelings on imperialism, but uses the ants to metaphorically show how imperialism is unfair. Thoreau describes the black ants as the imperialists who are larger and stronger compared to the red ants that represent the republicans. Thoreau describes the agonizing battle that is going on outside his door and watches as the black imperialist ants fight to a harrowing death, or victory, showing how neither side is willing to give up.

Orwell and Thoreau both use animals to represent imperialism articulating the narrator’s views in which they are either taking part in imperialism, or taking on the part of an imperialist. In “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau takes on the role of the imperialist while in “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell is taking part in imperialism. In “Shooting an Elephant” the narrator feels forced by the natives to kill the elephant. The natives take on the role of imperialists as they stand in a big crowd behind him waiting for him to shoot the elephant. Imperialists use their people (metaphorically) as their little plastic figures they send out to fight. The Empires and Queens have control over them but never take part in the actual fighting, like how the natives never took part in shooting of the elephant.

The narrator speaks of how he is so against imperialism, but gives in to the natives by shooting the elephant to prove he is strong and to avoid humiliation. The natives only use the narrator to attain the elephant’s meat and tusks. The narrator became the crowd’s puppet being “pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.” (Orwell 1837) In “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau acts as an imperialist watching the ants do battle over each other. As a narrator, Thoreau has a larger more powerful stance over the ants. At the end of the story Thoreau’s thoughts on imperialism are those of experience. Thoreau says: “I never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war; but I felt for the rest of the day as if I had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage of human battle before my door.” (Thoreau 1747) Imperialists use their people for battle and have no remorse for them. As Thoreau watches over them fighting he realizes the struggle behind human battle and sees imperialism through the perspective of the ferocity that they endure. Thoreau also comes to realize the extent of the Internecine struggles the imperialist and republicans have.

Thoreau and Orwell both play distinctive roles in the parts of imperialism. In both perspectives each narrator gets a true feeling of imperialism and its divest affects among the people under imperialistic control. In both “The Battle of the Ants” and “Shooting an Elephant” the authors express their views on imperialism metaphorically through the use of animals and insects. The two different points of represented as either being an imperialistic force or by being an active part of imperialism.

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