Talk:Shooting an Elephant

message: Orwell uses 'Burmans' in the essay, but in fact the people involved were probably from the Mon_(ethnic_group). William Avery 20:54, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Burmese v Burmans 

message: We learned in School that we should never mix up the Author and the Narrator, even when a text is written in the 1st person. As this has happened here i am going to fix it. I hope no one minds...
:The above is valid advice when you're reading fiction, but not so for autobiography. So the question is: should this piece be treated as fiction? I would say no. Orwell is clearly presenting this as a literal description of something that happened to him. --24.60.168.159 22:03, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it's unclear. Naively applying what "we learned in school" can be a bit silly, but in this case I think it works. What would really be helpful would be something in the article itself to clarify the status of this essay -- as autobiographical , semi-autobiographical or wholly fictional. In the second two cases, "the narrator" would be appropriate, I think. Solemnavalanche 04:13, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Actually, strike that last comment. The last paragraph explains the situation well; I just didn't read it till after I wrote the above. Since its status as fiction/biography is unclear, I think playing it safe is best -- leave it as "the narrator." Solemnavalanche 04:18, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  'The Narrator' instead of 'Orwell' 

message: I just read this story, and it doesn't say the elephant was butchered alive. It says:
I heard later that it took him half an hour to die. Burmans were bringing dahs and baskets even before I left, and I was told they had stripped his body almost to the bones by the afternoon.
Since the action of the story begins "early one morning," the animal may or may not have been "butchered alive." However, the text gives no clear indication that it was, and given the extreme nature of the claim, I'm removing it. Solemnavalanche 04:26, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Elephant butchered alive? No.  

message: The phrase "acting just not to be looking a fool to save face" is incomprehensible, but is clearly trying to express something about the narrator's feelings, so I don't want to just remove it. Can someone who knows the story better than me try to fix that? Rissa (talk) 22:03, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Strange sentence 

message: I added this article to WP:LIT rather than WP:NOVEL for it being an essay instead of a novel. I feel it is well written, however it is totally lacking in references. It would be nice if the article can be expanded on what was Orwell's style of writing at this stage and how was it received. Who was its target? Where was it published? Such questions could be answered to establish a rounded article on the essay. Jappalang (talk) 08:22, 11 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Assessing as a Literature 

message: That isn't a synopsis, it's a plot summary. A synopsis must only contain what the story is about, not the events.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wickedcrane (talk • contribs) 07:37, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Revise the synopsis 

message: I've made a few changes to this article that I hope are for the best, but now I don't know what else needs to be done. The summary has now become a plot as a result of the above message and I removed the quote from it in favour of an actual plot. I also screwed around with the lead a bit. Any pointers as to what needs doing now?--Skittles the hog (talk) 22:30, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Okay, I've now turned "Symbolism" into "Themes" and added a new section. I'm reasonably new to Wikipedia, so if anyone knows what else needs doing to further improve this article, it would be great if they could make it known. Thanks--Skittles the hog (talk) 09:36, 8 October 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Next on the agenda 

message: Substituted at 06:02, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The author is referred to throughout only by his pen name Orwell, except in the "Film adaptation" section, where he is only referred to as Eric Blair.  Is this sensible, or should the same name be used throughout? Iapetus (talk) 09:33, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Author's name