1. Shooting an Elephant

2. Author Background Birthplace: Indian province of Bengal Accomplishments: Served in the Indian Imperial Police from 1922-1927, first book Down and Out in Paris and London, fought in the war in Spain Death: Battled tuberculosis and died in 1950

3. Theme Sometimes its hard to do what you think is right, when you know other people will judge you for it.

4. Plot The main character is a policeman in India. Unfortunately a tame elephant has destroyed some property and has even killed a man. Now the main character must decide between killing the animal or letting it live. Consumed by the pressure of crowd the around him, he kills the animal.

5. Characters George Orwell Elephant

6. Conflict The conflict is whether or not the main character should kill the elephant or let it live. It is an internal conflict.

7. Resolution The main character kills the elephant to save himself from humiliation.

8. Memorable Line “It seemed to me that it was murder to shoot him.”

9. Interesting Facts Elephants actually don`t like peanuts. Its closest living relative is the Rock Hyrax. The average life span of an elephant is 70 years. Elephants have been known to bury their own dead.

10. 3 Questions What if the main character wouldn`t have killed the elephant? Why was the villagers` opinions so important to the main character? How did the owner of the elephant respond to this?