jimmy cross and george orwell comparison Essay - 841 Words

George Orwell and Jimmy Cross Character Comparison In the two short stories, Shooting an Elephant and the Things They Carried there are certain similarities and differences that George Orwell and Jimmy Cross hold. Each character in the short stories has there own different situation they are in, but they both are in a foreign land and they both have to take orders and do what there country is asking of them. However, even though each situation is different they both deal with some of the same emotional issues throughout each story. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;In the story, Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell was a police officer for the British government. In the story it is hard to tell if George was actually forced to go to Burma, but†¦show more content†¦At that moment though George looks around and sees that he has drawn such a huge crowd that is waiting and pressuring him into shooting the elephant. This would not have been a huge thing, but provided that the same crowd that had hated George was now showing interest in him he figured he must shoot the elephant. This is where he is linked with the other short story the Things They Carried. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The Things They Carried showed that life was miserable and that men were not killing for some great glory or honor. Just like George Orwell the men were killing for a different purpose. The men in the Things They Carried were killing to because they were embarrassed not to. In fact the narrator says, â€Å"Men killed, and died, because they were embarrassed not to. It was what has bought them to war in the first place, nothing positive, no dreams of glory or honor, just to avoid the blush of dishonor. They killed as to not die of embarrassment†¦Rather they were too frightened to be cowards.†(O’Brien 1491) This is exactly why Orwell had shot and killed the elephant. George Orwell was so scared of what people may think of him, that is why he shot the elephant. George didn’t want to be called a coward or even