"I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool." - George Orwell

We often tell stories about personal experiences. And when we do, we obviously want our audience to side with us when it comes to the occurrence. That's where rhetoric comes in. No, contrary to my previous beliefs, rhetoric isn't only used in arguments: It is also employed when the audience doesn't even know it is being convinced of something. And, I must add, this might even be the most advantageous way to use it. So George Orwell does this, and uses rhetoric skillfully in a retelling of a controversial experience.

It is definitely difficult to spot the fallacies in this speech (especially so, since they are certainly unexpected). Pathos is clearly obvious, though. Throughout the entire retelling, Orwell uses this rhetorical technique in order to acquire the audience's sympathy. The use of pathos is clear in statements such as "... I was hated by large numbers of people (the audience will take pity due to the strong word "hate")," "... in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind me (he is implying that the Burmans manipulated him)," and even the quote I chose as the title of this blog post (by saying this, he is justifying his actions in a way he believes will draw the audience to his side - and it does).

So as Orwell uses easy-to-spot pathos, he strengthens this technique with hidden pathos-based fallacies. Hasty generalization is definitely one of the most common ones. It is obvious when Orwell says, for example: "I was young and ill-educated and I had to think out my problems in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East." Yes, he did just say that EVERY Englishman living in the eastern hemisphere faces problems in this new region. But obviously not all of them do. Therefore it is a hasty generalization. With this fallacy, he sought to earn the audience's sympathy by portraying Englishmen as the victims, and men from the East as the oppressors.

False choice is even more common than hasty generalization in this speech. It is especially used when it comes to the decision of shooting the elephant. Orwell says: "The people expected it of me and I had to do it," and "I had got to shoot the elephant," along with other statements that just strengthen the view he wants the audience to have: That he did not shoot the elephant by choice, but because there was nothing else he could have done. However, is this actually the case? Shooting the elephant was not the only option. He could have just not shot it at all, or given the rifle to someone else to do the honors, or created an even more interesting distraction... the possibilities are endless. Yet by not admitting so, the audience is automatically drawn to him. I was weary about everything he said the entire time, since I was looking for fallacies, so I did not fall into the trap of his rhetoric. But I have no doubt that others were victims of pathos and even ended up shedding a tear or two.