PRESSURE OF SOCIETY
Since the earlier stages of the humanity, society and individual were two subjects that are connected to each other. Society consists of individuals and society affects the individuals who are the member of the society. However, because of laws and traditions created by the society with the effects of things like religion, ambition and competition, people in society try to make people believe their ideas to other people and that has some effects on individuals. So, we can see the effect of society’s pressure in Shooting An Elephant story clearly. In my opinion, the reason for the pressure of the society is as following: gender discrimination and tradition.
First of all, the pressure of the society is gender discrimination. Especially in third world countries such as Congo, Libya, Tunisia, Chile and Uruguay the pressure of society on individuals can lead people to show sexual apartheid. In less developed societies, men think they are superior to women and they see them as an object. The main question is when humans see the woman as an object, what they see animals as ? The reason I mentioned gender discrimination is that humans even discriminate each other according to their gender. For example, in the story, the society and humans want to kill the elephant by the policeman. Instead of stopping it, helping it or other solutions. They discriminate it from themselves as a living thing, see as a threat. The society which discriminates each other also discriminate elephant. I think it isn’t a surprise, it is a problem human have since the world is created.
Another reflection is about the tradition. The pressure of society could affect an individual’s family life and social life. Because of some traditions created by the society, some false opinions have been formed about family and society. For instance, in some societies, it is said that if a child in the family is still single at the age of 30, he or she will not be able to get married. In the story, if the policeman doesn’t kill the elephant, society which includes his family, friend, eco-workers etc. exclude him. The society sees the killing elephant as a duty of the police, it is a tradition however they don’t think about policeman emotions.This false opinion caused some pressure on individuals. This situation hardly damages the family and social structure.
To sum up, society and individual are deeply connected with each other and the structure of a society effects individuals in it. Owing to the traditions created by some negative thoughts and religion, society pressurizes individuals and this cause some negative effects like sexual apartheid and some effects on family and social life. To prevent this situation, it is important to educate every person in a society and in this way, they can see what is right or wrong. ‘Shotting An Elephant’ by George Orwell it is the strong example of society pressuring people into doing something that they would not normally do and they would not prefer to do. George Orwell points out that ‘In Moulmein in lower Burma. I was hated by large numbers of people. The only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me‘ (1936, p.1, para.1). this sentence has affected me too much in terms of society’s pressure; therefore, I agree with the writer because I think that without hate people don’t notice each other. Hating on something is a situation which society become whole and act together. Even we don’t notice each other or try to understand, however easily hate each other.
