Goerge Orwell wrote Shhoting an Elephant back in those days when he was serving as a police officer in Brtish Empire in Indian Subcontinent. He was a rational and pragmatic person, but he was often caught between state obligations and his own sense of morality( Levinas). George Orwell had to follow some contesting injuctions of law. Shooting an Elephant is his narrative essay where he discussed his own experiences and his own opinions.
This story throws light on the conflicting nature of the law which was deliberately discussed in the aforementioned movement. George Orwell reminisced about his time as a police official in erstwhile Burma which was under the colonial empire. He recalled his experience of killing an elephant which proved a conscious-raising experience for him. An elephant was disturbing life in a market and someone has to control it. All people collectively wanted to get rid of that terrorizing elephant ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"yqPzOxL4","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Orwell)","plainCitation":"(Orwell)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":473,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/UEB8ILFF"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/UEB8ILFF"],"itemData":{"id":473,"type":"book","title":"Shooting an elephant","publisher":"Penguin UK","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Orwell","given":"George"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2003"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Orwell), and Gorge had to kill it as per the collective will. Nevertheless, he felt guilty when he saw the excruciating pain on the face of the elephant after he shot it. It was all imperialism and might be considered right by all means. Later on, the author was influenced by the advent of modern ideas as he realized his mistake. He was mournful on his gruesome act. He, then, gave voice to his views in his essays and this became an eyeopener for the rest of the artists. Hence, he does follow the empire law and supposed act, but deep down he is not happy for his role as a colonial officer as his personal freedom was limited. Since Fin de Siècle was all about personal freedom and morality, so this essay really created a lasting impact on his readers. This story shows the moral dilemma where an individual is stuck between two opposite things. Even today, this moral dilemma is quite relevent as people long for times where individuals were caged to this extent (Feinberg).
Moreover, this essay represents the characteristics of the nineties. This shooting of elephant shows the Affection towards how things were before the war and revolution. Even Orwell highlights in his essay that “ there is a mask and your face grows to fit it" is the exact picture of his confusion and bewilderment. The author was subjected to the unknown circumstances that he made to perform an action that was immoral in his personal opinion.
Eveline by James Joyce
Eveline is the story of an Irish thinker who had come from a troubling origin. It was published in 1904- a time of great and momentous changes in world history. This short story is also about the ambivalence of individuals when they are facing opposing patterns of life. this is the story of a girl who is distressed, but not hopeless ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"otMtDjTV","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Joyce)","plainCitation":"(Joyce)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":475,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/FDAYNZ9A"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/FDAYNZ9A"],"itemData":{"id":475,"type":"book","title":"Eveline","publisher":"Modernista","number-of-pages":"8","source":"Google Books","abstract":"»Joyce gjorde på egen hand slut på 1800-talet.« | T. S. Eliot»James Joyce revolutionerade 1900-talslitteraturen.« | Time MagazineEveline [1914] är en novell av James Joyce.JAMES JOYCE [1882–1941], irländsk författare, är en av den modernistiska litteraturens portalfigurer med verk som Dublinbor [Dubliners, 1914], Ett porträtt av författaren som ung [Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, 1916] och Odysseus [Ulysses, 1922].","ISBN":"978-91-7781-418-4","note":"Google-Books-ID: GvBJDwAAQBAJ","language":"sv","author":[{"family":"Joyce","given":"James"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2018"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Joyce). She tries to escape from her current way of living patterns but failed in her attempt to do so. In this purview, this is just another literary piece that highlights the struggle of an individual in this conflicting world.
The advent of Fin de Siècle was all about ushering a new way of life, and a new set of beliefs. This era represents the change in current normative patterns. This Fin de Siècle paved the way for more artistic expression, aesthetics, rationality, escapism, and the feeling of world-weariness. In this way, this story models the same kind of situation where a girl is subjected to myriad societal pressures and then she is forced to choose whether her own will or the will of others. It is no wonder that society exerts enormous pressure on people and they have to be conformists in all way. This is still relevant in today's world where society exerts this tyranny of the majority ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"GIkJqdPv","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Gray)","plainCitation":"(Gray)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":486,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/68X2B3HV"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/68X2B3HV"],"itemData":{"id":486,"type":"book","title":"Mill on Liberty: A Defence","publisher":"Routledge","source":"www.taylorfrancis.com","abstract":"Mill on Liberty was first published in 1983 and has become a classic of Mill commentary. The second edition reproduces the text of the first in full, and in","URL":"https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203432471","ISBN":"978-0-203-43247-1","note":"DOI: 10.4324/9780203432471","title-short":"Mill on Liberty","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Gray","given":"John"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013",4,15]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",7,8]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Gray). Hence, Eveline reflected on the gender bias and the societal pressures which were debated in literary Fin de Siècle movement.
Furthermore, this struggle of Eveline symbolizes the idea of anxiety, insecurity, indulgence in senses. This is the theme which shaped the cultural values and beliefs later on, and tried to resolve gender-related issues.
A Haunted House by Virginia Woolf
This is the classic literary piece by Virginia Woolf which is not that scary as its name suggests. This two-page short story reveals the sense of horror in life where it dominates and dictates life. This story is quite meaningful in its nature and purpose as it subtly strikes the contesting ideas in people. This story illuminates how phantoms of an individual disturb his peace ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"HvvJscVr","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Woolf)","plainCitation":"(Woolf)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":477,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/HZ9YYLQL"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/HZ9YYLQL"],"itemData":{"id":477,"type":"book","title":"A haunted house and other short stories","publisher":"Houghton Mifflin Harcourt","volume":"105","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"Woolf","given":"Virginia"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1972"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Woolf). The author focuses aptly on visions and imaginations as she tries to connect it with contemporary trends of life.
The Fin de Siècle is the literary movement which shuns the old traditional beliefs and tries to highlight their ineffectiveness in real life ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Mx9zkgyE","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(West)","plainCitation":"(West)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":481,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/FT2Q6JMG"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/FT2Q6JMG"],"itemData":{"id":481,"type":"book","title":"Fin de siècle","publisher":"Bloomsbury London","source":"Google Scholar","author":[{"family":"West","given":"Shearer"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["1993"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (West). This story of A Haunted House illustrates the point that people do have something in their subconscious all the time(Woolf). in this way, some imagined situations are confused with mere imaginations. When it is connected with The Fin de Siècle, it shows the influence of dreams and imaginations in one's life. This story reveals the ideas of the movement as the present participles suggest it: reading, sleeping. A new style of modernism was found and then this became much relevant in contemporary artistic movements.
Thus, the writer is reinventing ways to express herself. She is switching between old and new styles to create an impact on her readers. The theme more elaborated in this short story is Despair and disillusion brought on by war and revolution as the ghost couple parted and now they were attempting to relive their lives in spirited form.
Section two:
Romanticism was much common in Fin de Siècle era as authors tried to reveal the intrinsic good nature of arts and romance. In this scene as well ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Dkf9ZAYG","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Ibsen)","plainCitation":"(Ibsen)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":479,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/ILM7HUWL"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/ZD9MNZ2P/items/ILM7HUWL"],"itemData":{"id":479,"type":"book","title":"A Doll's House","publisher":"A&C Black","number-of-pages":"161","source":"Google Books","abstract":"The slamming of the front door at the end of A Doll's House shatters the romantic masquerade of the Helmers' marriage. In their stultifying and infantilised relationship, Nora and Torvald have deceived themselves and each other both consciously and subconsciously, until Nora acknowledges the need for individual freedom. A revised student edition of classic set text: A Doll's House (1879), is a masterpiece of theatrical craft which, for the first time portrayed the tragic hypocrisy of Victorian middle class marriage on stage. The play ushered in a new social era and "exploded like a bomb into contemporary life". "Meyer's translations of Ibsen are a major fact in one's general sense of post-war drama. Their vital pace, their unforced insistence on the poetic centre of Ibsen's genius, have beaten academic versions from the field" (George Steiner)","ISBN":"978-1-4081-0602-0","note":"Google-Books-ID: Yyr2E4bpWC8C","language":"en","author":[{"family":"Ibsen","given":"Henrik"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2008",8,19]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Ibsen), wife desire for everlasting passion and expression. Sometimes it is better to express emotions and desires because any restraint on them inhibit the process of personality development. Nevertheless, legitimate and open expression is always better than withholding emotions.
Works Cited
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Gray, John. Mill on Liberty: A Defence. Routledge, 2013. www.taylorfrancis.com, doi:10.4324/9780203432471.
Feinberg, Joel. "Problematic Responsibility In Law And Morals." The Philosophical Review 71.3 (1962): 340-351. Web. 8 July 2019.
Levinas, Emmanuel. "Freedom And Command." Phaenomenologica (1987): 15-23. Web. 8 July 2019.
Ibsen, Henrik. A Doll’s House. A&C Black, 2008.
Joyce, James. Eveline. Modernista, 2018.
Orwell, George. Shooting an Elephant. Penguin UK, 2003.
West, Shearer. Fin de Siècle. Bloomsbury London, 1993.
Woolf, Virginia. A Haunted House and Other Short Stories. Vol. 105, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1972.
