Blog Post 2: Topic 1

Throughout history, there has always been a clash for dominance in society. Although there can be multiple ways to gain power, the most repetitive pattern, historically, has been determined by race and culture. Many stories have been written in response to expose the unjust hierarchy that the world has, but two stories that showcase this injustice the best is “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell, and “A Rose for Emily,” by William Faulkner. Even though both instances occurred on different sides of the world, Orwell’s and Faulkner’s stories both share many qualities when it comes to the role of race and power. Although there are some tiny differences in the details of their specific influence over the population, it was made very clear in both stories that the power heavily lied with the Southern Whites and the Englishmen in Burma.

The Southern Whites and Englishmen had main control throughout their stories because of the history that occurred in their specific centuries. During “A Rose for Emily”, the time period that it was in mirrored the South after the Civil War. During this time, the south was still trying to recuperate from the war and tension was still very high between African Americans and the whites. The “Shooting an Elephant" took place during the 1920’s and was set in Burma, India. In the 1920’s, the British invaded India and took over their cities because of unlimited resources as well as to “help” the savages become educated. The tension between India and the British lasted for multiple decades and caused many rebellions and wars from 1820 until India was liberated completely in 1947. Although these historical events happened at different times in different parts of the world, they both exhibit similarities in the way power is held between the Englishmen and the Southern Whites.

Both stories are similar in the interactions between the powerful and the weak. Emily was treated as a superior from the beginning of the story due to her race and her family dominance. Because Emily’s family name was important and held some value in the town, arrogance exuded off her and led her to believe that she was better than everyone else, when in reality she was not. This was shown from the acts of having her taxes waived, people were too afraid to tell her that her house smelled horribly, and she still held her head higher and looked down on people even when she was in no situation to do so. She also showed her supremacy by “vanquishing” the city officials. The Englishmen also shared this arrogance when they entered the Indian villages and when they deal with the Indians in the town. Although the narrator feels sympathy for invading and playing a role in imperialism, he still uses degrading terms and calls them “evil-spirited little beasts” (Orwell). Because of the race and culture of the British, they were automatically labeled superior while the Indians were valued less than an elephant, “because an elephant was worth more than any damn Coringhee Coolie” (Orwell). Even though the similarities between these stories are immense, the differences show just as much importance if not more.

A main difference between the two stories is that Emily’s rule was coming to an end while the reign of the British was still going strong even after the main incident happened. The decay of the old southern lifestyle was shown specifically through this story by the way that the newer generation interacted with Emily and through subtle hints in the description of the town.  The house that Emily lived in was described as, “a big squarish frame house that had once been white…… But garages and cotton gins had encroached and obliterated even the august names of that neighborhood” (Faulkner).  This expresses how as Emily’s house decayed, so did the old society that she used to live in. The people in her neighborhood also evolved over time and grew apart from the original southern ways, “When the next generation, with its more modern ideas, became mayors and aldermen, this arrangement created some little dissatisfaction” (Faulkner). The taxes agreement became a burden overtime because the mentality of the new generation did not revolve on the power that Emily once had in the town. As Emily grew further away from the time that she knew, her power also started to slip just as quickly. Emily’s death at the end of the story represented the last drop of power from her family name leaving the world, which would never have any control or value to anyone else again.  

Word Count: 762