Orwell calls what he is doing in Lower Burma "the dirty work of Empire", and judges his shooting of the elephant finally as the product of the conflicting motivations behind his position and empire itself. Read "Shooting an Elephant" through the lens of Joan Didion in "On Morality." What are the "higher" moral beliefs that imperialists claimed? In what ways does Orwell’s essay refute these claims?

Read the passage first of all if someone says your dream is impossible, they’re wrong. you can’t prove that something is impossible-all you know is that[it] hasn’t been done yet. people said no one could scale mount everest but in 1953, sir edmund hilary and tenzing norway gazed down upon the world from it’s summit. people said that man could not fly, but in 1903, orville and wilbur wright made the first sustained powered flight in a heavier-than-air machine. people said, “okay, we admit that someone could climb mount everest, and we admit that man has learned to fly, but no one will ever, ever walk on the face of the moon.” if we can send three men a quarter of a million miles away and bring them home safely, is there any great task we cannot accomplish? which identifies the textual evidence that best supports the claim: the authors purpose is to persuade? a: the author shares historical information about the wright brothers. b: the author states that men have walked the moon. c: the author states that others who think your dreams are impossible are wrong. d: the author wants to know what tasks we cannot accomplish.