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Evelyn Bell

Ms. Lee

8th Grade English

October 31, 2017

Shifting Values In The Time Of Western Superiority

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. but what if the beholder manipulates the power

that controls the narrative? This question is explored in Minutes Of Glory by Ngugi wa

Thiongo and Shooting An Elephant by George Orwell. Minutes Of Glory portrays how the

citizens of countries that were colonized by Europe started to view beauty. Young women

became trapped in the illusions of beauty based on the way the Europeans saw beauty. In

Shooting An Elephant by George Orwell, it is very similar because he writes about the

influence the Europeans had over the Burman people's lives, how they were treated like animals,

so eventually they began to act like animals. In Minutes Of Glory and Shooting An Elephant

both stories convey the theme that Western Superiority changed the values of the colonized and

colonizers and directly influenced how they behaved; the author expresses this by using the

literary elements of symbolism, paradox, and characterization.

Thiongo and Orwell use characterization to convey the idea that Western Superiority

changes the values of the people. Before colonization, the people of Nairobi saw beauty within

what they already possessed, their natural traits. Once they were colonized, Beatrice, like the

majority of the other young women started to see beautiful traits as the ones the Europeans

possessed. Light skin, long straight hair, and expensive clothing and accessories. Thiongo
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writes, They talked heatedly against Ambi, Butone, Firesnow, Moonsnow, wigs, straightened

hair; but they always went for a girl with Ambi-lightened skin and head covered with a wig made

in imitation of European or Indian hair. (Thiongo 73) Characterization is used when the young

women of Nairobi unconsciously see beauty and power equally. Since the Europeans have the

greatest amount of power, whoever can get the closest to looking and living like them, are the

most powerful and successful according to the colonized. In Shooting An Elephant, the people

of Burma prior to the colonization hold the values of the majority of people, success and peace,

although after they become colonized and they are treated as animals and unworthy of rights,

they start to want and value inhumane things. Orwell writes, I looked at the sea of yellow faces

above the garish clothes-faces all happy and excited over this bit of fun, all certain that the

elephant was going to be shot. (Orwell 2) The author uses this characterization in this line to

represent the people as now hungry for anything to happen. Their values have completely shifted

and now they have a distorted view of what is moral, because they have been treated as not equal

and incapable of humane lifestyles. These authors convey characterization in their text by

showing how the values of the colonized people changed. How they started to see beauty as

power and began to crave violence.

Symbolism is used by Orwell and Thiongo to send an underlying message of who in

their society possesses the most power. In Minutes Of Glory the women and men aspire to be

like the rich, powerful Europeans. Beatrice strives to get the attention of the men, completely

altering her original lifestyle and how she viewed herself, and the men seem to lounge around a

drink for thee majority of their days. Although the men compete for the most expensive, nicest

car, and the ability to attract and use the most amount of women. Thiongo portrays this by
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writing, Big shots from all over the country came to this bar. Big men in Mercedes. Big men in

their Bentleys. Big men in their Jaguars and Damiers. Big men with uniformed chauffeurs

drowsing with boredom in cars waiting outside. (Thiongo 75) Symbolism is used here

especially to show what group of people hold the most power and influence the most amount of

people. In Minutes Of Glory this is the men, but not all men, as we see that the one man with

the Lorry was rejected for a long time, and the poor men were not even considered. The rich,

masculine, loud, defiant men are the most successful, are given the most attention and have the

greatest amount of power.Although in Minutes Of Glory, though it seems that the European

soldiers would have more power over the Burmans, it's really that the Burmans possess more

power. Orwell is forced to kill the elephant by the Burmese people. If he doesnt he is shown as

weak and the Burmese people will no doubt take advantage of that, so he has to shoot the

elephant in order to maintain his power. George Orwell writes, Here was I, the white man with

his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd - seemingly the leading actor of the piece;

but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces

behind. (Orwell 3) Orwell uses his symbolism to represent the elephant as colonialism. A

powerful force, that was hard to take down and stayed for a long time. The elephant is a massive

force that caused destruction to the town and those people, and it was a hard task to defeat.

Symbolism is a very important tool in both of these stories, because it represents with both, what

side and what force holds the most power.

Orwell and Thiongo use a touch of paradox in each of these stories to show what the

main characters have learned and changed how they behaved. In Minutes Of Glory, when

Beatrice goes through all the trouble of stealing the mans money and buying all the expensive
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accessories, and when she is later arrested, she finds that she felt the least like herself when she

finally got the thing she had chased after for years, to be accepted by the men. She thinks often

about how she doesnt understand why women try so hard to cut off their African culture.

Thiongo writes, The policemen went and cuffed her. She did not resist. (Thiongo 83) This is

another portrayal of how Beatrice knew what was bound to happen and here the paradox is

underlined, when she gets what she wants, after years of wanting to be accepted by the men and

live like Nyaguthi, she gets arrested. In Shooting An Elephant a paradox is shown because the

Burmese people, the colonized, have more power than the colonizers, the Europeans. Orwell

writes, I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom

that he destroys. (Orwell 3) Orwell means that once the Europeans become the controlling

rulers, it's very hard for them to go back or be themselves. They have to be the most intimidating,

the most powerful, and the biggest man in every situation. These authors use paradox to

portray the behavior and what the main characters have learned from each of the selections.

In Shooting An Elephant and Minutes Of Glory, both selections send the message

that Western Superiority directly influenced and altered the way the colonized behaved, and saw

themselves and their values; the authors do this by using the literary elements of paradox,

symbolism, and characterization. In Minutes Of Glory the way the women and men saw

themselves and valued themselves completely changed along with their idea of beauty, which

shifted to European traits. In Shooting An Elephant, the colonized begin to act as animals,

because they were treated like animals, and Orwell uncover the truth that it is really the

colonized people that control the Europeans and force them into doing things they dont really

want to do, to show the town time and time again that they are powerful and that they arent
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weak. These issues of shifted values and a beauty being equivalent to power and the idea of the

European look is the most beautiful and desirable is still very prevalent today. A lot of the times

society confuses success with the amount of money one has, or how attractive they are. These

selections just show that this has been going on for so long, yet the media and some advertising

still show lighter skin, straighter hair, and a Europeans like face as more attractive and more

powerful.