Reading Comparison

Though it may not seem so on the surface, Mirrors and Shooting an Elephant connect on a deeper level. They are both first-hand accounts of troubles that the author has experienced. Both struggle to psychoanalyze themselves and find that they act differently because they are concerned with what other people will think of them. Mirrors focuses on the author’s physical deformation and how she tries to hide it from the world so that she is not laughed at. Grealy finds that her physical appearance was controlling her life and determining how she acted around other people. After her surgery she knew that she had changed, even if her family wouldn’t admit it. It wasn’t until she had lot looked in the mirror for a long a time and forgot what she looked like when she finally began to act herself. When she forgot her fear of being laughed at, she returned to normal. In Shooting an Elephant, Orwell talks about how the view of the “natives” controls his actions. He too does not wish to be laughed at, and he lets this fear control his actions. The Indians expect him to prove his superiority and authority that he is supposed to have other them. He begins to make decisions by looking at what the crowds want. Both authors act differently because of their interest in other people’s opinion, but they don’t realize this until afterward.

The Bombing of Nagasaki

This author had the very unique experience, one that only a few people have ever witness. His description of the explosion was interesting in how sometimes he made the blast seem almost beautiful, while at other times he described it as horrifying. One example is how he compaired the first mushroom cloud to a flower; going into detail about its color and shape. Another example is when he described the second mushroom cloud rising as a "decapitated monster growing a new head". I think that this is a very effective way to describe what the author saw. The colors and smoke formations would have been anm incredible sight, but he still understood that this bomb had killed millions of people and had a much uglier truth to it.

Shooting an Elephant

In the beginning, I thought this essay was going to be about Orwell's personal relationship with the locals in India. He made it very clear that he cared about what they thought of him and that he was hurt when they made fun of him. I also thought that the story of him shooting the elephant was just used as an example of his concern for the public's approval. In the end; however, he was really just using the elephant story to show how all Europeans felt when they were occupying another country. How the native's opinion of them was a very important factor. As Orwell stated, "For it is the condition of this rule that he shall spend his life trying to impress the "natives", and so in every crisis he has got to do what the "natives" expect him to do." In other words, Orwell, and others like him, were constantly under scrutany from the locals and were determined to prove their superiority and to not be laughed at. Orewell probably shouldn't have shot the elephant, and he didn't want to, but the crowd's will "made" him do it.

Beauty

Beauty, by Alice Walker, was very similar to Mirrors in the sense that the author wrote about her struggle with overcoming a physical deformation that she sustained at an early age. She was taughnted and ostrisized just like Grealy was, and was obsessed with regaining the "cute" look that she once had. It was easier; however, for Walker to hide her flaw from the public and, unlike Grealy, she was able to improve her looks with surgery.
I thought that Walker did a great job of setting up the transition of her story with descriptions of some past experieces that showed what her life was like before her "accident". Her format of skipping from memory to memroy was also very interesting. It enabled her to quickly discuss many different phases of her life while still getting her point across.

Mirrors

Mirrors was a very interesting and compelling essay. I couldn't even imagine going through the hardship that this woman had to endure. It is no surprise that, for many years, her thoughts were clouded by self pitty and a urning for a normal life. The fact that she had a twin sister that was able to live a life that she couldn't must hae been maddening. I am surprized that she didn't go insane, as I surely would have. She had the right to soley blame her physical differences for her unhappiness because, without them, she probably would have lived the average, happy life that she could only dream of.
The pysical pain that she experienced in the hospital and the emotionl pain she felt out in public could truly be felt through her words. I think she did a great job of explaining these emotions and her feelings throughout the story. I find it amazing how she was able to psychoanalyze herself with so much detail. Everyone knows how easy it is to admit one's physical flaws, but how hard it is to come to terms with our mental foults. Her selfpity and obsession with her looks was a mental fault, but one to be expected from such a young person in her position. It must have taken a lot of thinking and soul searching in order for her to write this paper. I was glad toward the end of the story when she had a revelation and was finally able to overlook her physial flaws for the first time.