Not only speeches contain fallacies, some essays also
do. This is the case in Shooting an
Elephant, an essay that apparently tells a relatively simple story, but if
analyzed thoroughly, contains several types of fallacies that persuade the
reader and make him sympathize with the protagonist. Starting with an appeal to
popularity, it is interesting to observe the way in which Orwell uses rhetoric
in a way that is not direct, but through his characters. An example is when the
protagonist states, “As a police officer I was an
obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” The
protagonist is assuming that since he is a police officer, that fact makes him
an automatic target. His proof fails to lead to the conclusion.
In addition, Orwell uses tautology to further make the audience take the standpoint he wants them to. This technique is used when he states, “The Burmese population had no weapons and were quite helpless against it.” This statement is just repeating itself two times. The proof is the conclusion, only paraphrased. Therefore, it is a fallacy. As you can see, the apparently naïve essay has a lot of rhetoric in it which actually works. At the end of the essay, I sympathized with the protagonists feelings and understood what he was going through. Lastly, misinterpreting the evidence is another fallacy that works extremely well in this text. When the protagonist is analyzing the situation, he thinks, “It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant — it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery.” The example has very little to do with the actual situation. Although it seems like an effective simile, it actually causes the audience to misinterpret the evidence as be persuaded by the character to make one think that killing the elephant is a very bad idea. Fallacies are crucial in speeches and I found it very interesting to see the effect they have in essays. The subtleness of how they are placed in the essay makes the audience be persuaded without noticing it.
In addition, Orwell uses tautology to further make the audience take the standpoint he wants them to. This technique is used when he states, “The Burmese population had no weapons and were quite helpless against it.” This statement is just repeating itself two times. The proof is the conclusion, only paraphrased. Therefore, it is a fallacy. As you can see, the apparently naïve essay has a lot of rhetoric in it which actually works. At the end of the essay, I sympathized with the protagonists feelings and understood what he was going through. Lastly, misinterpreting the evidence is another fallacy that works extremely well in this text. When the protagonist is analyzing the situation, he thinks, “It is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant — it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery.” The example has very little to do with the actual situation. Although it seems like an effective simile, it actually causes the audience to misinterpret the evidence as be persuaded by the character to make one think that killing the elephant is a very bad idea. Fallacies are crucial in speeches and I found it very interesting to see the effect they have in essays. The subtleness of how they are placed in the essay makes the audience be persuaded without noticing it.
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