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Definition of Hyperbole
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations intended to emphasize a point... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements are usually quite obvious exaggerations... read full definition
Hyperbole is a figure of speech in which a writer or speaker exaggerates for the sake of emphasis. Hyperbolic statements... read full definition
Hyperbole
Explanation and Analysis—Tyranny and Joy:
Near the beginning of the story, Orwell shares his contradictory views on his role as an officer of the British Empire in Burma, using a series of hyperboles in the process:
With one part of my mind I thought of the British Raj as an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down, in saecula saeculorum, upon the will of prostrate peoples; with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest’s guts. Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism; ask any Anglo-Indian official, if you can catch him off duty.
At the beginning of this passage, Orwell uses hyperbolic language to describe the power of the British Empire (also called the “British Raj”), describing it as “an unbreakable tyranny,” perpetuating violence against innocent people “in saecula saeculorum” (Latin for “for ever and ever”). The language he uses here is intentionally exaggerated to communicate to readers that he is critical of the British colonial regime and sees the harm that it has caused and is still causing.
Orwell uses a hyperbole later in the passage when he says that, despite his misgivings about the British Empire, a part of him believes that “the greatest joy in the world” would be to violently murder one of the Burmese people he polices (and who, as a form of anti-colonial resistance, taunts him). This combination of contradictory hyperboles communicates to readers that Orwell is deeply conflicted about his job—on the one hand, he hates colonialism, and on the other, he hates the ways that colonized people resist colonialism. This is the contradiction at the center of this story.
Related Themes:
