The Conflict Within Baldwin And Orwell s Stranger ...

Baldwin and Orwell: The Conflict Within Throughout mankind there have been many conflicts. Conflicts that have taken place between cultures, as well as within cultures over many things. In most cases these conflicts and the resolutions that followed gave us a glimpse of our past and an idea of what is ahead. The one conflict that both James Baldwin talks about in â€Å"Stranger in the Village† and George Orwell writes about in â€Å"Shooting an Elephant† is the racial conflict that lies within us. Both writers tell stories of race confliction within their own soul and within those around them. The difference in each story can be seen in how the writers view of race come from two different sides of the racial conflict. James Baldwin writes â€Å"From all available evidence no black man had ever set foot in this tiny Swiss village.† He also goes on to talk about how he was told that not too many people of his complexion had been seen in Switzerland. In comparison George Orwell wrote â€Å"I was hated by large numbers of people.† Orwell explains that as a European in Lower Burma the locals did not like him nor had they accepted that England had control over the town. In both stories the writers have inserted themselves into a culture where they are the minority. Each reacts by trying to fit in, while the conflict within and around them, makes them feel uncomfortable doing so. While Baldwin truly believes he is a minority and that this was simply history, Orwell’s conflict is much different,