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British-Imperialism In George Orwell's 'Shooting An Elephant'

Decent Essays

The essay “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell tells about the life of the narrator in a time of British-Imperialism. He tells the story of himself being a sub-divisional police officer in a town that was against the occupation of the British. The narrator worked in an aimless and lack of control area. The essay often tells of the anger that Orwell feels about the natives. The narrator’s attitude toward the natives is anger because the natives made his job difficult, they ridiculed him, and pressured him to make bad decisions. The narrator's feeling of anger toward the natives is fueled by them making his job difficult. Orwell’s job as a sub-divisional police officer created more problems for him. The natives did not like …show more content…

The narrator’s trouble was heightened due to the fact that there was a loose elephant. For safety, and safety only, Orwell grabbed an elephant rifle in the case that problems were aroused. Upon seeing the rifle, the natives followed him like a pack of hungry wolves. The narrator told the readers that “The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on, and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill. And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh. That would never do. There was only one alternative. I shoved the cartridges, into the magazine and lay down the road to get a better aim” (Orwell 5). The narrator was angry that he was pressured to kill the elephant. In his conscience, he thought that he would leave the elephant alone because it was acting peaceful. He felt that the elephant was settling down and does not require to be put down. Orwell felt as though the crowd was going to laugh at him for being a coward. Orwell did not want to be labeled as a coward and therefore felt the need to kill the elephant. The narrator did not want to feel as though he could not kill the elephant and because he did feel this way, he was angry that the natives pressured him to shoot the elephant. The attitude conveyed in the essay “Shooting an Elephant” is anger because the

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