Comparison Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

George Orwell, a white British police officer in Burma, met many conflicts and setbacks when deciding if he should shoot an unruly elephant or not. These conflicts, and the power of pressure would eventually weigh down on him and put him a situation to make a life or death decision.

“Shooting an Elephant” is about the guilt of British colonialism that George Orwell faces as a sub-divisional police officer. Based on his experiences, he has seen the real wickedness of imperialism. In “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell displays the evil of imperialism as harsh, belligerent, and provoking.

In the 1800s, shortly before Congress passed the second Fugitive Slave Act, an abolitionist named Henry David Thoreau published “Civil Disobedience.” Being an opponent of the Polk administration, and more specifically the Mexican War, Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience” as a way to persuade his fellow citizens to follow their morals and values rather than falling victim to the Federal government’s ideologies and beliefs. Furthermore, “Civil Disobedience” challenged its readers to “defy the law and the Constitution” of the United States (407). About eighty years later in 1936, George Orwell wrote “Shooting an Elephant” (307). In the essay, Orwell described a memorable experience of his time as an officer in imperialist Burma.

In George Orwell’s Shooting An Elephant, he compromises his belief on British imperialism and even his belief on shooting the elephant. It is implied in the essay that Orwell thinks that British imperialism is bad, and he compromises this belief by being a police officer for the advantage of the British in the country of Burma, now known as Myanmar. Likewise, he compromises his belief on what he should do about the elephant, and ultimately decides that he has to shoot it. “Has to shoot it.” I say this because the Burmese people do not like Orwell, and he wants to gain their trust and friendship, and get rid of the hate against him.

Picture this, you are a police officer in the town of Moulmein, located in Lower Burma. There is no doubt that you are the most hated person in the town. Not a single person in that town likes you, not even the town’s priests. You are constantly harassed and occasionally tripped by the civilians. You have seen many brutal things such as: prisoners in unsanitary cages, the faces of long-term convicts and lastly, and the scarred buttocks of men who have been beaten by bamboos. You feel very guilty; you know that your morals do not agree with the job. This is something George Orwell dealt with at a young age.

Everyone has a moment in their lives that changes the way they think, or identifies our true views; an event that reveals a part of them that was never known before then. For example, in the essay “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell, Orwell himself is working as a British police officer in Burma in the 1920’s. He does not like his job because of his hate for the oppressive nature of the British government. However, he does take the job seriously. One day, he gets a report about an elephant tearing through the town. He quickly gets his gun and rides to the scene with his horse. Once Orwell arrives, the elephant is long gone, but he sees all the damage it has caused, even killing a man in its rampage. Orwell asks for a larger gun, only to be used as a last resort against the elephant, and sets off to find the elephant. Many miles away, in a field, the elephant stands. However, it seems to have calmed down and is now eating as if nothing happened. By this point, Orwell has attracted the attention of hundreds of the natives, who have followed him in anticipation of seeing him kill the elephant. Although Orwell did not want to kill the elephant, he felt as though he had to, because of the position of power he held over the natives. He shoots the elephant, but is not content with his decision. Orwell believes that it was his position of power in the community that forced him into shooting the elephant, to avoid looking like a fool. It was through this event in his life that

George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is an essay depicting the perpetual cycle of the personal desire for power and dominance within colonial imperialism. It focuses mainly on a European guard who supposedly struggles with loyalty to his country and the guilt of his country’s treatment of the native peasants. However, as the story progresses it is evident through the narrator’s thoughts and actions that he has no sympathy for the natives. He only cares about himself and his self image. This mental state is the byproduct of colonial imperialism which turns all the people involved into a self serving population.

Orwell was hated by a lot of people in a town called Lower Burma. He is an officer in Moulmein, which is located in a British colonial of Burma. People of the village torment him, but this behavior is common in their town. One day an accident took place and it changed a lot of things. He received a phone call about a wild elephant. Burmese was not able to control the elephant. The elephant was destroying private property and killed someone.

During this trying time in Orwell’s life he had to fight being an outcast because of his different beliefs. At the time, he couldn’t rightly talk to his other officers about how bad he thought imperialism was. He would have surely been ostracized and been even more of an outcast. On the other hand, the Burmese people believed him to be a joke or an imperialist conformant trying to oppress their ideals and their culture. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. When time came to pull the trigger he surely thought this was the only solution to save his pride and entertain the locals for even just a second. But, by conforming to what the people wanted an innocent animal had to be killed. This example of peer pressure can be seen throughout the rest of George’s writing. These ordeals obviously took a toll on him, and lead him to the anti-government views he had later on in his life.

“He was dying very slowly and in great agony”, as described by George Orwell, in his short story, “Shooting an Elephant”(Orwell). In this story, Orwell delicately explains to his readers how society is influenced by peer pressure. The story was set in Burma in 1936 and begins with a low self-esteemed police officer just trying to get through day- to- day life. His life takes a turn when he is suddenly faced with the decision to shoot an elephant to please a crowd of spectators. Believing that his actions are wrong he shoots the elephant anyway and is rewarded with cheers and social acceptance. However, knowing in his heart that the deed was wrong he is now faced with guilt and must try to convince himself his act was warranted. George Orwell’s short story “Shooting an Elephant” is relevant in today’s society through the structure, quality, and applicability of the content in the story.

In George Orwell’s passage “Shooting an Elephant,” he is portrayed as a timid, yet a pressured British officer in the Burmese society. Orwell's position concerning human motives is based on his self-perseverance of living in an imperialistic country.

Unexpected choices one is forced to make can have long-lasting effects. In "Shooting an Elephant," by George Orwell, the author remembers an event from his life when he was about twenty years old during which he had to choose between two evils. Many years later, the episode seems to still haunt him. The story happens at some time during the five unhappy years Orwell spends as a British police officer in Burma. He hates his situation in life, and when he is faced with a problem where it's difficult to figure out which is the right thing to do, a valuable work animal has to die to save his reputation.

George Orwell writes an autobiography story called Shooting an elephant, he wrote the story in 1936, 50 years into British rule. In this story George talks about how two values collide in conflict and he is forced to decide which one he values more. The two values that come into question are the value of the animal's life and the value of being accepted. The event that is forcing George Orwell to choose what value he has a stronger belief in is a must elephant that has tormented the village. He called for a gun in case he needed it for self defence, but he had no intentions to use the gun unless completely necessary, he even said, “I did not want to shoot the elephant”. Two thousand Burmans gathered around the streets for

The narrator is a colonial policeman in British Burma who is disrespected from the natives. He strongly opposes the oppressive British rule of Burma and the rest of India. When Orwell hears about an elephant on the loose that injuries a man and ends up killing him he feels compelled to kill the elephant in ordered to not be humiliated by the town.

Orwell’s novel, “Shooting an Elephant,” was published in 1936. In the novel, a colonial policeman in British Burma is called in to end the life of an elephant that killed a civilian. Many like to believe that the novel is fact and a true story of Orwell’s life, due to his time in the Indian Imperial Police. The policeman in the novel