Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

In this situation, the elephant represents the colonization of the British in Burma. Since the elephant has its’ liberty restricted the end result: the elephant is violent and rebels in response to being shackled. The elephant showcases the rejection of imperialism through the narrator's feelings. Orwell’s attitude affects his job because when he was called to take care of the elephant incident, he does not take a standpoint on either the people or the

The essay describes the experience of the English narrator, possibly Orwell himself, called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant while working as a police officer in Burma. Because the locals expect him to do the job, he does so against his better judgment, his anguish increased by the elephant 's slow and painful death. The story is regarded as a metaphor for British imperialism, and for Orwell 's view that "when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys."

“To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing – no, that was impossible” (137). Orwell felt that the Burmese would laugh at him and throughout his whole life; every white men’s life would be one long struggle not to be laughed at (137). During his time in Burma, Orwell had to deal with many of the locals being mean to him and getting laughed at for it. He knew if he did not shoot the elephant, it would give the people an opportunity harass him even more. Shooting the elephant gave him a chance to show the people that he was not the fool they all made him out to be.

Thinking back upon his experiences as a man in a supposed high authority position, Orwell comes to the realization that he was being pushed around by the people he thought he controlled. Through the writing of this essay, Orwell shares with his audience his idea that imperialism is not everything that it seems to be on the outside because the oppressor is often restricted by this relationship as

This quote highlights that when the Burmese saw a chance to assert some power they immediately did, by ultimately commanding Orwell to take the elephant down with his ‘magic rifle’. This happens because, “[…] he shall spend his life in trying to impress the ‘natives’, and so in every crisis he has got to do what the ‘natives’ expect of him” (Orwell 5). Orwell is left with a unique dilemma; he has to choose whether he should kill the elephant to satisfy the natives or keep his morals and let the elephant leave on its own time. Orwell decides to kill the elephant and abandon his morals. This is fundamentally the same role he has to play for the British Empire. Oppressing the Burmese is a moral problem for him, but he is forced to do so regardless, due to his British superiors.

George Orwell, Shooting An Elephant Shooting An Elephant is an essay written by George Orwell. In his essay Orwell is surrounded by Imperialism and is hated by almost everyone in the town of Burma. Although the Burmese despise him, he catches their attention and support when it comes down to Orwell shooting the elephant. Orwell expresses many different emotions in this imperialistic situation such as guilt, anger, and pressure. Guilt is a feeling that oppresses Orwell several times throughout Shooting An Elephant.

His essay reflected/consisted of Orwell as a young soldier trying to solve an over bearing conflict in which he had to chose between shooting the elephant, which represented Britain’s rule/imperialism or walk away and do nothing to help the Burmese people. In “Shooting an Elephant” Orwell has an Orwell demonstrates this by stating that the reason he shot the elephant was because of the pressure he felt, caused by his Western power figure; everyone

Orwell will be put in a circumstance that he does not want to be in. He knows deep down that shooting the elephant is wrong. It is not something he wants to do. An elephant is an expensive, huge piece of machinery and can do amazing work. In this moment of pressure of deciding what to do, Orwell wants to pretend that he doesn’t care what the natives think, but it is extremely evident that he does. However, the moment he is worried about what they think, allows these citizens power which is exactly what Orwell doesn’t want to give them. Through feeling the peer pressure of the natives, Orwell shoots the elephant, knowing that it is not the right thing to do. The reading shows this as it rea ds, “It is the condition of his rile that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the natives, and so in every crisis he has got to do what the natives expect of him. He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it. I had to shoot the elephant…with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing-no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me.” Peer pressure only works because humans allow it to work through fear of getting humiliated. This statement ties right into the next theme of the

When the Burmeses see Orwell with an elephant rifle, they feel excited. With the weapon in the officer’s hand, the villagers anticipated that Orwell was planning to shoot the elephant. The Burmese feel like they should follow him to the elephant because they want to see if

Orwell’s perspective was that because the Burmese expected him to shoot the elephant, he had no other choice but to do so. His own ideals of how shooting the elephant was wrong were overcastted by the Burmese “media,” who urged him along and condoned the death of the elephant. It is not evident whether or not the natives were aware of their power over Orwell.

Since Orwell didn’t succeed in getting a scholarship he became an imperial police officer in Burma (Orwell 66). In being an officer Orwell was forced with a big decision to shoot an elephant who killed a guy or not to. Orwell felt as if he didn’t want to shoot the elephant but out of fear for his own life he did. The Burmese couldn’t kill the elephant because the British Empire outlawed weapons to maintain dominance of Lower Burma. The Burmese could have easily over took the British Empire if they

What’s a cop without the respect of the townspeople. So, Orwell did what anyone in his position would have done. Although Orwell killing the elephant was “justified” The unimportant small majority of people and the owner knew that the elephant meant no harm course the younger generation hated Orwell while his older advisory salute and praise him. In Pg.30 it states “Afterwards, of course, there were endless discussions about the shooting of the elephant. The owner was furious, Legally, I have done the right thing, for a mad elephant has to be killed like a mad dog if its owner fails to control it.”

The short story Shooting an Elephant shows how one has to battle through insecurities and make the right decisions even if they can be difficult, and not give in to follow the crowd. This idea can be tracked all through Orwell later writing also. In his famous books Animal Farm and 1984, he fights political actions that people could easily fall into the trap of mindlessly following. In Shooting an Elephant, Orwell’s maturity is put to the test, and the decision to kill it probably stayed with him throughout his life. It may have even been the reason he wanted people to not conform to what the masses are telling people to do. Peer pressure can be a dangerous and deadly thing if used incorrectly, as evident in this disheartening tale by George

Ultimately though he does just that while trying to kill the elephant with no prior knowledge of how to kill an elephant he makes himself look like a fool in front of the Burmese people because it takes him multiple shots to finally kill the elephant. This relates back to the main point of Orwell’s essay because it shows how Orwell must always remain superior in his presence of the Burmese People

As the story progressed Orwell begins to tell the story that he said, “gave me a better glimpse than I had had before of the real nature of imperialism.” He was informed that an elephant had escaped from its home and was wreaking havoc in the town so he had to go and get the elephant under control. When he received the news Orwell had already made up his mind that he was not going to kill the elephant, but was going to try and scare it away. Once he arrives to the place that the elephant had last been seen, Orwell came across a man that had been attacked by the elephant. He went on to say that the man had not looked peaceful dead, as many people say the dead looked, and seeing this man dead slightly disturbed him. Seeing this dead man caused Orwell to get an elephant rifle.