Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell Research Paper

“Shooting an Elephant” is a short anecdote written by George Orwell. The story depicts a young man, Orwell, who has to decide whether to bend the rules for his superiors or to follow his own path. George Orwell works as the sub-divisional police officer of Moulmein, a town in the British colony of Burma. He, along with the rest of the English military are disrespected by the Burmese due to the English invading their territory and taking over. Over time, Orwell, the narrator, has already begun to question the presence of the British in the Far East. He states, theoretically and secretly, he was “all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British.” Orwell describes himself as “young and ill-educated,” bitterly hating his job. Orwell uses powerful imagery and diction to convey a depressing and sadistic tone to the story. At the end of the story, he faces a dilemma: to kill the elephant or not.

In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell is a British police officer in Burma. One day when an elephant ravaged through a small village, Orwell was forced to shoot the elephant against his free will because of the pressure of “two thousand at the least” (Orwell 1101) Burmans who expected him to shoot the elephant. When he first heard of the elephant he had “no intention of shooting the elephant,” (Orwell 1101) but when the pressure of his surroundings acted on him, he found no other

All the fuss, actions he was encouraged to make, lead back to his job he had to do, which was one he despised. Orwell’s introduction makes it very clear he doesn't not like being a police officer and especially does not like imperialism. “For at that time I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better.” (Orwell,1963,pg. 1) He wanted nothing to do with imperialism, he was all for the Burmese. He didn't believe in the cruel ways the British had forced him to act on. His words are spread among many sentences created this harsh tone. He was furious he was considered part of the imperialism. He was in the group though, and being part of this came with responsibility and standards. Orwell had to prove he was worthy and could hold up his end

Orwell is an unhappy young policeman who lives in mental isolation.{4} He hates British imperialism, he hates Burmese natives, and he hates his job.{5} He is completely alone with his thoughts since he cannot share his idea that "imperialism was an evil thing" with his countrymen. Orwell sees the British rule as "an unbreakable tyranny, as something clamped down. . . Upon the will of prostate peoples" because he observes firsthand the cruel imprisonments and whippings that the British use to enforce their control.{6} Nor can he talk to the Burmese because of the "utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East." This "utter silence" results from the reasoning behind imperialism that says, "Our cultures are different. My culture has more power than your culture. Therefore, my culture is superior in every way, and it will rule yours."{7} If one is a member of a superior culture, one must not make

George Orwell describes to us in “Shooting an elephant” the struggle that his character faces when to win the mobs approval and respect when he shoots down an innocent animal and sacrifices what he believes to be right. Orwell is a police officer in Moulmein, during the period of the British occupation of Burma. An escaped elephant gives him the opportunity to prove himself in front of his people and to be able to become a “somebody” on the social

In the story by George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant”, George, a European police officer, shot the elephant because he was called upon by a sup-inspector at a police station on the other end of town to handle the matter of ravaging elephant. As the village people from the City of Moulmein, gathered around with excitement, he felt as he must shoot the innocent elephant that had escaped due to the fact that he felt pressured into doing so. The Burmans, did not expect the Europeans with open arms, so when this opportunity presented itself he reacted on the reaction of the people of the City of Moulmein. So since they all cheered and had smiles on their face he wanted to please the crowd, even though,

Orwell notes the elephant was causing damage to the Burmese’s properties and even a death of a coolie with “an expression of unendurable agony” (130). Orwell decides to chase after the elephant with a rifle to protect the “Burmese population [which] had no weapons and were quite helpless against it” (130). Orwell knows with “perfect certainty that [he] ought not to shoot [the soothed elephant]” and yet “irresistibly” pressured by the “sea of yellow faces… all certain that the elephant was going to be shot”, he realizes “[he] should have to shoot the elephant after all” (131).

Orwell uses this metaphor of an elephant’s rage and destruction of homes, theft of food shelves, and even killings as an example to the inner working of imperialism. Metaphorically, Orwell expands his argument about how imperialism is tyrannical towards to the Burmese people by comparing an elephant’s rage to the British Empire’s invasion of Burma and its destruction of the native life. Similarly, the elephant’s theft of food represents the oppressed of the British Empire’s imperialism has brought upon the Burmese people. They try to implement their aim of domination upon Burma without any care upon the Burmese way of life. This event not only makes the oppressed country become the victims of the imperialism, but it also is the foundation of Orwell’s dilemma regarding the killing of an elephant or the peer pressure he feels towards killing. In short, the use of metaphorical devices found throughout Orwell’s narrative help emphasizing the similarities of imperialism to that of an elephant ravaging through a town, illustrating the true effects it has upon the Burmese people.

Despite his support for the Burmese, Orwell endured their overwhelming bitterness and hatred because of his British heritage: "the sneering faces . . . of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me . . got badly on my nerves" (p.3). Orwell sums up his feelings of guilt, coupled with his reaction against being hated: "All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible" (4). Although part of him saw the British Raj as tyrannical, "with another part I thought that the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest's guts" (4). Orwell rationalizes his rage saying, "Feelings like these are the normal by-products of imperialism" (4). Orwell realizes that tyrannical imperialism works against both the imperialists and the natives.

Have you ever been pressured into doing something you didn’t want to, but felt like you had no other option? The narrator in Orwell's, “Shooting an Elephant” had a very similar experience. He was pressed by the Burmese into committing a senseless killing that he did not deem necessary. This transformation of the main characters mentality and morals gives the audience a terrific example of characterization, which would not be possible without the effective use of point of view in Orwell's story.

Everyone, at one or time, has succumbed to the pressure of doing something against his or her wishes. In George Orwell’s essay “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell recounts his earlier years as a sub-divisional officer in British-occupied Burma. With their bitter hatred for the white men, the native Burmese would taunt and harass them. Although Orwell sympathizes with the Burmese and against the British, their constant jeering led made him hate his job even more. The crux of this story occurs when Orwell receives a phone call to “do something about” a rampaging elephant that has damaged property, killed a cow, and murdered a man. With a crowd of two thousand natives following him as he, armed with an elephant rifle, watches the elephant, he

Story is about a Burma village where an elephant got loose and wreaked havoc on the town and kills a villager (a man). George Orwell is the sheriff and ultimately makes the choice to kill the elephant.

He was all for the people and what that people wanted in order for him not to look like a fool. “And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly.” (Orwell 136). If the people wanted him to kill the elephant he would do it, because is what they wanted. The pressure of the people was influencing his decisions. Just as we see in today’s society’s, most of the things that are done are because the people want them a certain way. Because the Burmese’s were starving they needed Orwell to shoot the elephant. even if he believed that that was not the right thing to do. In his opinion the elephant didn’t needed to be shot, as for he saw the elephant beating his bunch of grass against his knees, and there is no reason why kill a working animal. Fear was a big factor in his decision, he was scared if, “anything went wrong those two thousands Burmans would see me pursued, caught, trampled on, and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill.” (Orwell 137). He was definitely

Two of Orwell’s first literary works were his essays regarding his experiences as a policeman in Burma during imperialization from Europe. These essays include “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant.” In these essays, he shows his clear disagreement of oppression, even while working for the oppressors. Orwell writes

George Orwell was a police officer who was ill educated and witnessed many suffering and difficulties which faced Burmese under the British imperialism. Orwell became one of the greatest symbolisms who helped us to understand the evil of colonialism in the primitive Burmese. The hatless between British imperialism and the Burmese were growing rapidly which made George’s works of helping people more difficulty especially in the face of violence, robbery and restoring peaces to areas where European were seen as evil. The shooting of lose elephant by Orwell was seen as a golden opportunity to deliver the symbolism of European power and its superior cultures over the Burmese “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd--seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind (pg.753)”. The elephant was already caused much destruction in some areas for example he destroyed a bamboo hut, killed a cow, raided some fruit-stalls and devoured the stock. As Orwell showed his intension of killing the elephant, he received a great supports from natives Burmese for many reasons, first, by killing the elephant, the natives would get the meat from elephant, will also