Shooting an Elephant

Shooting an Elephant is an interesting story since it is told from a point of view that we, the readers, never usually hear from.  I have heard of imperialism many times and even read books about it, but they are usually told from the point of view of those who were overpowered. This story is told from the opposite point of view, George Orwell (who is a police officer for England at Burma) tells this story. That impressed me as a reader and kept me interested. I really wanted to see imperialism from a different perspective and I did, since George Orwell describes the way he feels and the way the people feel about him in a very detailed way.  That affected me as a reader since I got to have a glimpse of how uncomfortable life was for George Orwell during that time, he clearly states “I was hated by large numbers of people” in the very first lines of the story. Plus I understood that he had to often make difficult decisions and that he explains to the readers using this story about an elephant he had to shoot.

Shooting an Elephant is a well organized story and that makes it easier to understand. George Orwell uses figurative language often to describe the setting and convey his message about imperialism.  He even uses a simile to describe a dead person; he states “the great beast’s foot had stripped the skin from his back as neatly as one skins a rabbit.” The elephant in this story symbolizes the ruled people of Burma, who were doing nothing wrong but ended up being overpowered by a greater force. George Orwell continuously states throughout the story that he did not want to shoot the elephant since the elephant was an innocent animal who eventually is just calmly standing in one place. However, he ends up being watched by a large crowd of people (who already hated him) but were excited to watch the elephant get shot. Not having killed the elephant would have just given them another reason to laugh at him. The last sentence in this story sums this up, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking like a fool.”   

Imperialism is when one nation overpowers a weaker nation. George Orwell gives us an interesting glimpse of his idea about imperialism through this story.  George Orwell believes imperialism puts limits not only on the people being overpowered but also to those who have to maintain it that way.  He believes to be a “dummy” in between these two countries, England and Burma, though he is obviously the “dummy” of England. He says that “he (the white man) shall spend the rest of his life trying to impress the “natives”.” He now has a certain standard he has to live by and this standard will always limit his freedom to do what he wants. This opinion and George Orwell’s honesty is what makes this story so great.