Shooting an elephant

”Shooting an elephant” is an essay written by George Orwell and published in 1936. The text is told by a first person narrator, who tells us about being a policeman in Burma and about his doubt, whether to kill an animal or not.
The man who tells us the story is an unhappy young policeman who lives in mental isolation. He hates British imperialism, he hates Burmese natives, and he hates his job. He feels like a target for the Burmese people. The natives are treating him very badly; they are making fun of the white man.
They laugh at the protagonist and sneer at him when he passes them. “In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves.” We still don’t get the impression that the narrator hates the natives, we get the feeling that he understand them. He puts himself into the same positions as they are; he is in the same position- also oppressed and hated, but cause by his own nation’s occupation.
The Indians are also oppressed by the British and the white man. The story is written in a period where England had colonies all over the world. The British are trying to make an empire far away from home; they conquer other countries and try to assimilate the population to their own rules and traditions. The white man has an thought, that they are the chosen people to civilize primitive races.
They are clever, educated, and rich and therefore they feel that they have a duty to help the natives and turn them into people like themselves. Burma, where the story takes place is a buddistic country in south of Asia. In the beginning of the 19th century Burma was occupied by England. The narrator has a very certain attitude towards imperialism. He says it is an evil thing “of course- I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British”. He knows and he can see that every day, that imperialism is about having power, oppressing people and abusing them. He sees the British supremacy as a tyranny and he knows that not only the Burmese people are the target of the imperialism, but he is also a part of it. When you live in a poor country and people from far away arrives and thinks that they have the right to show you how you need to live, and how your society needs to be like, it causes hate and disrespect. The protagonist knows it, and he can in a way understand the Burmese peoples laughing, sneering and bullying. He can understand their anger and that they want to take revenge and fight back the oppressors when they have the possibility. The
1Shooting an Elephant story-teller is stuck between two evils, he hates the natives, he hates his job and he hates the Empire
“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.” It is an evil circle because of the poverty and oppressing the imperialism causes, and of course the mutual hate toward the two nations doesn’t make the whole situation better. The narrator realizes that throughout his entire rule in Burma he is actually the victim of the Burmese and the imperialism.
There are a lot of symbols in the essay; the whole incident with shooting the big elephant is a symbol of England and their power. The fate of the elephant lies in the hands of the protagonist.
Only he can make the final decision. He is allowed and has the right to decide whether the animal is going to live, die or escape. The elephant could therefore be a symbol of the British Empire; it is a symbol of power, strength and control. It represents the civilized and “tame” England that can destroy and kill. The elephant is dangerous, it can kill many people, and it is exactly like the British
Empire, a dangerous and destroying nation that can control and have power over countries with poor and primitive populations. But the elephant could also be a symbol for the natives. They are a peaceful people, but if their freedom is taken away and they have to assimilate they can be mad and rebellious. The fate of the indigenous is in hands of their oppressors, and they can get killed with just one shot if they show any sign of a revolt.
In the end of the story the protagonist decides to kill the animal to “avoid looking like a fool.” He feels this is his duty to the kill the animal, this is his job in Burma, he needs to show that the white man is strong and cannot be frightened. He feels all the watchful yellow faces on his back, and he needs to complete his mission, he cannot show the Burmese people that the white man is weak. He must complete his role, what is expected of him. Orwell was born in India, and he also lived and worked as a policeman in Burma for five years, so it’s very likely that the story could be autobiographic, the story could easily be a part of Orwell’s diary and a description of his own experiences. The essay is a political opinion; Orwell shows us a dilemma and a real conflict. He shows us a falling into peer-pressure, dilemma when people expect groups of people to do certain things and do certain actions. Orwell shows how the influences of Imperialism harm both sides, he demonstrates this perfectly by turning himself, who is supposed to be the higher power, into the victim, and he takes up the theme we all know and are afraid of, how human beings will do certain
2Shooting an Elephant things just to “avoid looking a fool.” We all know the sentence in the ending of the story before the narrator shoots the animal, and many of us have said it to ourselves vefore: “And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh”