Summary Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

In the essay “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell reflects on the experiences that he had in lower Burma as a British police officer and relates it to imperialism. Due to the dictatorship of British Empire in Burma, people often insulted Orwell. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” This made Orwell hate the British empire and his job. However, the event of shooting an elephant gave Orwell a better view of imperialism. Orwell centers his article around the emotional conflict that he faced when shooting the elephant and how he was torn between the pressure that was forced on him by the people, expecting him to behave like a “sahib” and his human morals, that the elephant should not be

At second shot he did not collapse but climbed with desperate slowness to his feet… I fired a third time. That was the shot that did for him… it seemed dreadful to see the great beast lying there, powerless to move and yet powerless to die” The extended death of the elephant symbolizes the downfall of British Empire and its long-lasting effects it had on Burmese. As the elephant, did not die after the third shot but was powerless, Burmese were still alive yet they had less strength and hopes after the wars. Orwell hatred for the British Empire is seen through the guilt that he had when he mentions that seeing the elephant lying there powerless to move and yet powerless to die.

Another strategy Orwell uses is the emotional description; he gives the readers a sense of how he feels throughout the situation of shooting the elephant and about the imperialistic power that is used to the disadvantage of others, that are not as powerful. He explains how the crowd of people watching him so intensely makes him feel like a puppet in the hand of someone else telling him what to do and in the same moment he realizes how the British Empire is also able to take over by controlling the East. He uses description to describe the setting of the scene while comparing the crowd of people pressuring him to kill the elephant to the Europeans domination of the