Shooting an Elephant
In his essay "Shooting an Elephant", George Orwell attempts to relay the inhumanity of imperialism. Orwell uses his personal experience with a moral dilemma to convey to the reader the evils which result from colonial politics. An English petty officer in colonial Burma is routinely required to enforce oppressive rules, which he morally opposes. He apparently has even less respect for his Burmese subjects, who routinely ridicule and mock his foreign presence and authority. The story's tension builds when Burmese villagers beckon the officer to quickly kill an elephant who recently trampled a villager. The officer is given conflicting and perhaps unreliable information by the villagers regarding the animals state. Upon finding the elephant, he rightly determin
" The author makes a powerful political and social commentary by using the strategy of turning himself (the oppressor) into the victim. Compounding his dilemma, the officer knows the gun provided him is insufficient to complete the distasteful task quickly and mercifully. The author's actions cause pain on both the executioner and the elephant, who dies a painful death. Instead of describing himself as a hero, he says he was "hated" -- but usually he wasn't even important enough to be hated. While it was clearly immoral to shoot the elephant, Orwell demonstrates in that he felt a lot of guilt over the incident. The executioner symbolizes the imperial country, and the elephant symbolizes the victim of imperialism. Despite his initial resolution that it would be morally wrong to kill the elephant, Orwell describes the dilemma he faces while trying to win the approval of the people. What strikes the reader from the very beginning is the author's unrelenting honesty about himself. Orwell clearly writes this essay as an attack on imperialism, showing that imperialism benefits nobody. " Because of Orwell's almost painful honesty and willingness to look at his own faults, we know that we'll probably learn some truths in this essay, not just some cliche version of reality. This duality highlights the pain that imperialism brought to both parties involved. es that it poses no present or future safety risk. Nevertheless, the villagers continue their intense pressure upon the English officer to destroy it.
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Acceptance Essays
