The basis for the essay “Shooting An Elephant” begins simple enough. Author Geiorge Orwell based the content of the story upon his past experiences as a police officer in Burma who had to put up with racial discrimination and imperialism problems in the British occupied Burma. While relating his experiences, we learn that the Burmese people go out of their way to make the British feel uncomfortable in the country. All of their ridiculing activities came to a head for Mr. Orwell on the day when an elephant went ona stampeded in Burma’s streets. As the elephant showed no signs of settling down and had already caused much structural and physical damages to the people, he was forced to shoot the elephant.
After shooting the elephant, he flees the scene, unable to watch the elephant die but cannot escape the gory details as it is discussed by everyone in the city. This adds to his inner turmoil as he comes to realize that he pities the people of Burma even though they hate the British. However, his job required him to support the imperialist rule and even as he knew the reasons for the British occupation, he also knows that by treating the people the way they did, the Brits were simply playing into the hands of the Burmese without even knowing it. Without any need for explanation, he knew that the people wanted him to kill the elephant and that they had a very good reason for doing so.
These people were hungry and the elephant would be a source of food for them. The relationship of the Burmese and the Brits could have been called dysfunctional at the time. The reason I say this is because, no matter how much they hated the Brits, the knew and looked up to their tyrants for their survival.
However, the Burmese had mastered the art of getting their way without the Brits realizing that they were surrendering to the peoples will. This is what Mr. Orwell begins to understand as he realizes that :
The people, seeing him armed with a gun, follow him and the mob goes on increasing by the time he locates the elephant. The elephant has got over his “must”, and is now peacefully pulling stalks from the field and putting them in his mouth with his trunk. Orwell has no intention of killing the elephant, but the will of over two thousand natives, seems to imprint on his mind. He is the holder of the magic weapon, which will give them their fun, and meat off the elephant. Orwell is driven to kill the elephant, inspite of his unwillingness.
There is a realization that in reality, the British are not the occupying force that they thought they were. Instead, they were merely actors in an ongoing stageplay for the citizens of Burma wherein they could dictate the actors movements and the final outcome of the stories. This was exactly what Mr. Orwell Did when he chose to kill the elephant with an audience looking over his shoulder in anticipation.
In the end, it is all about the pitfalls of imperialism. The elephant signifies the Burmese people, rampaging to become free while he, the personification of the imperialist and colonialist British, does everything to keep everything that is happening under his control. That in an imperialist set up, there is no such thing as a dominant force. Both forces are forced by circumstance to become dominant and both parties end up as broken, shallow representations of themselves in the end.
Work Cited
“Analysis of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell: All About Saving Face – Or Is It?”. associatedcontent. 2006. Web.
“Paper Trails: Cultural Imperialism from the late 19th Century as seen through Documents, Literature and Photographs”. World History Connected. 2008. Web.
“Shooting An Elephant Summary / Study Guide”. enotes. 2008. Web.