Analyzing George Orwell's Essay 'Shooting An Elephant'
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Tyrants, while trying to maintain the power, dominate people by completely restricting their individual freedom and inarguably implement the rules of the tyranny that they belong. Since a colonialist country, is the one that through its threatening policy, forces its officers to act like tyrants, it is mainly understood that where imperialism is in charge, there also exists tyranny. Analyzing George Orwell`s essay “Shooting an Elephant”, it becomes clearer that even though the man is unwilling to act like a tyrant, he is forced by the Empire and people to close his eyes to his values. In his essay “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell describes the struggle of a British officer, in other words a man who has abandoned his own morals, who exists only…show more content… As soon as a man forfeits his beliefs to implement empire`s orders, his face grows to fit the mask of tyranny. Although the British officer unwillingly shoots the elephant because the Empire and natives expect of him to do so, he puts on the artificial mask of the Empire as soon as he pulls the trigger. Therefore, he ultimately turns to be an imperialist and destroys his human nature by forsaking his free will. He is no longer a person, but representative of whiteness ( Tyner, 266 ). He has already abandoned his moral values for the sake of tyrannical government. Thus Sigmund Freud quotes, “It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement — that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.” Moreover, Sigmund Freud`s description of a man who seeks power is directly connected to the narrator in the story. Though the narrator is not involved in seeking power and success for himself in early beginning, the pressure and insults of Burmese people makes him gain the power later. Thus, it is understandable that a man wears a mask, because he seeks power and control over others, and his desires make him not realize his moral