George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is a short story regarding the nature of British Imperialism over its colonies. The story depicts the real motives for which such despotic governments act. It also imposes the kind of cause and effect relationship that is brought up with respect to such actions between the oppressors and oppressed. In the story the narrator is faced with an experience that shows not only the nature of this imperialism, but that also shows how the underlying meaning of his journey
Following the conclusion of World War I, he returned to lower Burma as part of the British Imperial Police to follow in his father’s civil-service footsteps. Through the eyes of this young and inexpeienced Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant” takes a multifaceted view of imperialism. In the essay, he presents a revelation: it is not only the oppressed Burmese people who lose their identity at the hands of the occupying British imperialists, it is also the imperialists themselves who are stripped of their
“Shooting an Elephant” highlights the paradoxical and incongruous effects of imperialism in the 1920’s. This narrative is written by George Orwell and takes place in Lower Burma when it was a part of India. The short story is a well-constructed piece of work, one that illustrates the effects that the British imperialistic ideals have on the author. Orwell’s mortality is directly tested by his legal obligation to slaughter the elephant. Thus, creating an internal conflict symbolized through the medium
used in reference to a condition that succeeds colonial rule (Sidaway 2000). A definition as such could be argued as rather misleading in light of the fact that majority of nations involved are still culturally and economically subordinated. This essay, with reference to Sidaway (2000) and Orwell (1936), will make obvious the multiple postcolonial conditions that allow for the continuation of coercion and will further delineate the different categories of imperialism and colonialism. In addition
used in reference to a condition that succeeds colonial rule (Sidaway 2000). A definition as such could be argued as rather misleading in light of the fact that majority of nations involved are still culturally and economically subordinated. This essay, with reference to Sidaway (2000) and Orwell (1936), will make obvious the multiple postcolonial conditions that allow for the continuation of coercion and will further delineate the different categories of imperialism and colonialism. In addition