Shooting An Elephant Imperialism

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In the short story “Shooting an Elephant” the author; George Orwell as a young Englishman narrates an event from his life when he was serving as a police officer in Burma in the 1920s, when it was a British colony. The first perspective of Orwell on British Imperialism shows that he is fully against the oppressors, the British and claims that is evil. He hates Burmese natives and he definitely hates his job. In this story, his persona is regret and remorse with feeling a certain hatred and guilt towards himself when he is forced to shoot the elephant despite of his will. Many parts in this essay show how he was weak and frustrated due to his action to shoot the innocent beast when he was surrounded by the crowd of native Burmese. He doesn’t want to kill the elephant, but the crowed demand a show and expect the young representative of the Queen to act decisively and without hesitation. He But when he lays eyes at the huge mass of people behind him, he changes his stance to Orwell then repeatedly states how immoral and guilty it is to shoot a defenseless animal. When he saysHe wants to justify what he has done and his feeling from the pressure of the crowd on him.…show more content…
When he describes that and decided he still is following his moral belief. Despite of many reasons to not shoot the elephant such as how it is worth more alive rather than dead, or how he is a Orwell feels the pressure and anticipation of thousands of Burmese that are gathered to watch him kill the elephant. He weighs the pros and cons of his situation, but eventually against his will and moral belief he decides to shoot the elephant. He shoots the elephant for all of the wrong reasons because the elephant is an innocent victim of his ego; the elephant represents the effects of the tension between British imperialism and

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