British Imperialism In George Orwells Shooting An Elephant

Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell portrays the fictional life of Orwell during his time as sub-divisional police officer in Moulmein, Lower Burma. The essay unveils the identity crisis as a British man, where rising imperialism of British in Burma is becoming more dominant. The essay started off identifying who George Orwell was. A sub-divisional police officer of Moulmein, who developed a feeling of being anti-European towards the Burmese people. By claiming that no one is courageous enough to raise a riot against the British, Orwell basically told us how dominant the imperialist was. Even the Buddhist priests, who are well respected amongst the Burmese were being jeered by the British. Orwell furthers mentioned about the†¦show more content†¦First of all, the British Imperialist is controlling the Burmese people with autocratic approach that disallow the Burmese to voice their thoughts and opinions. The example shown when Orwell questioned several Burmese locals, wher e each of them answered him differently. We can see that the locals were scared to answer Orwell because answering him falsely will lead to public punishment by the Imperialist. It seems that the superiority of the British Imperialist dominates the Burmese so much that they have any rights to say and act in their presence. The decision of Orwell changing his weapons to an elephant rifle was when he saw the corpses of a dead Indian, black Dradvidian coolie being stomped by the elephant. As aforementioned, Orwell had no intention of shooting the elephant, especially a working one. Orwell valued the assets of working elephant by claiming that it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery. The only reason he brought a rifle is to defend himself. With the assumptions that the elephant calmed himself down, Orwell decided not to shoot it and thus wait until the elephant walked home. On the other hand, he also realized that there were thousands of people, all happy and excited over this bit of fun, waiting and watching the elephant to be shot down by himself. The pressure from the crowd convinced Orwell to shoot the elephant. With the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East, this was the moment forShow MoreRelatedBritish-Imperialism In George Orwells Shooting An Elephant718 Words   |  3 PagesThe essay â€Å"Shooting an Elephant,† by George Orwell tells about the life of the narrator in a time of British-Imperialism. He tells the story of himself being a sub-divisional police officer in a town that was against the occupation of the British. The narrator worked in an aimless and lack of control area. The essay often tells of the anger that Orwell feels about the natives. 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