Essay: Shooting an Elephant – George Orwell (symbol of oppression)

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “That I want to destroy British imperialism is another matter, but I want to do so by converting those who are associated with it”.
Gandhi’s words shed light on British imperialism that took place in the article “Shooting an Elephant”. George Orwell reflects on his time serving as a police officer for a British Raj in Burma. He has to make a decision whether he will conform to the British rule or follow his own route to make sure he adheres by his own beliefs. Orwell uses symbolism, irony through diction and foreshadowing metaphors to describe the constant conflict he faces to make decisions while working under British rule but supporting the Burmese people.
The elephant throughout the story is used to describe Orwell’s individuality and his conflict between the Imperials and the local population. The elephant is a symbol of oppression that the Burmese people feel towards the narrator. When Orwell received the call that an elephant had gone rampant in a bazaar, he grabbed his riffle. He had no intention to use the riffle but thought the noise would be helpful to control a menacing situation. However, the Burmese people wanted to experience the excitement and humor of the elephant dying. Orwell states, “And suddenly I realized that I would have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it…”(134). The narrator feels peer pressured into shooting the elephant because the crowd of Burmese people coincidently wanted to kill the animal. Although Orwell is the police officer who is the figure of authority, the Burmese people are actually controlling his actions. The Burmese people did not like the narrator but with a rifle in his hands, he put on a show for them. He describes this moment as, “I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys”(135). The roles of oppression are reversed in this moment. Orwell becomes a victim of British rule rather than the Burmese people because of the oppression he faces. The Burmese people were supposed to be under British rule however Orwell is the one being treated inferiorly.
Orwell uses diction to constantly contemplate how he feels about the native people and British imperialism. Throughout the narrative, he secretly supports the Burmese people. However, it is clear that imperialism has shaped his perspectives greatly. If the narrator went against British rule, he would be loathed and put into threatening circumstances. When Orwell describes the man the elephant kills, he refers to him as “coolie”. The narrator does not acknowledge that the Burmese people are actually human. Although Orwell does not actually feel this way, he probably speaks the way other soldiers do as well. There is also irony present because Orwell only focused on how the Burmese people thought of him. He feels this sense of guilt that is a product of the pressure the Burmese people put on him. When he is about to shoot the elephant, he looses his freedom because he did what others expected of him. In the end he says, “I was very glad that coolie had been killed; it put me in right and it gave me a sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant. Orwell still does not understand what is morally right and wrong for himself. He believes that the elephant is worth more than the coolie or the Burmese people as a whole. Orwell tries to justify killing the elephant by saying since it killed a coolie first, shooting it would be beneficial. The narrator is under the belief that killing the elephant makes sure that it does not harm anyone else. However, killing the elephant leads him to follow the conventional British rule even though that is not what he believes in.
The narrator uses metaphors to describe the killing of the elephant. Orwell did not want to kill the elephant at first. The Burmese people however, put pressure on Orwell to kill the elephant. He says, “I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly” (134). The metaphor is comparing the wills of the native people and their physical force. The beliefs and wills of the Burmese people should not have any control over how Orwell acts, but they do. This quote also foreshadows Orwell shooting the elephant later in the story shortly after. Even though Orwell’s initial idea was not to kill the elephant, this let the readers know that he would kill the elephant. After Orwell shoots the elephant, he struggles with an inner conflict. This inner conflict is between his self-conscience and image. Orwell describes, “He looked suddenly stricken, shrunken, immensely old, as through the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him without knocking him down”(136). Orwell’s word choice of “the frightful impact of the bullet had paralyzed him without knocking him down” compares a bullet paralyzing the elephant without letting him fall. The elephant’s fall foreshadows Orwell’s fall as well. The narrator uses the elephant to show how his shooting of the elephant has his identity completely unnoticed.
“Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell is a story that reflects on his duty in Burma with all of the native people. Orwell feels oppressed by British rule because he feels as if he has to follow every rule and the Burmese control his sense of image because they follow him. This leads to a sense of lost identity where he does not know how to act on some decisions. Throughout the story, the elephant shows the British rule in Burma, which is becoming weaker and causing issues for the police officers and there is a shift of power to the Burmese people. Techniques such as symbolism, irony through diction and foreshadowing metaphors are used to display the constant struggle of identity and decision-making during Orwell’s duty as a police officer.