Cultural Value Of Imperialism And Its Effect On Literature Essays Examples

The narrator places himself as a British police officer to represent the symbol of the imperial country. The police officer describes how he is agitated by the British authority to the Burmese people. He feels that the Burmese are oppressed by the British imperialism to the extent that he believed “I had already my mind that imperialism was an evil thing” (p.3). This indicates that people lived in poor conditions such as poverty due to the forces of imperialism and although he was British, he could not support the Britain oppressive authority. He said that he was “for the Burmese and all against the oppressors, the British” (p.3). He continued to say that he was subjected to the intolerable sense of guilt by the adverse impact of the British Imperialists. He was in a situation that he sympathized with the conquered and hated the conqueror. Although he belonged to the imperialists, he felt that this status subjected to jeering, bait and hate. Although some agents of the British imperialist did not like what they were subjected to do, the local people of Burmese see all white people like oppressor.
The narrator states that “I was hated by large number of peopleI was sub-divisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way anti-European feeling was very bitter.” This expression indicates that in case of imperialism, as the county will try to impose forceful rules to the host people, that host will hate them for that. It implies how human being hates to be controlled, especially by another foreign authority. The foreign citizens will try their level best to conquer that authority under any circumstance. The host will also be willing to humiliate and oppress the people that belong to that foreign authority. For example, “if a European woman went through the bazaars alone somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress.” Imperialism also affects the controlling authority in a manner that the people in the high authority are vulnerable to the abuse and humiliation of the local people. The narrator was always vulnerable to the societal humiliation. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” Despite being the part of the imperialist authority, the imperialism has exposed him to personality instability. The instability resulted to a personal conflict as the situation arises making indifferent of whether to shoot the elephant or not.
The British were inspired to colonize Burma by different reasons. Firstly, the British were out to spread their imperialism to a region that they considered practicing antique cultures as compared to their own ‘civilized’ culture. The British did this for their own selfish interests. As Orwell narrates, the Britains were out to destroy the freedom of the Burmans. “They were fueled by the arrogance of superiority. Their main intention was not to help improve Burma’s conditions but to create a leeway through which they could control their other colonies. For instance, the British had already acquired control over India, a colony that was located very close to Burma.
The close contact between Burma and British controlled India often caused tensions between the Myanmar people and the Indians. The British, therefore, needed to acquire Burma that could easily be used to monitor India or merge India and Burma into a British colony. They were devoted to shooting any elephant that obstructed the achievement of their goal. Through Orwell’s explanation, it is clear that any Burmese who tried to resist the imperialism was to be executed. “It was perfectly clear to me what I ought to do If he charged, I would shoot; if he took no notice of me, it would be safe to leave him until the majout came back.” Orwell was aware that killing the elephant was wrong but he just had to shoot it "to avoid looking a fool."
Burma’s location was of utter importance to the British. There were many noticeable trade circuits between India and China passing through the Burma, so the economy was kept affluent due to continuous trade. The narrator states that the British wanted to “distorts the logic of economic development."
The British wanted to exploit a highly mixed and conflicting Burmese society. The various resources that were in Burma acted as a motivating factor and the British were sure of defeating the Burmese who were not in a good position to resist the British imperialism. Burma was also rich in resources. Acquiring control over Burma would have enabled the British to control resources such as ports, forests, and areas that gave them access to beneficial resources such as oil. The British oppresses the Burmese so as to destabilize their economic and political institutions. The Burmese could not resist the slow and subtle dilapidation of their decorum, compassion, and humanity.
In the book, Orwell’s opinion about imperialism is that, “when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.” This implies that Orwell was awakening the Burmese to turn tyrant and fight against the British. This would reduce their personal freedom and their imperialism will subsequently be reduced. Additionally, Orwell always had to think about what his actions will be perceived by his society and how they will help in the overall wellbeing of the empire. "But I did not want to shoot the elephant." Orwell knew that morality was not the unsurpassed option under the circumstances since it would only result to his extermination. "The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those two thousand Burmese would see me pursued, caught, trampled on, and reduced to a grinning corpse like that Indian up the hill." Personal principles ought to be violated at times depending on the prevailing condition. This realization helped Burma to serve the interests of the British while at the same time taking interest in the welfare of the Burmese.
Orwell also realizes that the white men were deceiving themselves that they were acquiring freedom and bettering their social and economic understanding by acquiring Burma. Apparently, the white man ignores their desires and simply starts thinking about what is good for the colonial government. Orwell realizes that imperialism destroys the freedom of the colonizer and the colonized. People empowered to carry out imperialism turned out to be the enemies of their society and the society would consequently perceive them as traitors not understanding that they are also suffering under the mask. His narration of his experience in Burma further indicates that imperialism was a real evil guzzling the Burmese and was not creating any rational benefits to the British.