Shooting An Elephant Essay

George Orwell was a police officer in the British authority in Burma, in the story of Killing an Elephant; he clearly shows how he opposed the idea of imperialism. He begins the story by telling us how he had made up his mind that imperialism was evil and he wished to get out of his job. He says he was against the British oppression on the Burmese. He hated his job more than he could tell and through it, he could see the dirty work of the British Empire at close range.
He knows better the truth of imperialism that the Empire makes up to make it a meaningful action. The natives have a bitter feeling towards the British that Orwell feels a large number of natives hates him. This is however reasonable considering the way they are treated with inhuman manners. This is in prison and the way they are beaten with bamboos. These happening and hauntings make him feel guilt in doing his job since he opposes imperialism. He hates the job but he has no options due to his lack of education. He raises an internal conflict of what he is forced to do and what he does not want to do. His stand is that imperialism is the most evil he has ever experienced.
He symbolically uses the elephant to represent the British Empire in two main aspects, its physical characteristics and effects on Burma. The elephant’s size represents power that the empire is irresistible. The effects it has on the native are similar to the empires. This evidence on the way he describes the two forces. The British are described as evil, dirty, stinky, grey, convicts and scared whereas the man killed by the elephant is described as lying on his belly, wide-open eyes, arms crucified and grinning with an expression of unbearable agony. This shows the similarity between the two and it is amplified when he is about to shoot the elephant.
The futility of the Empire is proved in his decision to kill the elephant. He sees no security threat posed by the elephant but he has to kill it due to the over two thousand people pressing him. He realizes he has no control. As an officer of the British Empire, he has the superiority and power over the natives. He finds himself between two the empire, represented by the elephant and the natives. In his confusion on which side to lean, he kills the elephant, for the first time in his job, he sides with the natives. The will of the people forced him to kill the elephant; he had no freedom to choose.
Imperialism was depicted from the beginning to the end of the story. After killing the elephant, the young European argued that it was a shame to kill an elephant because it had killed one native. The British conquer of Burma meant the natives were to suffer, as they were not considered as humans. The natives hated the Europeans and shown no respect.
Imperialism is broken when the writer shoots the elephant and he feels as a puppet of the natives. He killed the elephant due to the native pressure. This shows his loose of control as were the British losing control of their colonies. The European only outwardly controlled Burma, they could not have real control and at the end, their imperialism in all their colonies fails.
The failure of the imperialism rule was expected. The Empire lacked real control of Burma. Orwell’s decision to kill was not through his own accord, he was not justified to kill a harmless animal. However, symbolically, he destroyed the strong chain of imperialism, torture and inhuman treatment. Imperialism was awful and dishonest but its collapse was imperialism at its best.