In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell was completely justified in shooting the elephant. Often time people who have been put in a position of authority are required to make tough decisions. These decisions have to be made based on what is best or the group as a whole; not what one personally feels about a situation. In “Shooting an Elephant”, though Orwell did not personally desire to shoot the elephant based on the circumstances shooting it was the best option.
Orwell had no desire to kill the elephant but he had no other option. The elephants mahout “the only one that could manage it when it was in this state” (Orwell 238) was twelve hours away and without him, Orwell was unequipped to deal with an elephant. Since the elephant had escaped it had caused it had caused a large amount of destruction to the town.
“It had already destroyed somebody’s bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit stalls and devoured the stock; also it had met the municipal rubbish van and, when the driver jumped out to his heels, had turned the van over and inflected violence upon it.” (Orwell 239)
Having no personal training on how to handle must elephants, Orwell did the only thing he could do to make sure the elephant did not destroy anything else. …show more content…
“The people said that the elephant had come suddenly upon him round the corner of the hut, caught him with his trunk, put its foot on his back and ground him into the earth.” (Orwell 239) The moment Orwell saw the dead man’s body he knew what he was going to have to do. An innocent human life is worth more than that of an animal and if Orwell had not shot the elephant he could not guarantee that it would not attack again. If had he made the choice to not shoot the elephant and it attacked someone else he would have been
Orwell had no desire to kill the elephant but he had no other option. The elephants mahout “the only one that could manage it when it was in this state” (Orwell 238) was twelve hours away and without him, Orwell was unequipped to deal with an elephant. Since the elephant had escaped it had caused it had caused a large amount of destruction to the town.
“It had already destroyed somebody’s bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit stalls and devoured the stock; also it had met the municipal rubbish van and, when the driver jumped out to his heels, had turned the van over and inflected violence upon it.” (Orwell 239)
Having no personal training on how to handle must elephants, Orwell did the only thing he could do to make sure the elephant did not destroy anything else. …show more content…
“The people said that the elephant had come suddenly upon him round the corner of the hut, caught him with his trunk, put its foot on his back and ground him into the earth.” (Orwell 239) The moment Orwell saw the dead man’s body he knew what he was going to have to do. An innocent human life is worth more than that of an animal and if Orwell had not shot the elephant he could not guarantee that it would not attack again. If had he made the choice to not shoot the elephant and it attacked someone else he would have been