Analysis Of Shooting An Elephant By George Orwell

Being a person of high authorities can sometimes form a burden on you. This correlates to, “Shooting an Elephant,” by George Orwell, which is about a police officer in Burma. The police officer is a European, so he faces plenty of hatred in Burma. However, one day an elephant goes into “must” state and it is up to this police officer to stop the elephant. The police officer is not justified in his actions as he shoots the elephant to maintain his pride, the elephant is already in peace and there is plenty of social pressure. Pride can oftentimes cause people to make dreadful decisions. In the story, “Shooting an Elephant” the police officer has to make a decision that can affect his pride. The police officer “was hated by large numbers of people.” He does not want to increase this hatred, so he makes a choice which will earn him some respect. In paragraph seven, the police officer states, “To come all that …show more content…
The police officer is “very glad the coolie had been killed.” This shows that he uses the death of the coolie to cover up his real purpose of killing the elephant. Though, many Europeans support his decision, the younger men are against him. The younger men consider the elephant to be more worthy than a coolie. The police officer solely kills the elephant to hide his fear and protect his pride. The gathering of thousands of Burmese people causes that fear to develop. He does not want to disappoint the crowd and allow them to think that he is just another coward European. In a sense, the police officer wants to show that the Europeans are strong willed people. However, shooting an elephant to hide his fears is not bravery, it is simply a manipulation to hide his true intentions. A better decision would be to not give in to the social pressure and make his own