Primary Source Analysis: Shooting an Elephant George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” was first published in 1936 in a literary magazine. Though it was written ten years before the United States emerged as a super power and surpassed Britain on the world stage, this essay could be viewed as an article that questioned the validity of the British Empire, as well at it’s hold on it’s citizens and the world it seemed to rule.
The story is told in a first person narrative by a man who worked for the British Empire as a sub-divisional police officer in the small town of Moulmein in Burma. He does not lead a very fulfilled life, as he dislikes his job working for the British Imperial system and also endures constant hate put upon him by the Burmese people. One day he is informed that a work elephant has gone wild in what is referred to as gone “must”, which is unusually aggressive behaviour from a domesticated animal. The narrator goes to find the animal to assess what steps needed to be taken to mitigate any damage it might cause to the town. Along the way, he comes upon a dead “coolie” (Burmese labourer) who had been crushed by the elephant and upon whose dead face was inscribed an excruciating amount of pain. Coupled with this scene and the knowledge that the elephant had destroyed properties and livestock, the narrator sends for a gun strong enough to kill the elephant, still without any real …show more content…
It certainly showcased just how far the hold of the Empire stretched and how engrained the idea of imperialism was in it’s citizens minds, but on the other hand it also showed how perilous that hold was and how British citizens began to think for themselves. They did begin to question the world they lived in instead of blindly accepting the imperialistic mindset and because of that, the British Imperial system faltered and Britain began to change in the mid-twentieth
The story is told in a first person narrative by a man who worked for the British Empire as a sub-divisional police officer in the small town of Moulmein in Burma. He does not lead a very fulfilled life, as he dislikes his job working for the British Imperial system and also endures constant hate put upon him by the Burmese people. One day he is informed that a work elephant has gone wild in what is referred to as gone “must”, which is unusually aggressive behaviour from a domesticated animal. The narrator goes to find the animal to assess what steps needed to be taken to mitigate any damage it might cause to the town. Along the way, he comes upon a dead “coolie” (Burmese labourer) who had been crushed by the elephant and upon whose dead face was inscribed an excruciating amount of pain. Coupled with this scene and the knowledge that the elephant had destroyed properties and livestock, the narrator sends for a gun strong enough to kill the elephant, still without any real …show more content…
It certainly showcased just how far the hold of the Empire stretched and how engrained the idea of imperialism was in it’s citizens minds, but on the other hand it also showed how perilous that hold was and how British citizens began to think for themselves. They did begin to question the world they lived in instead of blindly accepting the imperialistic mindset and because of that, the British Imperial system faltered and Britain began to change in the mid-twentieth