Shooting An Elephant Imperialism Essay

The True Power of Imperialism George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” describes the experience of the English narrator, possibly Orwell himself, called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant while working as a police officer in Burma. Because the locals expect him to do the job, Orwell shoots the elephant against his better judgment due to the pressure to uphold the reputation of the British. “Shooting an Elephant” shows how imperialism can result in undesirable behavior and inflect harm on others. Early in the story Orwell states right away that “Imperialism is an evil thing” (Paragraph 2, Page 1). Orwell believes this because of the way the locals treat him. Due to the British attempting to colonize the town Moulmein, the Burmese have a very “Anti-European” (Paragraph 1, Page 1) mindset. As a result of the conflicting imperialism between the two countries it made it quite difficult for them to live in harmony. The Burmese would repeatedly trip Orwell on the football field and the referee would conveniently look the other way. Also the young Buddhist priests would stand on the corner of the streets and sneer at every European that walked by. The Burmese are so intoxicated by their own imperialism, but the lack the guts to truly do anything about it. Instead of raising a riot they sit on the corners of streets and make life difficult for any European that comes …show more content…
George Orwell struggles with what he morally believes in and what his country expects of him, evidently he ends up caving and disregards what he believes in. As a result Orwell finally breaks from his innocence and realizes that his country is doing more harm than good, for both citizens, by trying to colonize this foreign country. Sometimes people need to make mistakes in order to see the