The Importance Of Shooting The Elephant By George Orwell

Register to read the introduction… Peer pressure occurs when a person in order to be liked or in order to fit in the group performs a task that when kept alone would not perform. And on not doing the task would be subject the person to think of what the other party might think of him/her. The time period in which Orwell had to decide whether to kill the elephant or let it live was a very crucial stage. The second paragraph of the essay he states that he had no intention to shoot the elephant only to simply scare it away “I had no intention of shooting the elephant — I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if necessary”. The pressure from the crowd of “yellow” skinned people played a vital role in this by crowding behind him and waiting in excitement for the elephant to be shot. He wanted to fit in with the group and decided to shoot the elephant. He should have followed his will.
One of the major points that caught the attention from the story is how the power of imperialism has to maintain a status …show more content…
He thought deeply that a dead elephant would cost around five pounds but an alive would be worth much more. He never intends to kill the elephant but seeing the dead body of the coolie decided to get his friends elephant rifle. After seeing the elephant he analyzed that since the elephant was calm it must have overcome its “must” period. These statements prove that the writer was quite knowledge able in what he was doing. He actually thought of the consequences of what would happen if the elephant was