George Orwell “Shooting an elephant” the author of the article explains an event in his life at a time he was twenty years old. During this time it was a hard decision between choosing the lesser of the two evils. After many years the same event seems to come back and haunt him. It is a story that takes place in five unhappy years that Orwell had to spend as a police officer in Burma. He gets faced with some moral dilemma, and luckily a valuable animal has to die to save his pride. The main aim of this paper is to events that led to the shooting of the elephant.

Body

In the book, the narrator is a British police officer in charge of a post in Burma, and many local people disrespect him. We see that there is a lot of imperialism in the story. When the people see him, anti-British chats and sentiments are heard. The people believe that the British officers came to occupy their land. However, the narrator of the story expresses a deep hatred for imperialism, but the most unfortunate thing is that he is part of the whole system. He has an idea that the locals don’t like him; therefore, to carry out his duties well, he has to maintain a good sense of disinterest. The whole events end when the officer is called to deal with a loose elephant. However, there is a problem as he can’t kill the animal. Unless he does that, the people will ridicule him. Left with no option the officer shoots and kills the animal.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Orwell tries to explore themes of authority, captivity, and imperialism. The officer has to make a hard choice before killing the elephant. His instincts tell him to report the matter, but with a pistol in the hands, he must show that he is in authority.

Work Cited

 
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