Shooting An Elephant Analysis

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Recommended: Ethics and society

Jaclyn Caserta
Instructor Watson
English 242—Section 800
The 20th Century and After Essay
May 2nd, 2014
Humanities Ease in Killing Animals
The short story by George Orwell “Shooting an Elephant” brings into sharp light the nature of humanity, the narcissism and callousness we exhibit when it comes to creatures we consider to be a rogue animal. Within the story a rogue elephant going through a bought of “must” has escaped its owner, gotten into a town and caused damage and a death. At the point that help arrives the elephant is no longer being a terror, and is peacefully eating grass, and yet finds itself shot anyway, and left to die an agonizingly slow and painful death. The narrator of the story explains that he did not want to look foolish and be laughed at as his ultimate reason for killing the animal. This leaves the audience wondering, should that elephant really have been killed, and why do we immediately kill animals before trying to help them?
We often hear a rogue animal defined as, an animal that has become separated from its heard, such as elephants that become aggressive and destructive. The narrator comments on the nature of the now calm elephant, “I thought then as I think now that his attack of “must” was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly about until the mahout came back and caught him.” Looking at this evidence, it appears that the animal although destructive previously, did not deserve to die and that human nature is to immediately kill something that makes us feel inferior, or that perhaps challenges our belief that we are untouchable as the species at the top of the food chain. We do not like competition, and an animal that has the power to disrupt us so should be removed so th...

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... Our society in all its glory is narcissistic, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool (Orwell)” We will accept “rogues” in our own species, but have a lesser species make any of us look foolish, and a death sentence is the only solution.

Works Cited
"Help Stop Rogue Wildlife-killing Agency." Help Stop Rogue Wildlife-killing Agency. Centre for Biological Diversity, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
"Rogue." The Free Dictionary. Farlex, 2010. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
"U.S. Wildlife Services Kills 1.5 Million Animals Each Year With No Public Accountability." EcoWatch. Cener for Biological Diversity, 03 Dec. 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2014.
Orwell, George. "Shooting an Elephant." Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. F. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 2605-610. Print.

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