Shooting An Elephant Imperialism Essay

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George Orwell the author of "Shooting an Elephant" wrote this story to show the real side of Imperialism. George wanted everyone who read this story of what he experienced and saw from Imperial rule. Now he said " Theoretically — and secretly, of course — I was all for the Burmese (1)", which states he isn't the bad guy the Burmese see him to be. Therefore proves his point that Imperialism makes it seem like every person that is not controlled by it that they must be the white men of the Earth. So that's why he talks about his experiences, because Imperialism takes your life away just like that elephants life was taken away. Because it broke free of its chains holing it in its place. First off the story starts off with George telling you about his career as a "sub-divisional police officer of the town." Then he goes on to talk about how he fully supported the Burmese people but they never supported him back. But in return it gave him even a better look at what Imperialism was doing especially when the incident of the elephant occurred. He however doesn't believe of the incident of the elephant escaping because of the lies the Burmese all feed him. That is …show more content…

Finally though, him and the villagers walk up on the elephant who is just merely eating in the paddy fields. Soon George realizes "it is a serious matter to shoot a working elephant-it is comparable to destroying a huge and costly piece of machinery- and obviously one ought not to do it if it can possibly be avoided.(4)" That is until reality starts to set in on him and the pressure of the crowd watching him really makes think of the choice he needs to make. The thought of murder set in on him after he had decided to shoot the elephant because of how calm and gentle this creature was. Orwell made the choice to do it because he knew a white man should never be made a fool in front of the

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