Shooting An Elephant Summary

George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” deals with the nature of a human’s identity and ego. The story is set during the British colonization of Burma and discusses the ordeals of an English police officer stationed in the colony, who hates both his job and the people whom he polices. He faces many challenging decisions that put him in a place where he must either follow his own beliefs or fall to the will of the citizens of Burma. Throughout the story the officer is stuck with the decision of whether to do what he thinks is right, in order to preserve his ego or to do what the majority wants, in order to preserve his public identity. This decision is one that transcends Orwell’s essay and is faced throughout life by all people. The first sentence

The elephant had killed a man earlier in the day, but did not pose a large threat when the officer finally arrived. He originally “had no intention of shooting the elephant” (Orwell, 3) and wanted to deal with the elephant non-violently if possible. A crowd began to grow as the situation began to escalate and the officer requested that an elephant gun be brought out. He requested the gun only be brought out in case it was needed for defensive purposes, but the crowd quickly built up the idea that he was planning to kill the elephant. The policeman felt that “The people expected it of me and I had got to do it.” (Orwell, 4) He allowed the natives to dictate his action through their challenges to his authority. As the situation progressed he eventually shot the elephant due to the encouragement of the natives. He did not follow his true ego and did not save the elephant, as he truly thought was appropriate. The elephant ended up suffering tremendously and he regretted going against his own beliefs and

Orwell shows readers how you must follow your ego at times or you risk the fate of becoming part of something that you hate. By turning against the judgement of his ego the officer lives a life where he hates his job and ends up brutally murdering an elephant that he could have easily pardoned. By not dictating his own actions he ends up failing to become the person that his ego would have created and henceforth feels a sense of disenchantment with society. By allowing society to mold him instead of his true ego the officer is molded into the very evil that he