Tone Of Shooting An Elephant

The story "Shooting an Elephant" is about George Orwell's time in Moulmein working as a police officer for the British. Most of the officers are hated by the natives however, they will not fully attack them. Rather they would perform minor acts of defiance. They would "[trip him] up on the football field" and "Spit betel juice" (83), on the British ladies. Orwell, because of the harassment, cannot decide who he hates more, the British imperialism or the Burmese. Orwell sees the horrible conditions the people live in, and feels tremendously guilty. Orwell witnesses what starts out as a small accident when an elephant gets loose in the town. He starts hearing more and more about the elephant but as he learns more he understands less. While looking for the elephant he finds the scene of a dead man who has been crushed by the elephant. Orwell commands a man to get him a gun, one powerful enough to kill an elephant, however he intends to use it only for self-defense. The people of the town soon all crowd around Orwell waiting for him to slaughter the beast. He doesn’t want to but he feels if he wishes to keep up the "imperialist" impression he must kill the elephant. Orwell ends up shooting the elephant many times and leaves

Orwell talks of how he was "hated by large numbers of people", (82) meaning the natives, however he also takes careful note on how the British oppress them. Described by Orwell, the Moulmein natives are locked up in foul cages and whipped with bamboo sticks by the British. Later in the story when the elephant is killed Orwell makes clear to the reader that he kills this beast in order to keep an intimidating stature with the natives. Without the first two paragraphs the reader would not have known Orwell's thoughts and therefore would not truly understand why he had to perform the