Analysis of George Orwell’s ‘Shooting an Elephant’ Essay Example

(a policeman), must keep order. It is with this logic that it can be said that the narrator is unable to avoid the elephants untimely death. It’s all according to plan, it is the law to deal with a dangerous creature if it becomes a menace to the public and not to do so would be to condone disorder and provoke it even further. If someone in a position of planning does not follow their own plan, then chaos reigns. By popular thinking of that day, disorientating violence exacted on the community can only be dealt with through an equal and pposite reaction of violence toward the exacter.

An old saying throughout Europe goes ‘Do not hunt monsters, lest you wish to become one yourself. ’ Yet, his order and disorder themes lend greatly to the senses of symbolism in the story. Orwell employs symbolism as a major literary technique, aiding our understanding of his stance against colonialism and our understanding of the setting. From the start, it is clear that he represents the modern, the western industrial English, at complete odds with the rural and primitive Burmese.It is believed that the focal symbolic point would be the narrators stand against the elephant.

In the paragraph in which the narrator fires at the elephant, it is seen as docile, not bothering anyone anymore and having only made a sporadic wrong. The narrator then fires at the quite calm elephant once, but it does not fall and so, while it is still weak, he fires two more shots, bringing the magnificent creature down. Burma (The country in which the story is situated) has a long history

of wars with the British Empire before finally giving in to Colonialism; three wars to be exact.It can be seen in the history books that Burma only wronged the British in a minor way and in fact was not directly bothering the British Raj and much like the narrator, it was England that fired the first shot on the peaceful Burma. After the shootings have finished, it is to the dismay of the English officer that the elephant does not immediately die and in fact continues to grudgingly live even after the attacks, still tormenting the officer.

This is much like the Burmese people, who, even after the wars, continued hostilities, making minor jabs at the narrator (Britain) that slowly made anger and guilt well up in the his heart. The larger symbol is extended when the narrator “…could not stand it any longer and went away…”, unable to bear the elephant’s (Colonized civilization’s) agony and he finds out later that it did not die for another half hour and only after having its meat (resources) stripped from its bones by the Burmese.This is yet another symbol of the fact that, even after Colonialism ends, it is no use, as the colonized shall tear each other apart now that this new order has been established. Orwell’s final expertly used technique is that of irony. This entire short story is laced with it, from the terrible treatment the narrator receives at the hands of the Burmese even though the narrator sympathizes and wishes to liberate them, to the fact that the narrator, being in an authoritative position, should hold power over the Burmese, yet, when the shooting

occurred, it was the villagers of Moulmein who had power over him.

The narrator feels terrible for what has happened to the Burmese and the torture they have been put through by the British, yet hates the Burmese for the torture they unleashed upon him on a regular basis. He states “…the greatest joy in the world would be to drive a bayonet into a Buddhist priest’s guts. ” The essay closes with the narrator being pleased that the native had been killed by the elephant, since it gave him legal right to kill the elephant and save face.It is truly an irony of ironies that George Orwell’s narrator, a protector of the people, is glad someone has been killed, for it allows him to protect people.

In conclusion, Orwell’s ‘Shooting an elephant’ is a great literary work, incorporating a number of techniques skillfully so as to enhance the reading pleasure of the audience. The most important technique, I find, was irony, in that the main message that Orwell directs to his English audience is that imperialism must end so that the imperialists, ironically, may keep their freedom and not be controlled by those whom they rule.