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Solomon Victoriano
Professor Lynda Haas
Writing 37
30 January 2014
Relationship between Elephants and Imperialism
George Orwell was an outspoken critic of Imperialism. Orwell
published, Shooting an Elephant in 1936, which is a story about
British Imperialism and a British police officer that is called to take care
of a rampaging elephant that is going through a native town that is
under the control of the British. George Orwell's Shooting an
Elephant seems to be just a story of a British police officer that kills an
elephant in Burma, which reflects the struggle between man and
animal. However, by analyzing the essay rhetorically through its
historical context, a richer reading emerges, in which humans and the
elephant symbolize British Imperialism and the power and control
exerted in human relationships.
The story shows two drastic differences in the death of the
elephant and the Native. At the end of the story, the man decides that
he must kill the elephant if he wants to not be ridiculed by the natives.
From here we start to notice how important it is for the officer to
appear strong in front of the natives. The officer must make a decision
of saving the elephant or killing it. Despite the fact the elephant could
have been saved without unnecessary harm, he chooses the latter

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(Browning). The officer states that he did not want to shoot the
elephant because it seemed to him that it would be murder to shoot
it (Orwell). By stating it would be like murder, it enforces the idea that
killing the elephant is wrong. However in the end, the officers
conscience makes him kill the peaceful giant. The elephants death
was agonizingly slow and painful. After the officer shoots him a couple
times, the elephant attempts to stand but collapses. The officer
attempts to end the elephants life as quickly as he can by firing
several more shots into the dead animal, but his body did not even
jerk when the shots hit him, the tortured breathing continued
(Orwell). The officer begins to feel guilt because of the pain he brought
to the elephant. Stating that the elephant was being tortured enforces
the idea that the officer brought the animal pain for pleasure and not
to stop it from rampaging around. The elephants death is described in
a very grim tone. Despite that it was only an animal, it was doing no
wrong. It may have killed someone earlier but that is to be expected
from an animal that is running rampant. However, at the moment
when the officer is going to kill the elephant, the elephant is doing
nothing wrong. The elephant is even described to be peacefully
eating, and the [it] looked no more dangerous than a cow (Orwell).
Had the elephant been out rampaging at the time that the officer
found him, it would be a good enough reason to kill it. But seeing as
the animal was only peacefully eating, the officer had no concrete

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reason to shoot it. The animals death being wrong is reinforced by the
fact that the natives take the elephants body and pick it to the bone.
The story uses the elephants death to show the emotions in the
officer. The officer is in distraught after the extra shots he shoots into
the elephant dont kill the beast. He ends up having to leave because
of the guilt the death brought him. In contrast to the elephants death,
the natives death is briefly mentioned in the story.
The story basically states that the man was the elephant killed
the Indian by squashing him under its foot. He is described to have
an expression of unendurable pain (Orwell). Despite this, the officer
appears to have no real reaction to his death. It seems as if he saw the
dead Indian and just put that thought behind him as he continued on
with his job, which was to find the elephant. Finding the Indian man
was just a lead to finding the elephant and he was nothing more. It
may appear that this would be something very cruel to do, however,
by looking at the historical context when this occurred it can be
discerned that this is not that big of a deal. The man that was killed by
the elephant was referred to as a coolie, which is the bureaucratic
term the British used to describe indentured laborers (Ghandi). At the
time these servants were in the Britishs eyes slaves as African
Americans were to Americans. To the British officer, he was merely
someone that he had sovereignty over and didnt really care for him
now that he was dead. The fact that he basically ignores that death of

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a human being while feeling extreme remorse for the death of an
elephant makes us think that the officer is unreasonable. But again, by
visualizing this event during its historical context, one can see that the
death of a coolie would not be cared for as much as when compared
to the death of something like an elephant, which could be used as
food. As can be seen, the elephants death was much more
glamourized at the time when compared to the death of a human, and
from it we can see that the officer is less and less credible.
By viewing this essay with an imperialistic perspective, we get
another look into the narrators thoughts. From the beginning of the
story, the officer states that he hates British Imperialism, he hates
Burmese natives (Crask). As the story progresses however, the
statement that he hates Imperialism slowly degrades and he begins
acting in a way only imperialists would. As he arrives to where the
elephant is, he states that as [he] saw the elephant, [he] knew [he]
ought not to shoot [the elephant] (Orwell). He shows that though he is
expected to kill the elephant, deep down he doesnt want to hurt the
peaceful being. However, when he realizes that there are a couple
thousand people expecting him to kill that elephant, he cannot act on
his own accord and ends up shooting the elephant. While facing the
dilemma whether to shoot the elephant or not, he realizes that despite
the fact that he is the European, now the natives are controlling him

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through the pressure (Fakhrana). From this, we get the sense that the
officers credibility slowly deteriorates as the story progresses.
By looking at Orwells essay through a historical perspective, the
story provides a deeper meaning behind British Imperialism and
human relationships.

Works Cited
Browning, Andrew. "George Orwell "Shooting An Elephant": Metaphors and
Analysis." Schoolworkhelper. N.p., 16 Aug. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Crask, Dennis. "English Composition 1." N.p., 2006. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Fakhrana, Rinaldy Sofwan. "Power, Control, and Imperialism in Orwell's
Shooting an Elephant." Rinaldy Sofwan Fakhrana. N.p., 26 June 2012.
Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

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Gandhi, Lakshmi. "A History Of Indentured Labor Gives 'Coolie' Its
Sting." NPR. NPR, 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.
Orwell, George. "Shooting An Elephant." By George Orwell. N.p., n.d. Web.
20 Feb. 2015.