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Jessica Lin

Ms. Lee

8th Grade English

October 22, 2017

Western European Superiority and Colonization

European colonization is like a weed. It sucks out the natural resources and culture of its

host country, and imposes its own culture. When colonialism is finally killed, the negative

effects are still being experienced in the post-colonized country. We see this happen in Shooting

an Elephant by George Orwell, and Minutes of Glory by Ngugi wa Thiongo. Shooting an

Elephant is about Orwells time in Burma being a sub-divisional police officer. He was supposed

to be the western authority figure, but all the native Burmans hated him. In order to not be

embarrassed by the natives, Orwell is forced to shoot an elephant, despite his own conscience.

Minutes of Glory is about a young woman, named Beatrice, fighting against European beauty

standards. She lives in Kenya, but is convinced she needs light skin to be beautiful and loved. In

the end, she succumbs to this desire, and finally experiences her own minute of glory. In

Shooting an Elephant and Minutes of Glory, the authors convey the theme of Western

European superiority in colonized nations by using the literary elements symbolism, four types

of conflict, and characterization.

In both short stories, there is symbolism about Western European supremacy hidden

behind the text. Shooting an Elephant talks about an English officer who is pressured by his

subjects to shoot an elephant. The elephant had previously ravaged a village and killed a man

before it was shot. It took the elephant a long time to die, as expressed in this quote: I heard
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later that is took him half an hour to die. (Orwell 4). The elephant in this story symbolizes the

British empire. The elephant had damaged a village and killed a person, meaning the author

thinks that the British rule destroyed Burma and its citizens. The long, drawn out death of the

elephant, as described in the quote, represents the slow downfall of the British rule over Burma.

The other short story, Minutes of Glory, also talked about European colonization. In it,

Beatrice is struggling as a woman in Kenya. But somehow she had a horror of soliciting lovers

or directly bartering her body for hard cash. (Thiongo 74-75). This quote shows that women

were used by men only for their bodies. The women in this story symbolize Africa, and the men

symbolize the European nations who colonized it. Europe used Africa, sucking out all of its

resources, just like the men in the story used the women. Both of these short stories use

symbolism to show that Europe was superior to the nations it colonized.

Another literary device both stories use to convey Western European authority is four

types of conflict. Both stories use Man vs. self. In Shooting an Elephant, Orwell works for the

British Empire. Unfortunately, he is torn between his dislike of the empire and dislike of the

colonists who annoy him. All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I

served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.

(Orwell 1). This quote is an example of man vs. self. Orwell is having his own internal conflicts

about British superiority. He understands that the British are oppressing the Burmese, but at the

same time, he hates the Burmese who make his life a living nightmare. In Minutes of Glory,

the main character also experiences the conflict of man vs. self. Beatrice lives in Kenya, where

the beauty standard is to have light skin. The job she works at requires her to be physically

attractive in order for her to make money. Had she not, in Limuru, seen girls blacker than
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herself transformed overnight from ugly sins into white stars by a touch of skin-lightening

creams? (Thiongo 73). Beatrice wanted to be beautiful, so she used lightening creams. But this

desire to be beautiful was an internal problem she struggled with, one thats solution wasnt as

simple as a skin-lightening cream. Besides, light skin was only beautiful because thats what

European skin looked like. This reflects the idea of Western European dominance because it

shows that you had to look European to be pretty. Both of the protagonists in the short stories

had the conflict man vs. self. The root of their conflicts with themselves was Western European

superiority.

The last tool the authors use to convey Western European supremacy is characterization.

By being both the author and main character, Orwell can really develop his thoughts about the

British Empire in Shooting an Elephant. Hes a police officer who works for the British in

Burma, and in this quote, he describes what he thinks about his job: As for the job I was doing,

I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of

Empire at close quarters.... I was young and ill-educated and I had had to think out my problems

in the utter silence that is imposed on every Englishman in the East. (Orwell 1). The thoughts he

has reveal his true feelings and develop his character. He knows that the British Empire is

harmful to Burma, but he feels like he cant do anything to help it. He is forced into silence

which is exactly what the empire wants. By suppressing their own subordinates, the empire is

also silencing anyone who can help free the citizens of Burma. In the second story, Minutes of

Glory, Beatrice is always swayed into thinking anything western is better. She wanted light,

European skin even though she was African. Her name was Wanjiru. But she liked better her

Christian one, Beatrice. It sounded more pure and more beautiful. (Thiongo 71). This quote
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shows something that Beatrice thought about herself, reflecting her character. She, a black girl in

Kenya, thought her western name sounded better than her given, African name. This is because

the colonizer, England, has enforced the idea on the colonists that the west is the best. She had

grown up in a nation where her own culture was deemed less sophisticated than the mother

countrys. By using characterization, both authors are able to convey what Western superiority

feels like to the individuals who were affected by it.

In both Shooting an Elephant and Minutes of Glory, the authors are able to describe

European Empirical dominance by using the literary devices of symbolism, four types of

conflict, and characterization. In both short stories, the authors made living things symbolize the

British Empire. They explained how it ravaged and used the colonized countries. The authors

also use the conflict of man vs. self to describe the issues that the individuals had with

themselves resulting from Western European supremacy. Finally, the short stories also included

characterization. This characterization helped the reader understand what it must have felt like to

be under European rule as a colonist. We read these stories and think, that after hundreds of

years the world should have changed. It has gotten better, but look around. Our media is overrun

with the idea that being white is the only way to be beautiful. Around 80% of all models in

America are white. Make-up, hair products, and clothing are all geared towards people with a

paler complexion. Caucasian individuals are in no way the enemy, theyve just been

overrepresented in a country thats supposedly diverse.