Shooting an Elephant Summary.

By Ranjeet Sharma
Cont:- 9903423004
The author was serving as the sub-divisional officer of the town Moulmein in southern
Burma. At that time an anti-European feeling ran high among the local people. As a police
officer, the author was a favourite target with them, and they tried to harass him whenever
they could. The Buddhists, living in the town, had a particular zest for jeering at the
Europeans. This atmosphere of hostility naturally preyed on the author’s mind. He felt
sorry for the local people who were the victims of British Imperialist rule. The plight of
the prisoners, treated like so many animals, oppressed his heart. But he was powerless to
do anything about it. He felt a strong desire to resign his post, but he was not in a position
to do so. And, though he was sympathetic to the oppressed Burmese people, he often
experienced a kind of blind rage against them because they made his life a hell and missed
a single opportunity for insulting him.

One morning a sub-inspector of police informed the author that an elephant had
somehow been let loose and was ravaging the bazaar area. So the author started out,
taking an old rifle with him. It was a weapon with which nobody would even dream of
killing an elephant. On his way, he learnt a few details about the elephant and the damages
it had already done. It was really a tame elephant which had gone ‘must’. It had broken
its chain the previous night and was now prowling about the town. It had destroyed a
bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit stalls.

The author reached his destination and found the sub-inspector waiting for him. It was
one of the poorer parts of the town. He received conflicting information as to the present
whereabouts of the elephant. The author began to think that the whole story about the
elephant was a fictitious one. Just then a great uproar was heard at a little distance. The
author went forward to see what the uproar was about. Then he saw an appalling sight.
The dead body of a man was lying in the mud. The people who had gathered there told
the author that the man had been killed by the elephant. At once the author sent his
orderly to fetch him an elephant gun. He learnt from some people that the elephant was
in a paddy field a little distance away.

Now, as soon as the author started forward the entire crowd followed at his heels. They
had become terribly excited at the prospect of the elephant being killed by the author. The
author really had no intention of killing the elephant. And now, with this huge crowd
following at his heels, he felt extremely nervous. He found the elephant standing in a
paddy field, eating bunches of grass. He did not take the slightest notice of the crowd that
was watching him from a distance of a few yards.
He felt that he should not kill th” elephant. The creature seemed harmless enough. It
seemed that his attack of ‘must’ was already passing off. Besides, an elephant was
comparable to a huge piece of costly machinery, and, it must not be killed unless
absolutely necessary. So the author decided to watch the elephant for a while and then
return home.

But as he looked around, he found himself virtually surrounded with a sea of yellow faces,
eager and excited at the prospect of an elephant being killed. They had taken it for granted
that the sahib was going to kill the elephant and so they were going to have their bit of
fun. Besides, they wanted its meat, too. Suddenly and with a feeling of horror, the author
realized that he would have to kill the elephant even against his own will and better
judgment. For, the huge crowd of natives was expecting him to shoot the elephant and he,
as the representative of the omnipotent British Imperial Rule, was bound to live up to that
expectation. That was the irony of imperialist domination, the author felt. The white men
deprives the natives of their freedom and, in the process, loses his own. At that moment,
the author felt that he had no will of his own, but was being driven on by the will of the
multitude that surrounded him.

The author did not want to kill the elephant: and yet, at the bottom of his mind, he knew
that he would have to kill it, after all. He consulted some of the more experienced Burmans
about the present ways of the elephant’s behaviour. They all assured him that he took no
notice of people so long as it was left alone. But it might charge if one went too close to
him. So the author thought he would go within some twenty-five yards of the animal and
see how it behaves.

If he charged, he would be justified to shoot him. Otherwise, he would just keep a watch
over him till his mahout came and took him away. At the same time the author felt
terrified at thought of what would happen if the animal charge and he missed him. He
would instantly kill; but that was the least terrifying aspect of the matter. What worried
and horrified the author was the thought that the natives would be laughing at his
trampled and disfigured corpse. And, it is this horrible thought that finally decided the
course of action he was going to take.
Shooting an Elephant Analysis
The author was now fully convinced that there was nothing for him to do but to kill the
elephant. So he shoved the cartridges into the magazine and lying down on the road, took
careful aim at the elephant. The author did not have a clear knowledge of the location of
an elephant’s brain. So he aimed at his ear hole. He pulled the trigger and knew only from
a demoniac cheer from the crowd that the shot had gone home. But three consecutive
shots from his rifle failed to kill that huge animal. He lay there in the mud, gasping in a
terrible agony of death. The author aimed the remaining two bullets at his heart, and still
the animal did not die. So the author sent a man to fetch his small rifle and sent a number
of shots into him. But these only served to aggravate the dying animal’s agony. Unable to
stand the sight, the author left the place. Later he came to know that it had taken the
animal some half an hour to die. As soon as he died the natives were immediately upon
him with their ‘dahs’ and baskets. They took away the last bit of flesh from his body.

There was much controversy over the shooting of this elephant. Its owner could do
nothing about it since he was an Indian. Opinion was divided even among the Europeans.
However, the author was legally justified in killing the elephant because it had killed a
man. The author wondered if anybody could guess the real reason behind his shooting the
elephant–the desperate fear of being laughed and jeered at by the native Burmans.