I shot the elephant

Joey Vranicar

Shooting an Elephant

The subject of George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant is that pressure to do what someone wants one to make can control many decisions that one makes. This pressure is shown through a police officer’s experience where he was sent to control an elephant and ends up killing it. The officer was wary of shooting the elephant at first because it was seemingly peaceful, but he ended up shooting it because the crowd wanted him to. The officer did not want to walk away from the situation because he had a gun and he thought that he would look like a fool.

Shooting an Elephant was written during the 1920’s. The essay’s time of creation is displayed by the fact that Britain had recently took over Burma. It is supported in this essay by the way Orwell was mal treated by the Burmese and how he said that he hated the British Empire and the Burmese people. The probable place of the essays creation is Moulmein, lower Burma because the essay states it in the first paragraph.

George Orwell’s specific audience for Shooting an Elephant is anyone who is subject to negative pressure. The author’s target audience is revealed by the way he talks about his killing of the elephant was the wrong decision. He realizes that he was under pressure and he wants to communicate to people who may be under pressure themselves.

Orwell’s purpose in Shooting an Elephant is to show that if one follows the crowd and does what others want them to do, one will regret it in the long run. Orwell wants this essay to speak to others in situations like his, to make the right decision and to not make a mistake like him. The purpose to reveal the negative effects of pressure is revealed when Orwell states, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” He is stating in this sentence that he is not content with the decision he made and that the only reason he did kill the elephant was to avoid looking foolish.

George Orwell, best known for his novel ‘Animal Farm’ believes that pressure can often be negative and takes great self-confidence to resist. These values are illustrated in the same situation, Orwell has an elephant gun, there is a possibly dangerous elephant in front of him, and a group of people waiting for him to shoot it behind him. He does not want to shoot the elephant at first because it seems like it is not bothering, and if he did that would be a waste of 200 pounds (British currency). However, the crowd behind him is urging him to shoot it and he doesn’t think it to be the right decision. If Orwell was confident in himself that he did not want to shoot the elephant he wouldn’t have. But the crowd behind him broke his will for the safety of the beast. Orwell shot the animal, despite his judgment.

George Orwell articulates a disheartened and un-confident attitude about pressure to do what one wants you to do in Shooting an elephant. These attitudes are expressed by the way Orwell is unsure whether to kill the animal and the way he described things after he shot the elephant. The author uses this tone to express his utter mistake and how one doesn’t have to make the same choices as somebody else.