Shooting An Elephant

A police officer in the British Raj, the supposedly “unbreakable” ruling force, was afraid. With his gun aimed at a elephant’s head, he was faced with the decision to pull the trigger. That officer was George Orwell, and he writes about his experience in his short story, “Shooting an Elephant”. To save face, he shrugged it off as his desire to “avoid looking the fool” (George Orwell, 283). In truth, the atmosphere of fear and pressure overwhelmed him. His inner struggle over the guilt of being involved in the subjugation of a people added to this strain, and he made a decision he would later regret enough to write this story.

Early on in his essay, Orwell describes how the abuses and treatment he witnessed oppressed him “… with an intolerable sense of guilt,” (Orwell,277). This is not some minor pang, or nagging worry. The shame pressed down on his shoulders with an unbearable weight. He also describes the injustices in detail, using vivid pictures like “The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages…” (Orwell,277). This does not come from someone who condones such behavior. It stems from a troubled, remorseful soul.

The mob, thousands by his description, also pressured him. “I could feel their two-thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly,” he emphasizes (Orwell, 280). It is hard to resist the peer pressure of one or two people, much less a crowd of thousands. He admits, “…in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the faces behind.” Thus, the desire and will of the crowd urge him on, ominously.

The people despised him. He speaks of being “hated by large numbers of people” and the “sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere..." (Orwell, 276). As one man, how could he dare to go against