Shooting an Elephant

Leah Pederson

Shooting An Elephant: George Orwell

SOAPSTone

The subject of George Owell’s Shooting an Elephant is the effect of mob mentality and the pressure to do what the group wants. This phenomenon is illustrated with the event of the police officer being sent to control the elephant, but ultimately killing the animal as he realized that is what the crowd expects him to. We see this as the police officer goes to try to control the animal and then asks for a gun, later realizing as he asked for the gun, he gave the appearance he was going to shoot the beast and therefore he must shoot the beast in order to avoid looking like a fool.

Shooting an Elephant was written during the 1920’s. The essay’s time of creation is exhibited by the fact that Britain conquered Burma during a time period right before this. It is mentioned several times that the Burmans were running behind the police officer and that it was a time when the Burmese despised the English. The probable place of the essay’s creation is Burma as we can see that the first paragraph of the essay states they are in Moulmein in lower Burma.

Orwell’s specific audience for Shooting an Elephant is anyone who was alive during the time of the Anglo-Burmese Wars or for an anti-empiricist. The author’s general audience is expressed by the obvious written hatred for the British in the Burmese society as the Burmans openly expressed their dislike for the British police officer.  

Orwell’s purpose in Shooting an Elephant is to convey the hatred for the empirical societies and to show how an insane mob mentality could influence even the most sane mind. This spectacle is revealed as the police officer was standing in the crowd with the rifle in his hand, “And suddenly [he] realized that [he] should have to shoot the elephant after all.” The police officer had set out to simply calm the elephant until his owner was there to handle the situation, but as he asked for the gun he suddenly realized that the large crowd watching him expected him to shoot the elephant and do nothing else.

George Orwell’s, known for his anti-empiricist essays, believes empiricism was an evil thing but he was stuck in the hatred of the country he belonged to. This value is illustrated by the police officer’s want to help the Burmans instead of disregarding them. This value influences the essay’s purpose by having the police officer do what he thought was what the Burmans wanted, which was killing the elephant. Orwell, the great symbolist he was, believed the elephant stood for the weakening of the British Empire. The dead elephant stood for the British Empire being weakened by the persistent force of the Burmans. They wanted their freedom and the rifle shots indicated the distaste they expressed toward the influential empire.

Orwell articulates a hateful and displeased attitude about the empirical society the British created in Shooting an Elephant. These attitudes are expressed by the anger toward the police officer, who is British, and the British police officer’s secret agreement to the Burman’s feelings. This hateful tone prevalent throughout the essay portrays the unhappiness the Burmans felt to the British empire that controlled them at the time.