George Orwell's Essay 'Shooting An Elephant'

Novelist, Political writer and Journalist, George Orwell, in his autobiographical essay “Shooting an Elephant,” relays his experience as a police officer in colonial Burma. Orwell’s purpose is to reveal the fact that imperialism harms both the oppressed and the oppressor. He acquires a negative and penitent tone in order to voice out his thoughts, primarily to his British readers, regarding imperialism and how it ironically enslaved the British because of the expectations of the oppressed natives. George Orwell applies the rhetorical strategy of imagery in his essay in order for readers to comprehend how he felt when he was coerced by the Burmese people to partake in an action that contravened with his morals. Orwell exaggerates his apprehension by adding the words, “Pursued, caught, trampled on,” and by referring to a previous occurrence in the story as he enumerates the possible catastrophic outcomes of killing the elephant in

Although Orwell had already elucidated his stance on imperialism when he said that he was “all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British,” he later refutes this and suggests that imperialism harms both the persecutor and the victim by comparing himself to “the leading actor of the piece,” feeling nervous as the “theatre curtain go up,” highlighting his weakness. Furthermore, by likening himself to a puppet, he points out that having to “spend his life in trying to impress the ‘natives’,” and “do what the ‘natives’ expect of him,” makes the Burmese people dominant over the British. By incorporating metaphors in in “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell offers the audience an interpretation of his realization that he may as well be the victim of the Burmans rather than the other way