Influenced by Pride The story Shooting an elephant, by George Orwell, gives the reader a small glimpse into the authors radicalistic perspective and first-hand experience. In a nutshell, George Orwell was a sub-divisional police officer for the British Colonial Empire in the country of Burma(Myanmar). He stated that he was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, but the Burmese hated Europeans and would try as hard as possible to give them a hard time. As a police officer, he was an obvious target and was mortified of being humiliated even more than what he already had been. Orwell had to deal with an escaped elephant that caused some damage to the town and went on to track it down with no intention of hurting it. He ended up killing the animal due to his fear of being ridiculed by the natives. Orwell was going through a rough time in this point of his life, and when presented the problem, an innocent creature had to parish for his pride. …show more content…
He despised imperialism, hated the Burmese, and was unhappy with his profession. He was left entirely forsaken with the thoughts in his mind as he had no one to share his detestation towards the imperialist powers of the British colony with, more specifically. Orwell experienced the British rule and saw it as an oppressive and tyrannical power because he had witnessed the torturous methods of confinement that the British government used. However, his hatred towards the Burmese people stemmed from their hatred towards the Europeans. Orwell stated that he was an obvious target, because he was European and a British officer. He had a history of being humiliated and that seriously dampened his pride. Orwell was torn between both feelings of hatred. He felt awful because he was basically enforcing the oppression upon the Burmese people, but he will soon come across a turning point within