Imperialism is an ugly scar marring the face of world history, never to be erased. Very few modern countries origin stories can be told without a mention of imperialism. We can read about the horrible effects of imperialism in the news and books, often from the point of view of the oppressed. In George Orwell’s, “Shooting an Elephant”, we get acquainted with another view, the oppressor's, and he does not seem any happier. George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant", uses the symbolic characters, the Burmese (the crowd), the Narrator, and the Elephant to portray the true nature of imperialism.
This story takes place in Lower Burma, in Moulmein, where the Narrator, Orwell, is a sub-divisional police officer and widely hated. Though he works
…show more content…
"Early one morning the sub-inspector at a police station the other end of the town rang me up on the phone and said that an elephant was ravaging the bazaar... It was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone "must." It had been chained up, as tame elephants always are when their attack of "must" is due, but on the previous night, it had broken its chain and escaped...I thought then and I think now that his attack of "must" was already passing off; in which case he would merely wander harmlessly about until the mahout came back and caught him." Here, the elephant is clearly meant to symbolize the Burmese. Its violent episode parallels the actions we are told in the beginning the Burmese use to inconvenience the British soldiers. "No one had the guts to raise a riot, but if a European woman went through the bazaars alone somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress. As a police officer, I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so. When a nimble Burman tripped me up on the football field and the referee (another Burman) looked the other way, the crowd yelled with hideous laughter." In all reality, they are peaceful, and will not harm unless