Summary Of The Story 'Shooting An Elephant'

In life, we are often pressured by others which conflict with our decision to take certain actions.
In the story “Shooting an Elephant”, this shows that no matter how much authority you may have, others will still treat you unfairly, but when the tables are turned, when you have the upper hand everyone adores you. Just as the people had hated George they began to praise him or more so pressure him to take action that he never intended to do. The police officer simply got a call one morning about the reckless events of the elephant and had no intentions of causing harm to this elephant. The buildup of pressure from the crowd clouded George’s decision.
“I took my rifle, an old, 44 Winchester and much too small to kill an elephant but I

Words weren’t just enough to stop this elephant from its actions and the one person that could control him was hours away. When the police officer finally found the elephant it didn’t seem as reckless as the damage he had heard that the elephant had done. Everyone saw the police officer with the rifle and immediately followed because the rifle itself was like the main attraction for the crowd. Most Burmans were only excited about killing the elephant because of the meat so they could eat. As the crowd grew the police officer began to get unsettled because only he and the elephant were the center of attention. The police officer debated with himself on whether or not to shoot the elephant. He was not liked by the Burmans but he now has the center of attention and felt the need to take action. Maybe this would make the Burmans favor him more than ever now. Also by George being treated badly in a kind of high position he may have felt powerless and shooting the elephant as what the people expected he may have thought that he would earn more respect and it’d give him power. George knew it was wrong to shoot the elephant because it wasn’t just a wild, untamed beast. The elephant was a peaceful creature that had been driven towards bad actions because of mistreatment just like George had been