Shooting an Elephant

Reader’s Response: “Shooting an Elephant” George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant” tells the story of a British policeman in British occupied India, who faces a situation where he must either follow his morals or pretend to be something else in order to please the public. Obviously living in Burma in the early nineteen hundreds, as an Englishman, was not easy. Furthermore, serving as a steward of the law in a place oppressed by the country you are from, certainly will make a job difficult. But, this is what Orwell’s character must do. I found it interesting however, that the policeman, despite being from England, did not approve of England’s occupation of India, even though that his job was a result of it. Orwell’s character struggled each day to earn the respect of the Burmans, being constantly ostracized due to his nationality and status. So when an opportunity to earn some respect and appreciation from the locals came, he took it. When an elephant got loose, and began a deadly rampage through the city, the English policeman had to control the situation. With one option being to kill the beast, and the other to wait for the owner, the policeman had a difficult decision. However, in his head, he knew what he wanted to do. Despite having minimal hesitations killing animals, he did not feel it was necessary, nor did he want to kill the elephant. But, when the policeman noticed that thousands of Burmans were watching him, hoping for the kill, he was stuck with a dilemma. Whether it was his intention or not, Orwell begins to form a message around the policeman’s problem. In school, children always struggle with the choice, to act like themselves and attempt to survive off of their uniqueness and individuality, or, to masquerade their true personalities in order to fit in with the average population. In a child’s mind, they may think the easiest way to fit in is to fake it, and hide their true selves behind a mask. Many adults, specifically