Shooting An Elephant by George Orwell Literary Analysis Example

People have the innate desire to consume. The term “keeping up with the Joneses” perfectly encapsulates the urges of the average person as well as the average world leader. For most people this desire can be sated through material goods; however for Kings, Queens, and even Presidents this craving is primarily sated through power. Throughout human history, war has been an integral part of gaining power. By displacing people and claiming already occupied land, colonization has become the result of humankind’s efforts to own the most. George Orwell comments on the British colonization of Burma in his essay Shooting An Elephant. Orwell establishes a personal connection to the reader and portrays tragic events in cruel detail in order to demote the practice of colonization, ultimately moving British citizens to think more critically of their leader’s values and motives and question the value of colonization.

George Orwell wrote Shooting An Elephant after serving as a European officer in British occupied Burma (now known as Myanmar). During this time, the British Empire was expanding rapidly something which Orwell saw the firshand effects of. Through his career as an officer Orwell became critical towards Britain’s desire to take over countries like Burma. This criticism inspired Orwell to write Shooting an Elephant which details the story of a officer in Burma (presumably himself) who has to take care of an escaped elephant.

Down to the basic structure of the text, Orwell’s writing focuses on relating to the audience. For example, Shooting an Elephant was written in first person. This was a crucial decision for Orwell as the goal of his essay depends on having the audience sympathize with the narrator. If Orwell were to have written Shooting an Elephant in third person, there would be a slight disconnect between the reader and the narrator as first person makes it easy to create an intimate and candid tone. An example of this can be seen as Orwell states, “I was not afraid in the ordinary sense, as I would have been if I had been alone”. With first person, Orwell is able to focus on the narrator's thoughts and emotions, while displaying them in a manner that feels personal. Without the narrator’s questioning, it’s difficult for the reader to see themselves within him.

Within the narrator’s questioning, there is a hint of dramatic irony. When the Burman people urge the officer to shoot the elephant, he does not hold the same enthusiasm. Orwell describes the elephant as, “peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous than a cow”. Not wanting to be seen as a fool, the narrator gives into peer pressure. While the reader knows of the narrator’s reluctance, Burma’s citizens only know of the narrator’s ability to shoot the animal. This can be related back to the real world as British citizens know of their country’s ability to forcefully colonize occupied land while simultaneously being oblivious of the moral challenges officers like Orwell face.

Orwell establishes his emotional agenda by incorporating ample amounts of imagery. The part in which the narrator succumbs to the pressure to shoot the elephant, the narrator describes the event in brutal detail. As Orwell depicts, “At the second shot he did not collapse but climbed with desperate slowness to his feet and stood weakly upright, with legs sagging and head drooping”. This level of detail is consistent throughout the piece; however, the essay doesn’t drag as Orwell is able to discern which details are superfluous and which aren’t.

Coinciding with the story’s imagery, Orwell includes similes to aid his descriptive style. This can be seen as Orwell writes, “The crowd grew very still, and a deep, low, happy sigh, as of people who see the theatre curtain go up at last, breathed from innumerable throats”. While the comparison between the crowd and the audience in a theater initially doesn’t seem necessary, it does serve to connect the unrelatable events of the story to a situation the audience can relate to. In this instance, Orwell aims to have the British populous not only relate to the narrator, but rather the people in the village. One final tactic Orwell utilizes in order to relate to his audience is including oppositions within the imagery. One such occurrence happens as Orwell states, “ but I heard the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd”. When he describes the glee of the audience as devilish, it adds depth. The conflicting ideas of glee and evil are very human. The astute observation and understanding of these types of  intricacies add credibility towards Orwell’s  perception of events and invites the audience to connect to the complex nature of events.

In a final effort to trap the audience in the piece, Orwell intentionally slows the pace of events, to match the narrator's warped perception of time. Mixed with the brutal imagery of the elephant dying, the slow pacing aims to encompass the audience in horrors akin to the ones experienced by Orwell in his time as an officer. Once he is able to horrify the audience, Orwell is able to push his anti-colonization argument without explicitly stating his grievances against the practice, since the reader is likely to come to a negative conclusion on their own.

Overall, Shooting an Elephant serves as a pessimistic view into the reality of colonization. Orwell was able to take his experiences and communicate both what he had to deal with as well as the emotions and conflict he faced while dealing with these challenges. As the imagery serves to relate the audience to forign conflicts, the pacing aims to trap the reader in the story much as Orwell was trapped in an undesirable situation. In the end, through the irony of events, Orwell urges the audience to view colonization as the perpetrator of the tragedy illustrated; thus raising into the question the value of expansion as well as the morals surrounding colonization.