Shooting an Elephant

Shooting an Elephant

In life we as humans often make decisions that we would not have made on our own if we would not have been influenced by someone else. As humans others’ opinions mean a great deal to us, and in “Shooting an Elephant”, Orwell shows how true this idea is by the tone of the story.

“Shooting an Elephant” is the story of a British policeman in Moulmein, a city in Burma, that is torn between shooting or not shooting an elephant that has gone ramped. The native people did not like him much, but when the elephant went on its rampage they were quick to call on him. What seemed like is should have been an easy task for the officer to do was harder than he ever could have imagined when he can face to face with it. When the elephant was going on its rampage the officer wanted to shoot him but once it stopped he could not bring himself to do it. However, when he looked around and saw all of the natives watching and waiting in anticipation for him to kill the elephant, he realized that he ultimately had no way out other than to kill the elephant.

This story deals with the internal conflict between his personal morals and his duty to his country but more importantly, his duty to uphold the reputation of the white