Shooting an Elephant by Orwell - Essay Example

Shooting an Elephant by Orwell George Orwell is one of the most accomplished writers and narrators of modern time. His ability to create an atmosphere of deep and reflective thinking in each of his stories is perhaps unparalleled. In ‘Shooting an Elephant’, the narrator wrestles through the entire story over whether or not he should shoot and kill an elephant that has gone wild. Many hidden issues arrive through his telling of the story, as the reader can understand that the character really does not want shoot the animal, yet the masses around him implore him to do so. Orwell seems to be asking the reader whether or not the narrator was justified in his actions. To be clear, this student feels that the shooting of the elephant was justified in order to preserve human life, protect social stability, and to help bridge the divide between two cultures. From the outset, the main problem with the elephant is that it seems to have become wild. The narrator does mention that nearly everyone in the village claims the animal has always been a sweet and tame elephant, but something has happened. We know that elephants are large creatures, can run fast, and destroy much of what they come into contact with if they so desire. Thankfully, elephants that live among people generally do not do the latter. This appears to be part of the reason for the hesitation on the part of the narrator. If the animal is usually tame and pleasant to be around, perhaps there is some other way to neutralize the animal until it calms down and becomes ‘normal’ again. This is a perfectly justifiable position to take, but the fact remains that now the elephant has trampled and killed a member of the village. Surely more are to follow if something is not done and the narrator seems to be the only with a gun and the means to do something about the problem immediately. In the end, to protect human life, particular those of children who would have no hope of escaping such a wild animal, the narrator must been deemed correct in his eventual shooting of the elephant. Beyond that, if nothing were done, it appeared that the people in the village were on the verge of unrest. It is important to understand the power of a ‘mob’. The narrator in this story surely seemed to be in a nearly impossible position. On the one hand, he wanted seek out other options for controlling the elephant, as opposed to killing it outright. On the other hand, however, the crowd was growing increasingly insistent that he kill the animal, and kill it quickly. Being of another race, and an outsider, perhaps the narrator feared for his own life as well. One reason that further supports his shooting the elephant is to ‘keep the peace’. If were to decide not to shoot, the potential for social unrest could have become a real possibility. If this were to occur, there would be more danger lurking about than a mere wild elephant. As Orwell writes, “I [the narrator] was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind” (Para. 5). He was, if you will, between a rock and a hard place. The massive crowd of ‘natives’ was stringing him along and he really had no choice but to act quickly, shoot the animal, and keep the people in the village happy and obliged. To have chosen to do otherwise could have put not only his own life in jeopardy, but also the lives of those around him should the people decide to take matters into their own hands. That leads to the final supporting point for him shooting the elephant. In order to bridge the divide between two different cultures, he really had no choice. The internal struggle between the narrator and the native village people was intense in this story. The story indicates that the main character is certainly frightened more of the people than the elephant, but he could not make that be known. He felt the need to exert power, influence and respect. As the narrator states, “A white man mustn’t be frightened in front of ‘natives’…The sole thought in my mind was that if anything went wrong those 2,000 Burmese would see me pursued, caught, trampled on and reduced to a grinning corpse’” (Orwell Par. 9). Being an outsider, sometimes the unthinkable must be done. The narrator could not demonstrate an unwillingness to do what was necessary and take care of the elephant. Regardless of whether or not he felt the act itself was justified, he was correct in listening to the voice of the people. To do otherwise would show not only a lack of understanding of the host culture he found himself in, but would also show a fear that he did not wish to demonstrate. If he did not shoot the animal as the people were crying out for, he likely would have lost his own life (according to his own thought process) and the white man would be further looked upon in the area with disdain. To be fair, the narrator did not want to shoot the elephant. He clearly states, “But I did not want to shoot the elephant. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him” (Orwell Para. 10). It was not an easy decision to be sure. We can sit back and reflect that he should have sought out another alternative, yet we were not there. We can only envision the growing anger on the part of the crowd surrounding him. Couple that with the fact that he was not Burmese, but rather from Imperialist Britain, and the fear must have been overwhelming. There are many reasons we can point to why he should not have shot the animal, but they pale in comparison against the plausible support granted to him for actually pulling the trigger. To second guess his decision without actually being there would be to assume that we fully understand the situation that he was in. That simply cannot be the case. In the end, the animal did seemingly impose a serious threat were he not dealt with and, therefore, the narrator did the smart thing by shooting him. This protected himself, and village, and the stability of life in the area. Work Cited George Orwell. Shooting an Elephant. N.P., n.d. Web. 05 Jan. 2013. Read More