George Orwell

Q: Discuss the reactions of the different classes of people about the shooting of the elephant

Answer: The essay “Shooting an Elephant” is based on Orwell’s personal experience. It was written in the early period of writing when he was employed in Moulmein in lower Burma as a sub-divisional police officer. The period was very critical from the political point of view. It was the hey-day of the British imperialism and its power and influence over the world were unchallenged. As a young writer he was critical of the imperialistic exploration and of the way it adopted to maintain its imperialism. In this autobiographical essay, George Orwell has described an incident of shooting an elephant against his will. This description is vivid and rich in psychological elements. Being compelled by the situation position as a servant of imperialism, he shot the elephant only to save his image as a superior man to the natives. The elephant is a big animal. It is worth of a huge cost. So, the shooting of the elephant created a mixed reaction among the local Europeans and the natives. The owner of the elephant was furious but he could not do anything, as he was Indian. Besides, law was on the side of the author. He had done no wrong as a mad elephant had to be killed like a mad dog when anyone or its owner fails to control it. But, of course there was an endless discussion about the shooting of the elephant. The Europeans living in Moulmein were divided in their opinions. The older people considered his action right, but the younger men did not support the shooting of the elephant. They argued that it was a shame to shot an elephant for killing a coolie, because an elephant was more valuable than a coolie. So, to shoot an elephant for killing such a negligible coolie is an act of shame. But nobody could understand the author’s reaction. He was glad that the elephant had killed a coolie because it put him legally in the right side and it gave him a sufficient pretext for killing the elephant.

Towards the end of the end of the story, we came to know the real motive of the author. Orwell wondered whether anyone of them could understand that he killed the elephant only to avoid looking a fool. In his voice-

“I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool”

The author was able to tackle the situation legally.
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Q: Give an account of Orwell’s attitude towards imperialism and colonial rule in “Shooting an Elephant” or Discuss the evils of imperialism pointed out by George Orwell in his essay “Shooting an Elephant”

Answer: George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair, British novelist, essayist, and critic, whose brilliant reporting and political conscience fashioned an impassioned picture of his life and times. A writer of remarkable clarity, Orwell claimed that fine prose should be transparent, “like a window-pane.” In his essays “Shooting an Elephant” and “Politics and the English Language,” he asserted that dishonest politics and slipshod language are inseparably connected evils. His essays provide models of what he preached. Orwell felt impelled to write on political themes to counter the totalitarian tendencies that he felt threatened his age. Such concerns prompted the two satirical novels for which he is best known, Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949).

OPTIONAL- [From 1922 to 1927 Orwell served with the Indian Imperial Police in Burma (now Myanmar). This was the period that decisively transformed his outlook. Orwell gradually came to detest his role as a representative of a colonial government and to identify himself with the subject people. In England on leave in 1927 he decided to quit the Imperial Police, to take up writing and to speak out against the domination of any person over another. ] Some European spread the tentacles of their rule in different parts of the world. The British Raj was established even in Asia and Africa dividing the population in two classes-the ruler and the ruled, that is, the oppressor and the oppressed.  “Shooting an Elephant” is one of the popular essays of Orwell. It chiefly deals with the autobiographical elements and the personal experiences of Orwell as a sub divisional police officer in Moulmein in lower Burma. So he could acquire direct knowledge of imperialism and colonial rules in the east. He became a part of it and got a clear picture of the imperial by products. He came to realize that-“Imperialism is an evil thing” which affected adversely the moral balance between the ruler and the ruled. The current essay is very much critical of the colonial rule and imperialism. It clearly depicts Orwell’s anti imperialistic attitude. He faced bitter enmity and opposition from the natives of Burma and came to realize that, they belonged to two different camps. Hardly there was any meeting point for the two. He disliked the tyranny exerted on the Burmese by a few British rulers. Though the white rulers oppressed the natives, the natives did not have the guts to beat or kill the whites. But there was a strong hatred towards the rulers and an anti white feeling prevailed among the natives. They tried to tease their master or laugh at them. When a European lady went through the bazaar alone somebody would probably spit betel juice over her dress. Once on the football field the author fell down being tricked by a native. They enjoyed the fun treating him as a laughing stock. Orwell made an ironic confession that he had to kill an innocent elephant against his will only to save the face of the white rulers. During his stay in Burma in the capacity of a police officer. Once a domestic elephant broke away from the house of its owner and caused havoc in locality. People thought that the elephant had gone mad and so demanded that it should be killed. The writer was informed and by the time he reached there the elephant had came out of its “must” form and went to nearby field to graze. The author rushed there with his riffle. A crowd of hundred Burmese followed him to enjoy the fun of killing the animal. Looking at the elephant Orwell understood that the elephant was normal. He did not feel like shooting the elephant. But the natives at his back expected him to shoot the elephant. He had to think over the situation seriously. In that situation, he felt the elephant alive, the natives would start laughing and jeering at him. Perhaps they also think that he was afraid of killing an elephant. And suddenly he realized that, he have to shoot the elephant after all. The shooting an elephant is a part of his personal experience and there is an ethical point of view. In the words of Orwell it is “the futility of the white man’s dominion in the east”. Being a part of the ruling class, he could not lower the colonial rules to the natives. He thought, “A sahib has got to act like a sahib”. So he had to kill the elephant to uphold the superiority, knowing it well that, it was wrong. The last sentence of the essay suggests the truth: “ I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool”. He hated the British Raj fro oppressing and tyrannical rule. He hated the foolish jeering natives also. It was an ordeal for him to be placed in such a situation. Such contradictory feelings compelled him to resign his job and go back to England. According to him, the imperialistic rule was evil and it was totally futile in his eyes.