The narrator of “Shooting an Elephant”, was working as a police officer in Burma located in Asia. He had to work there as an agent of imperialism in spite of his hatred towards it. The experience that he went through while working as a police officer in Burma was traumatic. He describes an incident of shooting an elephant which gave him a realization into the real nature of imperialism. One early morning, he was informed by an inspector at a police station that an elephant was ravaging the festival, and killed someone. The protagonist got a rifle and five bullets just to keep the situation under control, and not actually hurt the elephant. The Burmans, the natives, who had not shown much interest about the elephant ravaging their houses, quite ironically were entertained with the idea that the British police officer was going to shoot the elephant dead. The narrator was followed by a crowd to find the elephant. He knew that he ought not to shoot him as a working elephant is very valuable. He discovered that the elephant at a distance eating peacefully looked no more perilous than a common
cow. In instant he thinks of this as a metaphor to Europe powers imperializing the east. He then realizes the role of the dominant ruler not to go against power. Despite his unwillingness to kill the elephant, he was preoccupied by the thought of being taunted by the natives if he failed to control the elephant. The local crowd appeared to observe the shooting as watchful eyes. After much hesitation, the narrator finally shot the elephant straight at the ear-hole. The bullet paralyzed it in pain. Later he shot twice more and the elephant collapsed after a long struggle but took a long time to die. Afterwards the incident
became a controversial issue among the Europeans. The narrator, however, mentioned that in
actuality he only shot the elephant not to look like a fool before the natives.
-sorry its so late, the internet was down
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