Shooting an Elephant
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"Shooting an Elephant" is an essay by George Orwell written during the autumn of 1936. A narrative, Orwell retells his account of shooting an elephant in British-controlled Burma as an Imperial Policeman in 1926.
Context
Britain conquered Burma over a period of 62 years (1824 - 1886), during which three Anglo-Burmese Wars took place, and incorporated it into its Indian Empire. Burma was administered as a province of India until 1937 when it became a separate, self-governing colony; independence was attained as a result of the Aung San–Attlee agreement which guaranteed Burmese independence. Aung San was assassinated before Burma attained its independence on January 4, 1948.
With a strong interest in the lives of the working class, George Orwell (born in India to a middle-class family but brought up in Britain) held the post of Assistant Superintendent in the British Imperial Police from 1922 to 1927. Obliged to enforce the laws of an imperial power with which he fundamentally disagreed, Orwell's distaste for totalitarian regimes developed. After quitting the police, Orwell traveled back to England, where he detailed the lives of the poorest working groups in Down and Out in Paris and London and other writings.
Synopsis
In Moulmein, Orwell was a police officer during a period of intense anti-European sentiment. Although all his sympathies lay with the Burmese, he was obligated to act in his official role as a representative of the oppressing imperial power. As such, he was subjected to constant baiting by the Burmese, especially by the Buddhist monks, whom he called the "worst of all". After receiving a call relating a tame elephant's rampage (due probably to the animal coming into 'musth'), Orwell, armed with a small rifle and mounted on a pony and headed to the bazaar where the elephant had been seen. Entering one of the poorest quarters, Orwell received conflicting reports and contemplated leaving, thinking the incident was a hoax. Orwell then saw a village woman chasing the children who were looking at the body of a Indian, whom the elephant had trampled and killed. Orwell sent an orderly to bring an elephant rifle and, leading a crowd of roughly two thousand, headed toward the paddy field where the elephant had stopped to graze. Orwell had originally sent for the elephant gun for his own protection and when he saw that the elephant was obviously quite docile; he knew that he ought not to shoot it. But he was aware, however, that the crowd fully expected him to kill the elephant, and realized that he was, in fact, trapped by the crowds' expectations, and by his own fear of looking foolish. He realized, as well, that if one empire enslaves another it places itself in a position of authority from which it cannot escape. He knew that if he decided to get closer in an attempt to gauge the musth of the elephant, and if he had misjudged the animal's mood, his poor rifle skills would have assuredly resulted in his death - perhaps to the delight of the crowd. From this Orwell concluded that he could not avoid shooting this magnificent animal. Aiming at his perceived location of the elephant's brain, Orwell fired a shot which brought the elephant to its knees. After another shot, the elephant gained its footing only to be brought down with a third round. The elephant being still alive, Orwell fired two more heavy rounds and then a clip of regular rifle rounds into the beast - to no avail. Unable to stand the elephant's agony any longer, Orwell left the scene, only to learn later that the elephant took a further thirty minutes to die, during which time the elephant was butchered alive, stripped of its meat by the crowd. The incident left Orwell with a thorough distaste for any form of hunting and a deep realization of his part in the awful machinery of repression.
Symbolism
An anti-imperialist essayist, Orwell frequently and clearly states his displeasure with colonial Britain, "I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing... I was all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British." Enslaved, Orwell adds, "all I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served ... I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind." Reflective, Orwell realizes being forced to impose strict laws and to shoot the elephant -- he states his feelings against the act, but submits after comprehending he "had got to shoot the elephant" -- illustrates an inherent problem of hegemony: "when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys." By enforcing the strict British rule, he was forfeiting his freedom while concurrently oppressing the Burmans. A call to end imperialism, "Shooting an Elephant", ironically, appeals Britons to cease colonialism to maintain their freedom.
Bernard Crick who wrote a biography of Orwell, George Orwell: A Life, has cast doubt on the idea that Orwell actually shot an elephant. No independent account of Orwell's actions have been found and there was no official record of the incident, which was unusual considering the destruction of valuable property (in the essay, Orwell writes, "Alive, the elephant was worth at least a hundred pounds"). Peter Davison, the editor of Orwell's Complete Works, includes an interview with George Stuart, a contemporary of Orwell in Burma who said that Orwell was transferred to Katha as punishment for shooting an elephant. Davison also includes in the complete works a news item from the Rangoon Gazette, 22 March, 1926 which describes a Major E.C. Kenny shooting an elephant in similar circumstances.
See also: Burmese Days
External links
- ["Shooting an Elephant"] - HTML version
- ["Shooting an Elephant"] Complete essay with search option.
- [About "Shooting an Elephant"] Interpretations of and more background information on the essay
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