Shooting an Elephant

The subject of George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is a man who struggles with his own morals and the peer pressure of the Burmese to shoot a rogue elephant. His struggles to make the right decision are illustrated because he has difficulty making the right decision because he knows that the elephant most likely won't hurt him but he thought he would look like a fool to the Burmese people if he just let the elephant be.

"Shooting an Elephant" was written in 1936, several years after the elephant-shooting incident had happened. The essay's time of creation is conveyed by the fact that the British had control over Burma at the time this essay was written. The probable place of the essay's creation is in Britain. Orwell would have had time to process the events that happened in Burma and come back home to write this essay about the horrible thing that he witnessed.

George Orwell's specific audience for "Shooting an Elephant" is the people who implement imperialism. The author's target audience is exhibited by his pointed display that imperialism is a detrimental system. He tries to make these people feel remorse for implementing this by showing the pain and suffering of the elephant.

George Orwell's purpose in "Shooting an Elephant" is to show that imperialism is a detrimental system. The pain that imperialism causes is illustrated by the elephant itself. The elephant is reckless and destructive, killing people and destroying villages. This shows that imperialism is not a reliable system and can cause harm to the people living in it.

George Orwell, after witnessing the death of this elephant, believes that it would be hard to take down imperialism, but it must be done because it is harmful to societies. This value is illustrated by the elephant's long, painful death. When the elephant is shot, it's strong facade fades and it starts to show all its weaknesses, like imperialism.

George Orwell articulates a feeling of remorse about the shooting of the elephant, but also a feeling that justice has been done. Even though the shooter was reluctant to kill the elephant, you feel as if it had to be done, because if the elephant stayed alive, it would have continued to hurt the village and the people living within it. This represents imperialism perfectly.