Review #11: "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell

 

Favorite Quotes:

 

"I was hated by large numbers of people---the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me." -page 1

 

"As for the job I was doing, I hated it more bitterly than I can perhaps make clear." -page 1

 

"(Never tell me, by the way, that the dead look peaceful. Most of the corpses I have seen looked devilish.)" -page 3

 

"I marched down the hill, looking and feeling a fool, with the rifle over my shoulder and an ever-growing army of people jostling at my heels." -page 3

 

"He wears a mask, and his face grows to fit it." -page 4

 

"I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with the preoccupied grandmotherly air that elephants have." -page 4

 

"I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool." -page 6

 

About the Main Character:

 

The narrator is an Englishman, working as a police officer. Many akin the narrator to George Orwell himself. He spent time in Burma where the story in this essay takes place, but it's not definitive if it is him or not. The narrator is put in a difficult position when an elephant in "must" breaks free and runs amok on a small Burmese village.

 

Another Character to Note:

 

In the midst of the havoc of the elephant, a Burmese man referred to as a "coolie" is killed. This nameless character is important to the narrator. He acts as justification for what happens at the end of the essay.

 

Plot Breakdown:

 

1. The Story of the Miserable Cop in Burma

 

2. An Elephant in the Bazaar

 

3. Dead Man in the Mud

 

4. Let the Circus Begin!

 

5. The Internal Struggle of the "White Man"

 

6. Ain't Nobody's Fool

 

Something Interesting to Note:

 

There are bigger questions going on here than shooting an elephant. For me, it makes me reflect on motives and why, at the end of the day, do we do what we do? Is it because of an insecurity or an assurance? It is pressure from somewhere else or a simple whim?

I also thought of consequences. Do we consider who will be most affected by what we're doing? And do we sometimes think it will be the person we are inflicting our action upon...when in actuality it will be us who leaves more wounded than anyone else? 

Orwell prods these questions with this essay.

 

Should you read "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell?

 

Yes you should! I'm a big fan of Orwell's essays. I don't so much love his novels, but he is poignant beyond words when you give him 5 pages. And he's pretty witty too! This essay is a must read for me!!