1)George Orwell has an extremely scornful attitude towards imperialism. He views it as a corrupt form of government. He has a strong disgust for the native people, as they continually harass him on a daily basis.
They attempt to trip him on the soccer field, laugh and make fun of him. Orwell dislikes his position in Burma, as he frequently states that he does not like having power and ruling over a foreign people. Many times the masses of people tend to go around what Orwell is attempting to enforce, rather than obey what he decides. “I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better.”2) What Orwell sees as imperialism's real nature, is how the people can conform under the pressure that is surrounding them, when an individual seems as though he or she is weak and fragile.
He shows this believe by shooting the elephant to avoid being heavily scrutinized by the Burmese people.3) The reason that Orwell shots the elephant is to avoid the torment he would receive by the Burmese people if he let the elephant go free. Orwell states, “To come all that way, rifle in hand, with two thousand people marching at my heels, and then to trail feebly away, having done nothing-no, that was impossible. The crowd would laugh at me. And my whole life, every white man’s life in the East, was one long struggle not to be laughed at” (982).
It is evident that the main factor to Orwell's decision is to look stronger and gain more respect in the eyes of the Burmese people.4) The European people were divided in the Orwell's decision to shot the elephant. The older Europeans supported Orwell's decision in shooting the elephant, because the elephant had gone mad and attacked. Younger Europeans disagreed with his decision in belief that the elephants life was more vaulible than a Coringhee coolie. “..
.because an elephant was worth more than any damn Coringhee coolie.” (984). I for one support Orwell's decision to shot the elephant. He made the right decision due to the fact that the elephant had gone off and killed another animal. If he had not shot the elephant their was a chance that the elephant could have killed other animals or even a human.
5)Orwell believes that people make decisions based on the views of those around them. It is typical for people to do this, as they tend to want to conform to those around them and go with the most common belief to fit in with the most common belief. When by themselves they may not choose to eat candy, but when they are around a group of people, they may pig out and just eat as much as they can, cause that is what the others around them choose to do as well.
