Shooting an Elephant

After reading George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant," I truly felt bad for him. He hated being a police officer in Burma, as he was constantly laughed at and insulted by the natives. It was very clear that he felt terrible after shooting the elephant, but he had to do it for the sake of the town's safety. I thought the story was very well written and descriptive. He showed the other side of imperialism, according to the Indians. He gave a different definition of imperialism in that it is all about pleasing the weaker country. 

Orwell shot the elephant because he did not want to be thought of as a coward or as a joke. He was laughed at and ridiculed by the Indians many times and couldn't let that happen again. His main intention was to either scare the elephant with the sound of the rifle or to leave it alone until the owner came back to town. When he looked behind him and saw all of the eager faces, he knew the elephant would have to be shot. After Orwell shot it the first time, you could tell that he regretted what he had done. I think every other shot was to just put the elephant out of its misery. 

Imperialism is when a strong nation takes over a weaker nation and dominates its economic, political, and cultural life. Orwell says that imperialism is not about the benefit of the stronger country. Yes the strong country has access to the weak country's natural resources, but at what cost? The stronger will constantly have to please the weaker so no riots and uprisings occur. Orwell actually shooting the elephant was an example of how imperialism works, as defined in this story. Orwell, from the powerful Britain, was trying to please the weaker Indians. If he didn't shoot the elephant, the Indians might have gotten angry and acted out harshly.