Reaction to Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

     "Shooting an Elephant" is about the experiences of a British officer in Burma, then a colony of Britain. Here, Orwell clearly depicts the conflicts that imperialism brings to different peoples. Imperialism, it seems, has cons for both sides. The persona is hated by most, if not all, of the natives in Burma. He, on the other hand, feel pity and guilt for the conditions on the Burmans but cannot do anything about it because he is expected to act with the authority and dignity of an Englishman.

     Even though this essay was written at a different time, a different place and at different circumstances, the inner conflict of the persona still applies at modern times. People have expectations and people are also expected of. There are times when our parents, friends, teachers and other people of authority expect us to act a certain way and tell us what to do and what not to do. It is always difficult to make decisions based on your own instinct and beliefs if they conflict with those of others. The persona feels the full impact of this difficulty when he had to decide whether of not to kill the elephant.

     An elephant had escaped from the chains that were holding it. It had destroyed a lot of property along its path and the persona knew that he was expected to kill it. But the persona did not want to kill the elephant because in his mind, the elephant was harmless and simply wanted to eat. In this instance, the persona felt the pressure and anticipation of thousands of Burmans that had gathered to watch him kill the elephant. He weighed the pros and cons of his situation but eventually decided to kill the elephant.

     Even today, we experience a lot of pressure from the people around us. Oftentimes, we are stuck between doing what is right for us and doing what other people tell us is right. In a situation where people are pressuring us to do something we are having doubts on or we do not want to do at all, we can make up hundreds of excuses to justify giving in to their pressures. But like the persona, we will not have peace of mind in the end. It is hard to do something against the norm but we have to stand strong in what we believe in. Despite the criticisms and disapproval, we have to do what is right for the given situation, even if its not the easy or popular way.