Shooting an Elephant

“In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, 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. I was a sub-divisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way anti-European feeling was very bitter.”

Although the narrator tells us from the beginning he is tormented by his position, he knows that his role is important. Holding a significant office, no matter how abhorrent to him, garners power and authority. He knows that he is not hated personally, but everything he represents is hated. Literally and figuratively his position creates an important divide readers will fully comprehend by the end of the essay.

“For at that time 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.”

The narrator cannot show his support for the Burmese natives or easily leave his duties and responsibilities to the British military. The essay is the place where he admits his disgust for imperialism and his wish to no longer have any part of it. Readers are given a clear window into the persistent conflict he experiences between his position and his conscience.

“All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried to make my job impossible.”

Although the narrator hates his role as a British officer and the despotism that is connected to the ruling power he must obey, he is equally frustrated by the pressures of the natives, who often yell at and crowd around him. He is perpetually caught between two opposing forces, neither of which can he fully identify with.