Shooting an Elephant :: essays research papers

A police officer in the British Raj, the supposedly unbreakable public opinion force, was afraid. With his gun aimed at a elephants head, he was faced with the decision to remove the trigger. That officer was George Orwell, and he create verballys about his experience in his short story, Shooting an Elephant. To have face, he shrugged it off as his desire to avoid looking the fool (George Orwell, 283). In truth, the atmosphere of terror and pressure overwhelmed him. His inner struggle over the guilt of beingness involved in the subjugation of a people added to this strain, and he make a decision he would later regret enough to write this story. Early on in his essay, Orwell describes how the abuses and treatment he witnessed oppressed him & international ampere8230 with an intolerable sense of guilt, (Orwell,277). This is not some minor pang, or shrewish worry. The shame pressed down on his shoulders with an unbearable weight. He withal describes the injustices in detail, u sing vivid pictures like The wretched prisoners huddling in the loathly cages&8230 (Orwell,277). This does not come from someone who condones such behavior. It stems from a troubled, rueful soul.The mob, thousands by his description, also pressured him. I could feel their two-thousand wills pressing me forward, ir propelibly, he emphasizes (Orwell, 280). It is hard to resist the peer pressure of one or two people, much slight a cluster of thousands. He admits, &8230in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the faces behind. Thus, the desire and will of the crowd urge him on, ominously.The people despised him. He speaks of being hated by outsize numbers of people and the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere..." (Orwell, 276). As one man, how could he dare to go against them? Two thousand could easily overtake one. They would not have aided him, should anything go wrong, and eagerly anticipated that eventuality. He describes his fe ar that they would watch him be &8230pursued, caught, trampled on, and reduced to a grinning mud&8230 should the elephant charge (Orwell, 281).