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    Effect of Colonialism On Both The Colonizer and The Colonized. The Elephant, Like

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    رافعہ چیمہ
    In George Orwell's short story "Shooting an Elephant", the elephant represents the British Empire in Burma and the negative effects of colonialism. Orwell, a colonial officer, feels obligated to shoot the elephant terrorizing a bazaar, even though he has misgivings, for fear of seeming weak. The elephant's death symbolizes the eventual fall of the British Empire at its own hands as it loses legitimacy and control over its colonies.

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    Effect of Colonialism On Both The Colonizer and The Colonized. The Elephant, Like

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    رافعہ چیمہ
    233 views2 pages
    In George Orwell's short story "Shooting an Elephant", the elephant represents the British Empire in Burma and the negative effects of colonialism. Orwell, a colonial officer, feels obligated to shoot the elephant terrorizing a bazaar, even though he has misgivings, for fear of seeming weak. The elephant's death symbolizes the eventual fall of the British Empire at its own hands as it loses legitimacy and control over its colonies.

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    In George Orwell's short story "Shooting an Elephant", the elephant represents the British Empire in Burma and the negative effects of colonialism. Orwell, a colonial officer, feels obligated to shoot the elephant terrorizing a bazaar, even though he has misgivings, for fear of seeming weak. The elephant's death symbolizes the eventual fall of the British Empire at its own hands as it loses legitimacy and control over its colonies.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    233 views2 pages

    Effect of Colonialism On Both The Colonizer and The Colonized. The Elephant, Like

    Uploaded by

    رافعہ چیمہ
    In George Orwell's short story "Shooting an Elephant", the elephant represents the British Empire in Burma and the negative effects of colonialism. Orwell, a colonial officer, feels obligated to shoot the elephant terrorizing a bazaar, even though he has misgivings, for fear of seeming weak. The elephant's death symbolizes the eventual fall of the British Empire at its own hands as it loses legitimacy and control over its colonies.

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    USE OF SYMBOLISM IN “SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT” BY

    GEORGE ORWELL
    In "Shooting an Elephant," Orwell draws on his own experiences of shooting an
    elephant in Burma. This elephant has been terrorizing a bazaar, but the narrator
    has serious misgivings about shooting it. He does it anyway, afraid of being
    considered weak.
    The elephant is the central symbol of the story. Orwell uses it to represent the
    effect of colonialism on both the colonizer and the colonized. The elephant, like
    a colonized populace, has its liberty restricted, and it becomes violently rebellious
    only as a response to being shackled. Orwell, a colonizer, feels a similar
    ambivalence towards the elephant as he does towards the Burmese locals. While
    he recognizes that both are harmless and peaceful and have suffered wrongs at
    the hands of others, he still perpetuates barbarous treatment of both, simply in
    order to uphold an irrational standard of imperial behavior. He kills the elephant
    simply because he fears that he would be humiliated if he failed to do so. In much
    the same way, colonial savagery perpetuates itself simply because colonists fear
    that they would look weak or ridiculous if they acted less inhumanely. Orwell
    further humanizes the elephant by referring to it throughout the story with the
    pronoun “he,” rather than “it.”
    The elephant gun represents the power of the British Empire. At first, the gun is
    used to control the colonists, but when Orwell uses it to kill the elephant in order
    to appease the colonists, the power of the British Empire is turned against itself.
    The Elephant symbolizes the imperialistic British Empire. His death at Orwell's
    hands shows the fall of the British Empire at the hands of its own officials.

    Don't shoot me,


    The dead coolie represents the maltreated Burmese, trampled by the British
    Empire.The attack of "must" is akin to the British Empire's routine of enforcing
    their dominance and power over the Burmese.Described as "lying on his belly
    with arms crucified",there is a clear allusion to the crucifixion of Jesus.
    The coolie is sacrificed in order to justify Orwell's actions. This symbolizes how the
    people killed in colonies were "sacrificed" in order to justify rebellions and wars
    against the Imperialist countries
    The Burmese chaining the elephant (British Empire) symbolizes how the British
    must live up to the expectation of its colonies.
    “When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He
    becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a
    sahib.”
    The three shots symbolize the three big events that end imperialism:
     The Great Depression
     WWI
     Rise of authoritarian regimes (e.g. Soviet Union and Nazi Party)

    The end of the British Empire's influence in her colonies did not come quickly, but
    was the result of numerous outbursts throughout the empire. These violent
    outbursts are symbolized through the ravaging of the elephant.

    “It seemed dreadful to see the great beast Lying there, powerless to move and
    yet powerless to die, and not even be able to finish him”

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