He was upset by the things that he saw happening to the Europeans ND stated “l hated it more bitterly than I can explain. (1984) He also felt that “Imperialism was an evil thing” (1984) and did not agree with it at all. He felt that he was trapped by a job that he hated in a place that hated him and wanted to do what he believed was right, but was hindered by wanting to be accepted by the Burmese people. The main point of this writing, I believe, is that Orwell was faced with a decision to shoot or not shoot a “mad” elephant while it was doing virtually no harm at the time. In making a decision to kill the animal, he would be aging many, many of the towns people happy.
While at the same time, upsetting the owner of the elephant and the younger Burmese people that thought ” it was a damn shame to shoot an elephant for killing a collie, because an elephant was worth more than any damn Cornicing collie. ” (1984) In deciding to shoot the elephant, he said “And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East. ” (1984) Orwell felt that he was “sort of a hollow, posing dummy” (1984) because he was acting on what e thought was “expected” of him and not truly what he believed was right at the time.
He tries to justify the killing by telling himself that it legally had to be done because the elephant had killed a human being and felt that it gave him a “sufficient pretext for shooting the elephant” (1984) although he felt terrible guilt afterwards. Orwell knew that he had not made the decision to kill the “mad” elephant for the right reasons by stating “l often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool. ” (1984) My understanding of this writing is that the author wrote this about the breakdown of the British Empire.
He wrote “and it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East. ” (1 984), to mean that the elephant is comparable to the British Empire in the way that the elephant, one of the biggest animals on Earth, actually represents the British Empire and that they have both caused massive problems for Burma. The shooting of the elephant decoys as the breakdown of Imperialism rule by Orwell riding “It was obvious that the elephant would never rise again, but he was not dead. (1984), meaning that the British Empire would not die, but simply would not control the Burmese people any longer. Orwell was used by the Burmese to destroy the British Empire and by killing the elephant, he became the natives “hollow, posing dummy” (1984) and revealed the change of power by doing so. My opinions about this memoir are not about the breakdown of Empires or Imperialism. My opinions are more focused on doing the right thing in a situation that causes extreme pressure.
I can sympathize with Orwell about the guilt he was feeling as he described killing the elephant, but I disagree with the decision to do so because of his reasoning for doing so. If the animal itself was not harming anyone or anything and was not at that time a threat, why kill it just for social status? Do, however, understand why he killed the elephant. If he had made the choice to let the “mad” animal go, and it killed someone of value, the hatred of the towns people would have intensified and he would have been blamed for causing a death that could have been voided.
He would certainly endured even more taunting and ridicule and possibly, fear for his own life. Besides that, just the pressure of wanting acceptance and to be liked by the people can make humans do things they would otherwise never have done. In my opinion, we come across the “acceptance” challenges very often in our day to day lives. Do we do the things that we whole-heartedly believe or just what we feel is “expected” of us? As a child and teenager, was in several of these situations myself.
Do break curfew just so I can prove to the “cool” ids that I’m cool as well? Or, do I date this guy because he’s popular but not the other guy because he’s a “nerd”? Most of the time, tried to do the right thing even if it was not what my “oppressors” thought I should do. Often felt had to explain to them why I did or did not do something that was expected. The feeling of acceptance is very important our self-worth as humans. We all have the desire in one way or another, but is it worth doing something that goes against our own morals and beliefs?
No one can really say what they would or would not do in Rowel’s situation until they are faced with the same circumstances and are facing the same issues. All we can for certain say is what our own personal standards are. If we have strong morals and beliefs, though, it may be easier to stand our ground and do what is right in our own eyes. All in all, my opinion is this: We should all, as people, stand up for what we believe is right, even when it means sometimes standing alone.
