Shooting An Elephant Symbolism

Imperialism is a policy extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. In George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant he portrays evil imperialism through symbols, including Orwell himself, the elephant, and the dead coolie. First off, Orwell represents evil imperialism because he represents authority he represents the people themselves, and he represents a puppet or mask. Orwell represents authority because he is the sub-divisional police officer. Being a police officer, he is in the position to have authority but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he has authority or control or that he was liked. “As a police officer I was an obvious target and was baited whenever it seemed safe to do so.” (323). The Burmese disliked Orwell and humiliated him every chance that they could. He also represents the people themselves and that they were helpless. Orwell felt like he was helpless because no matter what he did he was still in the same position and he was never happy with his life or where he was. This symbolizes the Burmese because they were helpless to their government, they were living in poverty and no one helped them. Another way Orwell represents people is shown through the way the Burmese treat him. It shows how people treat people that are different than them. “ I was a sub-divisional police officer of the town, and in an aimless, petty kind of way anti-European feeling was very bitter.” (322). Because Orwell was European the Burmese treated him differently, they were mean to him and humiliated him in front of everyone. In reality, if someone is different, they can get made fun of and bullied and that is what this represents. Orwell also represents a puppet or someone who is wearing a mask. He works as a puppet to the Burmese people. Whenever he was about to shoot the elephant he says, “Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd-seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind.” (327). He feels like he has to be the leader of the group because this is the only time they have stood behind him on anything. He also represents a …show more content…
It represents the city trying to stay alive because when the elephant got shot he was slowly falling, but tried to stay alive as long as he could. The city was falling and had a lot of poverty and war but was trying to stay together. It shows how Burma struggled after the war with Britain. The “must” from the elephant represented power. It shows how powerful the Burmese were before they started the war and how weak they were after. The last thing that the elephant represents is the people. It shows how much poverty that they were in because after the elephant had been killed they tore it apart for resources. “ … They had stripped his body almost to the bones by the afternoon.” (330). It also shows that people will do whatever they have to to not look like a fool. Orwell didn’t want to shoot the elephant but because he didn’t want to look like a fool in front of the Burmese he did it anyways. “…I had done it solely to avoid looking a