Shooting an Elephant Video

“Shooting an Elephant” is a narrative essay written by George Orwell in 1936. Based on Orwell’s own experience working as a police officer for the British Empire in Burma, the essay describes an episode in which Orwell attempts to control a rampaging elephant. Orwell is known for his social criticism; here, the elephant killing is a metaphor for the brutality of colonialism.

Orwell introduces himself as a conflicted young man working as a police officer for the British Raj in Burma. On one hand, he has witnessed and contributed to the atrocities perpetrated against the Burmese people on behalf of the British Empire. Due to this experience, he has grown opposed to the British colonial project in Burma.

On the other hand, Orwell must still carry out his duties as a police officer. The people of Burma hate the British, and as a result, they harass and mock Orwell, whom they see as an agent of the Empire. Orwell finds himself resenting the Burmese people and tries to avoid interacting with them.

One day, Orwell learns that an elephant suffering from “must”--a passing disorder causing elephants to become uncontrollably violent– has broken free from its chains and is rampaging through the local bazaar. Compelled to police the situation, Orwell sets out with a small rifle, although he has no intention of killing the elephant.

At first, Orwell has a difficult time getting answers from the locals about where the elephant has gone. When he arrives at the bazaar, he comes upon the mess the elephant has made. Not only has it trampled grass huts and turned over a garbage truck, but also, it has killed a man. Orwell sends for an elephant rifle. Still, he claims to have no intention of killing the elephant. Finally, the Burmese lead Orwell to some paddy fields, where the elephant is grazing peacefully. Immediately, Orwell feels that it would be wrong to shoot the elephant. It is a magnificent creature, which Orwell compares to a complex piece of machinery. It seems “no more dangerous than a cow,” as the bout of must seems to have passed.

However, a crowd of at least 2,000 Burmese people have followed him to the fields. Feeling their eyes on him, Orwell understands that the crowd expects him to kill the elephant, as they desire both the spectacle and the elephant meat.

More importantly, they expect him to uphold the performance of power that he is meant to represent as an officer of the British Empire. In this moment, Orwell grasps the ways in which colonizers are beholden to the colonized. If he falters, he will not only let down the guise of power, but create an opportunity for the people to laugh at him. In this way, he realizes that the Empire is kept afloat by a fear of humiliation instilled in individual officers.

Ashamed, Orwell gets down on the ground, taking aim at the elephant’s brain. He fires, striking the elephant in the head. To his surprise, the elephant doesn't die. Instead, a disturbing change comes over it, and it seems merely to age. Firing again, Orwell brings the elephant to its knees. Still, it refuses to die.

Firing a third time, Orwell is stunned to see the elephant rearing onto its hind legs and lifting its trunk. Finally, it thunders to the ground, but it is still breathing. Orwell unloads bullet after bullet into the elephant’s heart, but it refuses to die. Unable to listen to the animal’s tortured breathing any longer, Orwell leaves. Impatient, the crowd rushes the elephant, taking its meat. Later, Orwell learns that it took the elephant a half an hour to die.

In time, Orwell asks his fellow police officers whether he did the right thing. While the older officers think he did the proper thing, the younger ones feel that it was a shame, since, they claim, the elephant is worth more than a Burmese citizen’s life. “I often wondered,” he writes, “whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.”