Shooting An Elephant Response Essay

Readers Response to George Orwell’s Shooting an Elephant The first time I found myself reading the short story “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell was during my senior year of high school. As an animal lover, the title was as intriguing as it was unappealing. Why would you want to shoot an elephant? That question is one that the character, the author himself, asks throughout the story as it’s told. It starts by introducing himself as a white sub-divisional police officer serving in Moulmein, a town in lower Burma. He explains his hatred towards imperialism and how the Burman people treat him rudely. I appreciate this story because of how real his character seemed to me, simply explaining his thoughts and opinions regarding the situation that was occurring, which made it easy to understand. When he was told about an elephant raging throughout the town, he was put in the spotlight, forced to make a choice on how to handle the situation at hand. He had sent for a gun to provide himself protection as a precaution for confronting the animal. However, he easily caved
Although the topic may have a sad and difficult one to understand, or read about, it was made clear that he was not fond of the idea himself. This made it so that the reader could sympathize with him and could understand why he had made the choice to shoot the elephant, even if he felt that it was the wrong thing to do in the long run – perhaps not by law, but by belief. Almost everyone has been a victim to pressure and lack of confidence at least once in their lifetime. The character and author experienced this when he made the decision to shoot the elephant, even after it had collapsed on its side. It wasn’t written from the thoughts of an animal abuser, but rather a man who had tried to make the best of the situation, trying to end the animals