He realized that when he had sent for the elephant rifle he was committed to shoot the elephant. After coming all this way with the rifle in hand followed by two thousand people, there was no way of him to leave the place without shooting the elephant. If he did so, the crowd would surely laugh at him.
Finally, to save the honor of him and that of other Europeans, Orwell decided to shoot the elephant. Though he had had no previous experience of shooting an elephant, he was more concerned of the prestige than his own safety. At last, discarding all fear, he pulled the trigger and shot bullet after bullet to confirm the killing.
The incident of shooting the elephant gave rise to a much-talked issue. It also created a tremendous negative impact on Orwell’s mind. Even the opinion of his fellow Europeans differed – the older people supported his act, while the younger ones condemned it and argued that ‘it was a damn shame to shoot an elephant for killing a coolie’. However, deep in his mind Orwell always knew that he had shot the elephant ‘solely to avoid looking a