“[A] story always sounds clear enough at a distance, but the
nearer you get to the scene of events the vaguer it becomes.” -George Orwell
George Orwell’s Shooting
an Elephant is an intriguing piece of writing. Whether or not we can categorize
the story as creative nonfiction is, I think, central to its interpretation.
However, in the context of this class, I think it is fair to say that we can
move forward assuming that if the piece is not autobiographical, that it was at
least written from the perspective of someone Orwell knew or worked with in
Burma and based on real events.
With this in mind, I was left with the impression that George
Orwell wanted to deliver a message of frustration and anguish over British
Imperialism. He uses this story of an imperialist pushed to his emotional
limits by both the conditions he works for and against. It is explicitly stated
by the narrator that “All I knew was that I was stuck between my hatred of the
empire I served and my rage against the evil-spirited little beasts who tried
to make my job impossible.” With this frustration made clear, Orwell shows us,
in gruesome detail, the tragedy that unfolds as a result of the pressures
imposed on the narrator. We see a man break and almost lose himself under the scrutiny
of a people he is told to oppress. He shot the elephant “solely to avoid
looking a fool” and put a torturous and haunting chain of events into motion. I
think Orwell’s sentiment of anti-imperialism rings out clearly in this story –
factual or otherwise.
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