Shooting an Elephant SOAPSTone

The subject of George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant” is that people will do shameful and wrong things in order to not be humiliated. This brand of cowardice is illustrated by the protagonist’s actions when faced with a pressure filled situation. It is because of his failure to do what is just, and attempt to make himself look better, that demonstrates his spinelessness.
“Shooting an Elephant” was written in 1936. The story’s time of creation is exhibited when Orwell details that he was a British officer working in Burma. This clearly demonstrates that it was written during the era of British Imperialism in the early part of the twentieth century. The time and place of this story’s creation is influenced by portraying the story as if the Burmese were inferior to the Europeans. If it had been modern times where the British are no longer ruling, the piece would have been written in a much different style.
Orwell’s specific audience for “Shooting and Elephant” is probably middle to upper class Englishmen. The author’s target is displayed through when he talks so much about Imperialism. This means he wrote this for other British men to observe his thoughts and maybe speculate about his behaviors. Orwell’s general audience for this essay is people who are in positions were pressure is involved. This is exhibited by when he details in his paper that if he did not shoot the elephant, the entire village would have probably laughed heartily at him. So he is using his situation and the lessons he learned from it as advice to people in similar situations.
Orwell’s purpose in “Shooting an Elephant” is to advise the reader not to back down in times of pressure or possible humiliation. His experiences are communicated to the reader in the last line of the story where he says, “I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool.” Here he explains that his actions throughout the entire novel were completely motivated by the fear of humiliation. The purpose is further revealed by when he explains that the last thing he wanted to do was to kill the magnificent giant. However because of the pressure he was under, and the possible humiliation, he backed down.
George Orwell, famous for novels such as 1984 or Animal Farm, believes that cowardice is pressure can make a person do wrong, sometimes terrible things. This is illustrated by when he express his clear desires not to shoot the elephant, but caves under the stress, and slays the gentle giant. Because of Orwell’s belief that he should have left the elephant alone, the story has a more resentful attitude towards his actions. Orwell also believes that the fear of humiliation is a strong motivator for wrongdoing. It’s because of this belief that Orwell’s piece takes a sort of sorrowfulness belief, especially when the elephant lingers between life and death for thirty minutes. Orwell uses the use of imagery to evoke strong feelings of his wrongdoing. When he details the bloody and tragic way in which the elephant died, Orwell is painting an awful, tragic picture of the poor animal’s death. This is a way in which Orwell conveys his obvious guilt for the slaughtering of this elephant.
Finally Orwell indicates a remorseful and guilty attitude about not caving into the fear of humiliation in “Shooting an Elephant.” This tone is expressed most accurately when Orwell laments that the sound of the beast’s labored breathing resembled that of a ticking clock that would soon die out. This blatantly shows his terrible sorrow for the elephant and his guilt about unnecessarily slaughtering it. Because his tone is so grave however, it is insight for the reader to demonstrate how regretful he is about caving into pressure, and how it caused regret in his life.