Shooting an elephant?

This story really gave a good perspective of George Orwell's political views and also the destructive acts of imperialism. It gives a first person view of the effects Britain had on India and most likely the other colonies they set up in. The people were dirt poor but not helped in a single way by the seemingly almighty British. In the event that an elephant was rampaging in the village however, the British seem to somewhat save the day. George wrote about his experience with this elephant, and his conflict between hating the British but being a citizen.

When the elephant came into town he listened to the stories but almost disregarded them because of the ill natured people not making sense of anything. Then he came upon a dead man killed by the elephant in which he decided to take charge and stop it. When he sent for his gun all the people followed him and then he felt pressured to shoot it. At first he just observed but when he looked upon the crowd of people watching him, he knew that he then needed to shoot it. It was interesting how he described that the white men in India had to set an example and not look scared or unsure of anything. The killing of the elephant was gruesomely described because he wasn't quite sure where to shoot the elephant. It died a slow horrible death which painted more of a picture of the struggle he went through in India. Orwell described British Imperialism and the effects of it very well in his story and also reflected upon the politics and destruction that comes with it.