Nature of European Imperialism in George Orwell's Shooting An Elephant

Running head: GLOBAL HISTORY - IMPERIALISM
GLOBAL HISTORY - IMPERIALISM
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Author Note

1GLOBAL HISTORY - IMPERIALISM
What do you think is the most important lesson about the nature of European imperialism
that Orwell is trying to tell us in his story about shooting an elephant in Burma?
“Shooting An Elephant” is a well-known essay by George Orwell. The essay was
published in the New Writing, a well-known literary magazine in the year 1936 (Orwell). The
author equates the elephant to the massive British empire. The essay attempts to shed light on the
comparison as drawn by the essayist and the depiction of the Imperialism through the given
essay. The following paper aims to discuss the nature of the European Imperialism as is depicted
within the essay by the eminent writer, George Orwell.
The essay “Shooting An Elephant” as composed by George Orwell is one of the
compositions that are related to the European Imperialism in a close manner. the essay also
points out the effects that were implemented by the colonialism not only on the colonized but
also on the colonizers of the area. The story opens with the detrimental nature of the colonialism
and the way in which the colonialism has its corrosive effects on the both the colonizers and the
colonized. The essay in discussion revolves around the killing of an elephant in the country of
Burma. The elephant in this essay as opined by Akter represents the British Colonial Empire.
The death of the elephant at the hands of Orwell represents the abolishment of the Empire at the
hands of the officials that they have appointed on their own. The attack of the “must” as is
demonstrated within the essay is a representative of the routine that is followed by the British
Empire. Mullen opines that this generally refers to the routine of the enforcement of the power
and the dominance over the area that they have colonized, the Burmese in this context. The essay
in discussion “Shooting An Elephant” is one of the compositions of Orwell where he is observed