Reaction: Shooting an Elephant -- George Orwell

          This short story is basically about a British police officer killing an elephant in Burma.  This elephant had gone wild in the city and killed a civilian, so the British police man's duty was to kill the elephant to prevent further accidents.  Other than it being his duty, the killing of the elephant was also an act done by this officer because of the pressure he felt from the onlooking Burmese citizens.  The officer felt that not killing the elephant would make him look cowardly in front of the Burmese people, who already despised him based on the fact that he was British.  So, in the end, even though he did not truly want to, the officer killed the elephant and was rewarded with not being ridiculed.

        I believe that Orwell, the author, wanted to show the other side to imperialism with this story.  Imperialism is about domination and subordination.  In the story, the officer, being a representation of British authority in that Burmese town, is supposed to be the dominant force.  But the way the story goes, it seems like his own better judgment was overpowered by the supposedly subordinate Burmese people, so as to keep his own pride.  Therefore it is almost as if to maintain dominance he had to subordinate to the inferior.  This is extremely ironic, and this irony is probably what Orwell aimed to expose in this story.  This is his way of saying that, in imperialism, no one wins, and all become inferior to the system.