Shooting an Elephant Commentary

My first impression on George Orwell's "Shooting An Elephant" begins with a Western European man out casted by the surrounding population of Moulmein, Burma. This eventually leads to the incapacitation of an elephant, which "was not, of course, a wild elephant, but a tame one which had gone “must”", and some happy Burmese poeple: "I heard the devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd." However, in the end of the essay, the narrator reflects on his actions and "wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking [like] a fool". The central meaning of George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant" is that the social pressure on a person leads to foolish actions in order to feel that sense of acceptance. Orwell uses literary features to help enhance the central meaning though the plot and setting, characterization, tone and mood, and voice.


The plot of the essay is briefly explained through each paragraph, that there is a Western European man who was out casted by the Burmese people within the setting of "Moulmein, in lower Burma". He expressed his feelings of frustration because he was on their side against the British imperialism; however, after he knew that the Burmese hated him, he was unsure.The Burmese were very excited towards the narrator, due to the fact that he had a gun, which caused them to portray him as the elephant killer. The narrator realizes the situation and then decides whether or not he should kill elephant. The elephant was eventually incapacitated, and "took him half an hour to die." At the end of the essay, he begins to reflect on why he killed the elephant, and come to the conclusion that he killed the large animal  "solely to avoid looking [like] a fool".


The characterization of the essay helps enhance the central meaning of the essay. Orwell characterizes two main people in the essay: one being the narrator himself and the other being the people of Moulmein. Orwell portrays the narrator through his thoughts and actions. A quote to help justify this statement would be when the narrator say "solely to avoid looking [like] a fool." This quotation shows that the narrator is self-conscious and kills a large animal in order to gain that sense of acceptance. 


The tone of the essay is a sense of reflection, regret and pity. Due to the fact that he is able to show some kind of reflection, I began to understand what he was experiencing, as well as, a sense of pity and regret towards the narrator. The mood that I received, as a reader, was a sense of anger and resentment towards the actions that narrator had done in his achievement of, yet again, the sense of acceptance from amongst the civilians.


The voice of the essay, from what I understood, is probably the Western European man (the narrator). But it could also be the voice of the author. This brings up the sense of ambiguity (to be able to be interpreted in more then one way) of whether or not the voice of the essay is the author's. However, the narrative point-of-view of the essay allows the content to help the reader understand what the character is going through as the essay progresses.