Overall, I found it really interesting to read a piece of
narrative journalism written in the 1930s, from George Orwell of all people! I
was surprised at the way in which Orwell carefully uses metaphors for imperialism
as a backdrop for the entire story, including the action of shooting the
elephant as an important factor in how he interacts with the native people.
The reader gets a good glimpse of Orwell’s thought process
throughout the entire encounter, including seeing his contempt for imperialism,
and his conflicted feelings with being a white man in a position of power who
shoots the elephant in order to not be made a fool of in front of the Burma
natives. However, I definitely found my mind wandering off while reading all
the exposition in his recounting of the story. However, the immense amount of detail that Orwell put into
crafting this story could count as evidence that he did indeed shoot the
elephant.
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