Essay Imperialistic Evolution

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The struggle from which any reform comes greatly engages those who wager in it, which

permeates the outcome. To that end, George Orwell draws a parallel to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in his Shooting an Elephant by raising the chaotic nature of human behavior with respect to political reform. He dramatized the harmful political behavior by metaphorically expressing imperialistic ideas and their effects, and in doing so, he inadvertently showed that ideals arise gradually. Darwin, on the other hand, asserted that mankind as we know it had descended from species of lesser organization just as gradually as Orwell’s ideals did. In both cases, the underlying theme is that any impressive feat in history is formed through of a number of conflicts, whether said conflicts are negligible or not. However, the only time the transformation is apparent is when the penultimate conflict is of a much higher magnitude than its predecessors. Orwell’s fiction-esque account of his time as a police officer in Lower Burma starts with a negative statement about the narrator’s (whom we assume to be Orwell) reputation with the people he was hired to regulate. He claimed that he (the narrator) “was hated by large numbers of people.” 1 Within the same declaration of his less-than-favorable repertoire with his people, he belittles his personal history with some self-loathing: “the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me.” 2 His sarcasm is revealed to be important as it is a vehicle of the inconspicuous theme of his story, eventually. He describes his people as cowardly, afraid of the police, who would not start any sort of violent uprising at any point; at least, that is his assumption. He humbly portrays his role as somewhat of a subordinate to the people with the

permission and backup manpower to switch places with them at any moment if provoked enough. The people, apparently, had a propensity to disturb him on a regular basis by engaging in silly shenanigans. It is at this point of the story during which his passionate hatred for imperialism is identified; he states that he “had already made up his might that imperialism was an evil thing.” 3 He also explains that he hates his job as a police officer and that his discontent is deeply rooted in the fact that as a police officer, he is able to see the inner workings “of Empire.” He then lists the poor living conditions imposed upon the people being governed throughout the prison system. His position forced him to retain his personal opinions about the government under which he worked, and his level of education contributed to his largely implied oath of silence. It is here that he paints a picture of major frustration. The narrator starts to expand on the situation in which imperialism had been structured in his thoughts the way it is, reporting that it had given him “a better glimpse than [he] had had before of the real nature of imperialism—the real motives for which despotic governments act.” 4 Interestingly enough, the situation revolved around the unexpected visit of an elephant. One morning, he received a distress call while settled at a police station. According to the Burman who made the report, there was an elephant running amok throughout the village, destroying just about everything in its path. Although forewarned about the dangers of the elephant, the narrator upholds his duty as a police officer, continuing to move forward towards the danger. In his search for the elephant, once having entered the small village, he was met with a number of people scolding children who were risking their lives by testing the elephant. The narrator circled a hut

and faced the horrors of a dead man’s body, evidently a result of the elephant’s rampage. As soon as he saw the body, he had someone retrieve an elephant rifle he could use in an attempt to subdue the elephant. Once in his possession, the horrified people of the area cheered him on,
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