From the sixteenth to the twentieth century, imperialism played a large role in shaping human history, and only seven decades ago it began to decline. Once the world started to become more connected and people became educated on the true nature of imperialism, humankind began to realize the futility of it all. In the short story, “Shooting an Elephant”, the author, George Orwell, conveys that imperialism ultimately works against itself through the conflict and use of symbols. The narrator, a British officer in Burma, and the native Burmans both serve to generalize the populations in which they belong. The narrator represents all of the Brits strewn about the