Should George Orwell Have Shot The Elephant

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“He was lying on his belly with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side. His face was coated with mud, the eyes wide open, the teeth bared and grinning with an expression of unendurable agony. (Never tell me, by the way, that the dead look peaceful. Most of the corpses I have seen looked devilish.) The friction of the great beast's foot had stripped the skin from his back as neatly as one skins a rabbit¨(2) While the author of this quote was a British officer, he watched in horror as this man was buried in the soft mud in Burma by a ferocious and must elephant. Because of this incident, Orwell should have shot the elephant and followed the crowd for three reasons. The elephant has more power, Orwell might be perceived as a wimp from bystanders, and he is making an overall good decision.

The first reason Orwell should have shot the elephant and followed the crowd is because the elephant has more power. The elephant has already savagely and aggressively slaughtered a Burman man who was completely innocent. After watching the elephant Orwell says, “It had already destroyed somebody's bamboo hut, killed a cow and raided some fruit-stalls and devoured the stock; also it had met the municipal rubbish van …show more content…
Orwell has a very strong self-esteem and pride and would not want to let his reputation sink because he did not shoot the elephant. Orwell should also kill the elephant because the Burmese might protest against it and start an uprising. The officers of India would get furious that Orwell did not have the guts to kill an elephant and because of that, he started a war in Burma. Officers also might pick on Orwell and treat him the same way the townspeople harass him as he only did not fall a great beast. This is why Orwell should have shot the elephant and followed the
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