Shooting an Elephant
George Orwell
Orwell published this in the magazine New Writing in late 1936, drawing on his years as a policeman in Burma. Its point is that the officer with the rifle is the one least free in the crowd, since the ruler has to act out what the ruled expect of him. The link is the Penguin collection Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays, which carries the title piece with My Country Right or Left, How the Poor Die and Such, Such Were the Joys among others.
Why you should read this
Orwell's essay on his time as a colonial police officer in Burma, using a single incident to work through the psychological costs empire imposes on its own agents as much as on its subjects. Short and widely anthologized, often assigned as a compact introduction to Orwell's non-fiction voice.
- Field
- History
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 1936
- Themes
- EmpireHistory
