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Shooting An Elephant Imperialism

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People desire power. The more power a person has the more influence he obtains. With this influence, he can cause wars with only a few simple words; furthermore, if this man ruled a powerful nation and wanted to take over a smaller nation by either force or diplomacy, that nation would inherit the title of an imperialistic nation. Imperialism means one nation taking over another nation. When an imperialistic nation takes over another nation, both parties suffer in one form or another. George Orwell, in “Shooting an Elephant”, works as a soldier for the imperialistic British in Burma. He sees the effects of imperialism on a weaker nation first hand. One day on the job, Orwell has to kill an escaped elephant. When Orwell kills the elephant, he …show more content…

When an imperialistic nation first takes over another nation, the oppressed nation strongly vocalizes its’ hostility towards the imperialistic nation. In the beginning, the weaker nation retaliates to the stronger nation by starting riots and protests to try to convince the stronger nation to leave the nation. Orwell describes shooting the elephant in the throat to quicken his death. The throat symbolizes the ability to speak. An oppressed nation losses its ability to speak freely when under imperialism. The imperialistic nation produces strong forces to control the natives by taking away the freedom of speech, so those who speak against the new rule face punishment. The oppressed nation’s speech becomes limited in substance because of the new regulations put in place to prevent a revolt. Slowly over time, the oppressed nation loses its ability to speak freely. Its voice becomes meaningless and no one cares to hear the cruelty rising in that nation. Orwell notes, “[The elephant’s] tortured gasps continued as steadily as the ticking of a clock” (QUOTE). Before the elephant dies, he gasps for air to try and stay alive and has become helpless to prevent his death. This symbolism represents a weak nation’s inability to help themselves. The weaker nation no longer boldly opposes the imperialistic nation, but rather maintains a quiet murmur of opposition. Imperialism silences an oppressed nation’s speech because the oppressed nation tries to voice revolt against the stronger nation. Thus, the stronger nation limits the content of the speech of nation to ensure no public uprising

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