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What Is George Orwell's View On Imperialism

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In George Orwell’s autobiographical essay “Shooting An Elephant” (1936), Orwell openly promotes his views on imperialism. Orwell’s writing uses metaphorical strategies to show his perspective on imperialism that have resulted from his experience employed as a police officer in Burma. In his work, Orwell’s narrator depicts the true nature of imperialism to be overpowering against the native Burmans. Amidst Orwell’s piece, his narrator observes that “the friction of the great beast’s foot had stripped the skin from [the Dravidian coolie’s] back as neatly as one skins a rabbit.” (para. 4) Instead of boosting the amount of resources the Burmese have, this lucid description describes the empire tearing away the natural resources from the natives.

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