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THOUGHTS AND MUSINGS ON SHOOTING THE ELEPHANT George Orwell's story Shooting an Elephant is a simple story but it is replete with a lot of lessons on abiding with ones principles, going with the majority and also about fear. The man in the story reveals his principles and his character with the way he behaves and reacts as the story unfolds. Readers see that early on in the story, that there is hatred among the people in terms of how they see this police officer. We see this from the way the people treat him. In short, we see that he is not very popular there because as police officer, he maintains the peace and order of the place. Sometimes he was the center of jokes among these Burmese people but he still managed to do his duties, remaining in control of the situation.
But for this particular day, he was not the one calling the shots. The people were subtly dictating to him what to do with the elephant even if that was against his wishes. For the first time in his life, he felt fear. This was different kind of fear because it spoke of fear that emanated from his being. He was the in control of the situation and he just found himself acquiescing with the wishes of the crowd.
Fear is an exciting feeling, and the line between excitement and fear is sometimes thin. Some people need and want some feelings. These feelings help us survive dangerous situations. The fear that we do not like is the kind that keeps our energy away from us. Anytime we stop ourselves from feeling something, it is because we are scared.
At some point in the past, feeling that way brings us punishment and pain. We hang on to these old fears because we feel too uncomfortable when we move toward doing what we are afraid to do. When our present situation is really as dangerous as the past situation where we learn to be learn to be afraid, our fear has value. When it is not like the usual case, our fear is self-defeating.
The fear of the man tasked with shooting the elephant wad real fear. The crowd wanted him to kill the elephant against his wishes and he had no recourse but to do it. He was the only one who had the gun to kill the elephant. What made this a difficult decision was the fact that he no longer felt that he had to do it because the elephant was already safe and no longer rummaging through the village. He was standing alone and was not a risk to the people around him. It had to be a good decision because he just could not be coerced into a situation.
But this time the crowd was at his back and he felt the energy of the crowd that he must shoot it or else he would incur the ire of those people. It was now a matter of survival. Perhaps is he did not do it, he will incur more criticisms from the people and a mans tolerance can only take in so much disparagement. Orwell's story is also an indictment on the kind of government he was under during that time.
He had to stand his ground and pretend that he too wanted to shoot the elephant. There is nothing more humiliating to a persons ego than to be forced to do something against ones will. Perhaps, it was a humbling experience for the man after that because he thought he had all the power in the world when it comes to rules. Yet at that particular moment, he was helpless and maimed, just like the elephant.
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Research essay sample on Control Of The Situation Shooting The Elephant Fear
