shooting an elephant
...diculed and abused him the entire time he had been in Burma now found him worthy of interest. If he didn't kill the elephant, he would be dissappoi9nting thousands of the native people. He considered it his job at that point to impress the natives. He rationalized killing the elephant by saying he 'had' to, or he would look like a fool in front of the natives. I don't believe that Orwell considers his actions a model for others to follow. When he first came upon the elephant, he describes the calm nature of it eating, and he believes that he will not have to shoot it. He only changes his mind when he looks back at the crowd behind him, suggesting the only reason he would kill the elephant was for the other people there. Also, he describes the crowd as being like vultures, waiting for him to kill the elephant so they could swoop down and take it's meat, suggesting that they wouldn't be willing to kill the elephant themselves, but would gladly let the man they had abused take the shot. Once he does finally shoot, he depicts the long death very grotesquely, and can't stand to watch it, for he didn't want to kill the animal in the first place. These details plus his overall rationalization for shooting the elephant suggest to me that he would not want others following his behavior. I would not have shot the elephant. Orwell tries to rationalize that he 'had to', to maintain the Imperial image, and because that is what the 'natives' wanted. However, the 'nativ...