Analysis Essay
Analysis Essay: “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell How we choose to govern ourselves has taken many forms throughout world history. From dictatorships to democracies, the rulers and the ruled struggle for power. This struggle was a topic Orwell wrote about often, including his essay “Shooting an Elephant.” Leaders are always seeking ways to maintain control over the people and in some societies this has resulted in very authoritarian rulers. The notion that individual thought is dangerous creates fear and citizens begin to, as Orwell writes, “wear a mask and his face grows to fit it” (Orwell 288). From there it can quickly turn into a totalitarian state. In this totalitarian state of power, there are fewer checks and balances, which makes it easier for the governments to export that set of ideals to foreign countries. There are many examples of this throughout history such as the Spanish in Latin America, the British in India, and the rise of Nazi Germany. For Eric Blair, or as we know him, George Orwell, it was his experiences in the British Raj that greatly influences his life and writing. As a British Imperial Policeman in Burma, Eric Blair faced a daily struggle trying to exist in a society that hated him even as he hated himself. For him, the escape was to put on the mask and bury his thoughts. British Imperialism, which once ruled many nations, was losing power. British society was changing with more class mobility. And, yet, Orwell was forced into a position to defend a policy he clearly didn’t believe in. We can begin to see Orwell’s struggles starting in the very first paragraph when he gives and example of the Burmese people’s feelings towards Europeans by telling us that a European woman could not walk through the bazaars alone without someone spitting betel juice at her (Orwell 284). As a European police officer, Orwell was the target of insults yelled at him by the “yellow faces”. Orwell tells us that he had always been against