Power in “Shooting an Elephant”

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Power in “Shooting an Elephant”

When I first read “Shooting an Elephant” I didn´t really know how to feel or what to think about the story at first. I felt conflicted about it, especially regarding the way power is portrayed in the story. It was quite interesting for me to read a story, where I could see the colonizer from an entirely different point of view for the first time. The narrator clearly admits that the life of every white man who lived in the East, was a long struggle which can not be laughed at. He is basically saying is that he is powerless to the demand of the people around him. He has the choice between shooting the elephant or being humiliated by those people. The subversion, in the text, of the typical colonizer-colonized relationship is very interesting to watch, because while other texts show us the human side of colonialism they are still always untouchably dignified and also in control. It almost feels like as if there is a invisible barrier that keeps the last “façade” from being removed. The storyline shows us a very nervous and insecure policeman who hates his job because he knows how tenuous the colonial control over the people is. This portrays a different perspective from the way colonial power is shown in Passage to India.

 

But now the question is were the power really lies in the story. Throughout the text it becomes we see clear signs that is actually the will of the 2000 people of the town to kill the elephant. When he receives the rifle from the people, they expect to watch the spectacle of killing the elephant. But not only do they want to observe the killing, they also want the meat of the dead elephant. By the time Orwell locates the elephant, he understands and comes to the conclusion that the elephant is no longer a danger to the people of the town, and that there is no actual need of killing it. This encounter really shows, that it is not the white man who holds power in Burma. It becomes more and more clear that the people of Burma are the actual holders of the power. Orwell also explains how he realizes that he has to shoot the elephant, because all the people expect it of him. He said he “feel their will pressing forward irresistibly.Orwell clearly describes the phenomena of domination. He didn´t want to kill that elephant, but the will of the other people kind of forced him to do it. He recognizes that he was an “absurd puppet pushed to and for by the will of those yellow faces behind.” This is the point where Orwell himself and the reader finally recognize, despite that he is an authority figure, the power the people of Burma have over him.

Dominik König