Shooting an Elephant

A semi-autobiographical work, this essay by George Orwell recounts the excruciating moment his duties as a police officer serving in Myanmar (formally Burma) required him to shoot an out-of-control elephant.

First published in 1936, 'Shooting an Elephant' is regarded as an influential metaphor for British imperialism. When his time serving as a police officer in British-Burma results in the narrator, presumed to be Orwell, having to shoot an out-of-control elephant, he is forced into torment as he witnesses the animal's painfully slow death. The essay is an allegorical representation of Orwell's belief that 'when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.' This new edition of the classic essay features an introductory piece by the author, 'Why I Write'.