Summary of Shooting an Elephant

In the short story , Shooting An Elephant ' by George Orwell , the main character is a European police officer in Burma . This police officer is sympathetic to the Burmese people and their trouble , but because of his position must act in the best interests of the imperial power . All of the residents of the town constantly make fun of the police officer , and the narrator is torn between hating the British Empire that he describes as an unbreakable tyrrany , as something clamped down , in saecula saeculorum , upon the will of the prostrate peoples , and

hating the Burmese citizens that terrorize him

One day , the police officer receives a call about an elephant that has come into musth , and is on a rampage in the town . Upon his initial investigation , the officer believes the call to be a mere prank since he gets different accounts of the story when he arrives at the bazaar . This thought quickly fades when the officer sees the body of an Indian , obviously killed by the elephant 's rampage . The officer takes a rifle for his own protection and sets off in search of the elephant When the officer finds the elephant , the animal has calmed down and is no longer threatening . However , the officer knows that the townspeople expect him to kill the animal for the destruction it has caused , and to avoid looking foolish he begins firing at the elephant . The officer says that , I sent back for my small rifle and poured shot after shot into his heart and down his throat . The tortured gasps continued as steadily as the ticking of a clock

After emptying his rifle into the elephant , the officer leaves , and it takes the animal another thirty minutes of suffering to finally die . After the elephant dies , the townspeople strip the animal of its meat . Overall this experience makes the officer feel even more disappointed in himself , because he only killed the elephant to avoid looking foolish in front of the people who constantly make fun of him...