In the essay "Shooting an Elephant," one of Orwell's purposes in telling his story is to show how it gave him a glimpse of "the real nature of...

Orwell writes this essay about his service as a policeman for the British Empire in Lower Burma. In this position, he witnesses how the local people resent him as an emissary of the empire, and this helps turn him against imperialism, the system that enables Great Britain to control distant territories and administer them. He sees that the people do not accept the British system, and he also sees that the system pushes people who work for it to act in accordance with its ridiculous principles. For example, Orwell is called to take care of an elephant who is destroying the local bazaar. Though he knows the elephant is harmless, he feels that the crowd of people following him push him to destroy the elephant. He winds up killing the beast to avoid looking foolish in front of the local people. This incident makes him realize that the system of imperialism forces people to take foolish and thoughtless actions because the system implies that Europeans must be in control in the areas in which the empire reigns.