Orwell uses the events in "Shooting an Elephant" to show the absurdity and cruelty of the colonial system. The narrator is a police officer in Burma during the period when Burma was a British colony. He is hated by the locals as a representative of an oppressive regime, while he himself hates the system he is part of. At the same time, he hates the Burmese as well for the way they use passive aggression against him and the other British.
The narrator says:
I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing ... I was stuck between my hatred of the empire I served and my rage against the evil spirited little beasts [the Burmese] who tried to make my job impossible.
Colonialism is a system, Orwell argues, that grinds up everyone in it, both oppressor and oppressed.
The absurdity of the system comes clear to the narrator when he is forced, against his will, to shoot an elephant that has gone on a rampage, but now presents no threat. The narrator knows that if he doesn't shoot it, he will lose face in front of the Burmese, who expect him to act. He does what he is supposed to do and shoots, even though he knows it will mean a slow, painful death for the elephant. We learn it takes the animal half an hour to die.
The elephant shooting affirms for the narrator that colonialism is a no-win situation that forces people to do senseless things.
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