"Tyrant"

This was an essay for school that is written as a newspaper article about "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell.

 "Tyrant"

In 1940, Eric Blair wrote an essay describing the events that happened two decades earlier in Burma, a former independent country that had been colonized by the British Empire during the previous century.

Eric Blair, born in India as a British citizen, was “all for the Burmese and all against their oppressors, the British”.  Blair, who worked as a sub-divisional police officer in Moulmein, Lower Burma, from 1922 to 1931, was a persona non grata[1]. Even though he was part of the colonial power, he strongly believed that “imperialism was an evil thing”. Since Eric Blair wrote about controversial ideas, he used the pseudonym[2] George Orwell to protect his identity. 

When an elephant escaped from its owner during must[3], Blair, as a police officer, was called in to help.  At first he wanted to use his old .44 Winchester in terrorem[4] , but when he saw what the elephant did to a Dravidian coolie, he exchanged his old gun for an elephant rifle.  The elephant had slammed the almost “naked body” of the laborer to the ground, “with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side” and a face with an “expression of unendurable agony”. Using words like these, the reader sympathizes with the Burmese people suffering like Jesus, being tortured by the wild elephant, the imperialistic British Empire.

 Eric Blair followed the elephant’s tracks, gathering a crowd of people as he walked towards the paddy fields.  Prima facie[5], he realized that he “did not want to shoot the elephant”.  Looking at the huge crowd surrounding him, Blair felt pressured to fulfill the expectation to kill the elephant.  Blair suddenly understood what it meant to be a tyrant. He realized that when “the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys.” Blair felt like “an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces”. He was going to shoot the elephant to save his face. When Eric Blair finally pulled the trigger, he did not hear the bang, but only heard the crowd cheering. The elephant died a slow and painful death.

The Burmese owner was distraught by the death of his elephant but, as a native, had no say in the matter. Among the Europeans, the elderly thought that Blair had done the right thing. The younger British citizens believed it was a shame that the elephant had died since the life of a native was worth less to them than that of the elephant.  Eric Blair was thankful that the elephant had killed a human to be considered legally (though not morally) innocent. The events that happened that day revealed to Eric Blair what imperialism does to people – the oppressed and tyrants alike.

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[1] An unwelcome person

[2] Pen name

[3] In season for breeding

[4] As a way of intimidating

[5] At first sight