scle final assignment

8/12/2019 Scle Final Assignment

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Rachditya Puspa Andiningtyas

180410090079

Imperialism in Shooting an elephant

Shooting an elephanttold about a white man from British who worked in

Burma as an imperial police. He was hated by Burmese but one day he felt that he

had been important in a tiny incident. Early one morning, his sub-inspector at the

police station the other end of the town rang him up on the phone and said that

there was an Elephant which was ravaging the bazaar in Burma. But it was not a

wild, it is the tame one. Its mahout, the only person who could manage it, had set

out in pursuit. The Burmese had no weapons and were quite helpless against it. He

was in internal conflict situation that he had to kill the elephant or not. As soon as

he saw the elephant he knew with perfect certainty that he ought not to shoot it.

And at the distance, peacefully eating, the elephant looked no more dangerous

than a cow. He did not in the least want to shoot it. I decided that I would watch

him for a little while to make sure that it did not turn savage again, and then go

home. It was clear to him what he had to do. He had to test its behavior. If it

charged, I could shoot; if it did not charge him, it would be safe to leave it until

the mahouts came. But the pressure of the Burmese made him take the right

decision immediately. But finally, he shot three times to the elephant but did not

kill it so he shot it again into its heart and its throat. The Burmese seemed not

impressed of what he was done so that he went away.

Shooting an elephant is an essay which was written by George Orwell

(Eric Arthur Blair) in 1936. This essay is based on his experience in Burma so that


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he could tell the story in a perfect way. He described every step that he took when

he wanted to shoot the elephant. He wants to make the readers feel that they are

involved in the story. George Orwell was born in India in 1903 but grew up in

British. His father, Richard Walmesley Blair, was a British civil servant in Opium

Ministry in India and it made he worked for the British Imperial in Burma as the

imperial police. His works which was related to the imperialism, of course, made

him became anti-imperialism, as we can see in his passage:

All this was perplexing and upsetting. For at that time I had already made

up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and sooner I chucked up my job

and got out of it better.

It was his volition and need for justice which led him to write this essay,

Shooting an elephant. He also didnt like about his job as an imperial police. He

actually prefers helped the Burmese against the colonizer, British, to work for

British Empire as he wrote in the passage:

Theoretically and secretly, of courseI was all for the Burmese and all

against their oppressors, the British. As for the job I was doing, I hated it more

bitterly than I can perhaps make clear. In a job like that you see the dirty work of

Empire at close quarters. The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of

the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long term convicts, the scarred buttocks

of the men who had been Bogged with bamboos all these oppressed me with an

intolerable sense of guilt.

In this essay, he was shown that he was a brave man. It didnt mean that he

was brave to shoot the elephant but I said so because he made an extreme but right

decision although he was in under pressure feeling. When he was returned to the


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British, he resigned from his job as a police in 1927 to become an author. In the

other hand, Orwell was also shown as a weak person in Burma although he had a

big power as an imperial police to rule the Burmese but at that time, the Burmese

was anti-European so that the European in Burma would be expelled. But one

time, a tiny incident, which made he guessed that the Burmese perception about

expelling the European would be changed, happened. He had to shoot the ragging

elephant but the Burmese still not impressed of what he had done about the

elephant. Like we can see in the passage:

Finally I fired my two remaining shots into the spot where I thought his

heart must be. The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet, but still he did

not die. I sent backfor my small rifle and poured shot after shot into his heart

and down his throat. They seemed to make no impression.

He also did this job with under pressure feeling. It is seen as in the passage

below:

As I started forward practically the whole population of the quarter

flocked out of the houses and followed me. They had seen the rifle and were all

shouting excitedly that I was going to shoot the elephant..I had no intention of

shooting the elephant I had merely sent for the rifle to defend myself if

necessary and it always unnerving to have a crowd following you. I marched

down the hill, looking and feeling a fool, with the rifle over my shoulder and an

ever growing army of people jostling at my heels.

And also in this passage:

They did not like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was

momentarily worth watching. And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot


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the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; it could

feel their two thousands wills pressing me forward, irresistibly.

After I researched about what the British had done to the Burmese that the

Burmese became anti-European I found that in 1823 - 1886, British conquered

Burma which is known as the Anglo-Burmese Wars. It occurred in three periods.

First Anglo-Burmese War was in 18241826. British succeed to conquer Burma.

British proposed a treaty, the Treaty of Yandabo, which was contained that Burma

lost territory of Assam, Manipur, and Arakan. British also took possession of

Tenasserim with the intention to use it as a bargaining chip in future negotiations

with either Burma or Siam. Besides, the British in India began to exploit the

resources and main part of Burma during an era of great territorial expansion.

Then, the Second Anglo-Burmese War in 1852, Commodore Lambert was

sent to Burma byLord Dalhousie over a number of minor issues related to the

previous treaty. The Burmese immediately made concessions including the

removal of a governor whom the British had made. Lambert eventually provoked

a navy confrontation and thus started theSecond Anglo-Burmese War in 1852,

which ended by the British clustering the Pegu province, renamedLower Burma.

The war resulted in a palace revolution in Burma, with KingPagan Min (1846

1852) being replaced by his half brother,Mindon Min (18531878).

Third Anglo-Burmese War, 1885, King Mindon tried to modernise the

Burmese state and economy to resist British interruption, and he established a new

capital atMandalay,which he proceeded to fortify. This was not enough to stop

the British, however, who claimed that Mindon's sonThibaw Min (ruled 1878

1885) was a tyrant intending to side with the French, that he had lost control of the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Broun-Ramsay,_1st_Marquess_of_Dalhousiehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Burmese_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Burmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagan_Minhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindon_Min_of_Burmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibaw_Minhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibaw_Minhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandalayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindon_Min_of_Burmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagan_Minhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lower_Burmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Anglo-Burmese_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Broun-Ramsay,_1st_Marquess_of_Dalhousie


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country, thus allowing for disorder at the frontiers, and that he was denied on a

treaty signed by his father. The British declared war once again in 1885,

conquering the remainder of the country in theThird Anglo-Burmese

War resulting in total clustered of Burma.

In Shooting an elephant, Orwell, the British, as the minority was expelled

by the Burmese as the majority. This thing was happened because of the bad

experience that the Burmese had in the history. The British or the European had

imperialized Burma. Formerly, the British had killed some of the Burmese, take

their territories, and exploited Burmas resources. This imperialism, of course,

make the Burmese give some stereotypes to the British. The Burmese thought that

the British are mean, cruel, evil and the other bad stereotypes. From all this cause,

it is clear why the Burmese expelled the British (in this case I consider it as

discrimination). And in present, those bad stereotypes still stick in some of the

Burmeses mind.

This case reminds me about what had also happened in Indonesia. There

was KNIL (Hindia-Belanda Royal Army) which the members were the native,

most of them from Moluccas. They helped Dutch against the native whom wanted

Indonesias independence. They killed the native no matter who they are. But

unexpectedly, Dutch lost the war and pulled back to their country. The members

of KNIL were expelled by the Indonesian because they had helped Dutch to seize

the Indonesias independence. They finally moved to Dutch, expect that they

would be accepted by the Dutch Empire. But what they got was not what they

expected. They were not also accepted, because they were different.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Burmese_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Burmese_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Burmese_Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Anglo-Burmese_War


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So, from Orwells essay, Shooting an elephant, I conclude that the

imperialism can cause the discrimination (expelling the minority by the majority).

This is happened because of the bad experience in history that made a stereotype

for the colony or the minority.

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