Politics, Poverty and the Psychology of Shooting an Elephant

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about his time in Burma in "Shooting an Elephant" demonstrates the ill and long-lasting effects of British Imperialism in Burma, showing how most of the villagers are being forced to live in poverty and the negative thinking they have towards the British and the government, ultimately leading to why Orwell believes he must kill the elephant.
Before we can analyze how British Imperialism would affect Orwell, Burma and its people, especially during the time Orwell was there, we must first understand what exactly the government is at this time and how it had been established. Starting in late 1885 and continuing into 1886, Britain had begun to use military force, overwhelming the Burmese, to extend their power and influence into Burma, leading to the creation of a British government that would eventually allow for the "robbing and pilfering of Burma quite shamelessly" (Blair). The goal originally was not to destroy Burmese-British relations, but instead to help Burma along with ...

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shock the people of Burma are not ready for at this time, and frankly, not willing to accommodate to. The Burmese would notice this change and believed that the British government ruled with "despot power over the people" (Johnson) and felt as though Burma's relationship with Britain "is that of slave and master" (Blair). Now that British interests were geared towards their own economic growth, the people of Burma would begin to suffer. At this point, "very few Burmese wanted anything other than separation" (Thant 207).
It is often said that economic hardship "hits hardest those least able to cope" (Thant 208), so the economic policies implemented by Britain onto Burma, by no one's ...

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