In Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell, the main focus of the story is a police officers' motive behind killing an elephant in must. Musth or must:"The frenzied state of certain male animals, especially elephants or camels, that is associated with the rutting season." The English police officer who is disrespected by the oppressed Burmese people seems to gain some of their respect after taking the first shot at the elephant. When the only thing the officer hears is the "devilish roar of glee that went up from the crowd". You can tell the police man is not proud of himself when he keeps shooting the elephant trying to kill it faster,trying to put it out of it's misery, but no matter how many shots he poured "into his heart and down his throat" the elephant just wouldn't let go. The English officer feels guilt for killing the elephant not simply because he had to kill an animal that didn't know what it was doing but because he killed the elephant so he himself wouldn't look bad in front of the Burmese people.
"I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that I had done it solely to avoid looking a fool"
Though he feel guilt behind his motive for killing the elephant that doesn't change the fact that,"A mad elephant has to be killed, like a mad dog, if its owner fails to control it"
In both of the movie clips below there are examples of dogs that have been infected and must be put down because they are not in their right minds and they have become dangerous to others.
Where as in the clips above the dogs were put down before they could hurt someone the elephant in this story has already killed in it's need to mate. Which is a fact the Officer focuses on, legally he was in the right to kill the elephant because it had killed someone and could kill others. However, I do think if the officer cared less about what the Burmese people think he could have possibly prevented the elephant from killing the "coolie" in the first place by gaining control of the situation. Even though the Burmese may disrespect him he still has the authority and he should have some control over the people. Maybe he could have found a way to tranquilize or subdue the elephant if the officer wasn't weighed down by the opinions of the Burmese people.
We tend to fear what we can't control. The police officer said he "did not want to shoot the elephant...It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him." but the elephant had killed someone already and he had do right by the people, to in a way, earn their respect. Alot of people say they don't care what people think about them or their actions but I think no matter what they say they all care deep down and that influences their actions. Someone does or doesn't do something because they feel pressured into doing right by, not themselves, but the people watching in the crowd; like the officer who in the end falls to the peer pressure placed upon him and kills the "great beast".
Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell
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