Shooting an elephant do you think he really has a choice?

Answer 1

In many ways, Orwell did not have a choice, he presents it soon after the first actual sighting of the elephant that while a practical method could be followed: "It was perfectly clear to me what I ought to do, I ought to walk within 20-30 yards from the elephant testing it's behavior: If it were to charge I would shoot, if it did not react it would be safe to be left until the Mahout arrived" It was not something he felt able to advocate:

Orwell negates this obligation through a mixture of cowardice, prejudice and pressure that the massing crowd of "yellow faces" have instilled in him. Orwell is demonstrating that the splicing of cultures has led to this stand off and he must somehow act, he chooses to shoot the elephant, not because he has too but because it would be expedient to follow his prejudices against "appearing a fool " in front of the "natives" rather than adhere to idealist ethics.

Evidence for this lies in his moment of comic irony when he says that if the elephant were to trample him the native would laugh at him- this touch of ridiculousness emphasizes the effect Imperialism has had on Orwell. Although that particular image is not intended to be fully serious it is representative of the "hopelessness of the white man's dominion in the East" that even in his death he is struggling not to be laughed at.

He has become "the traditional image of the Sahib", who in theory has absolute power and as such could turn around and walk away, the compulsion to shoot the elephant comes about from the polar relationship that links the "natives" with the "Imperialists Orwell seems to be commenting on the battle between the compulsion to do what is right and what one feels obliged to do- his prejudices have led him in this case to abandon his morals. His argument running that once you have donned the "mask" your "face grows to fit it" and the empire you are master of compels you equally as much as you compel it. In such a relationship Orwell must bend to the will of the dehumanized collective mass who want the elephant dead, he is given no other choice.

Answer 2

While the narrator in "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell feels pressured to shoot the elephant due to societal expectations and his own pride, ultimately he does have a choice. He could have chosen not to shoot the elephant, but felt compelled to do so in order to avoid appearing weak in front of the crowd.