How does the author's character develop over the course of the essay?

explicitly defines himself in the opening of the piece as being a young police officer who despises the British imperial project in Burma, sides with the Burmese, and yet still feels that he has to prove his authority to the Burmese. As he explains this, he also states that at the time, he was too young to understand this about himself. We thus seem him play out exactly this inner conflict over the course of the story. Orwell says that he's on the side of the "Burman," yet he also resents Burmese people for the way they perceive him. Orwell's self-consciousness as the face of British imperialism is central to his internal conflict as he tries to uphold the image of the impenetrable empire while going against his personal inclination, and killing an elephant that he doesn't want to kill.