Image of the Empire's dirty work
"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 flogged with bamboos—all these oppressed me with an intolerable sense of guilt" (31).
This is an important image, revealing the dirty work of the British empire. By working as a police officer, Orwell encounters the brutalities of the empire up close.
Burmese life
"A labyrinth of squalid bamboo huts, thatched with palm-leaf, winding all over a steep hillside" (32).
Here we have an image of the living conditions of the Burmese people. This is an important reference for the reader to understand how the Burmese people live.
What it means to shoot an elephant
“I watched him beating his bunch of grass against his knees, with that pre-occupied grandmotherly air that elephants have. It seemed to me that it would be murder to shoot him.”
Through this image, we encounter Orwell's feelings in the face of the elephant. The language here reveals the grandeur of the elephant’s existence. We see the elephant in motion, busy, very much alive and “grandmotherly,” language that reveals Orwell’s sense of creaturely connection with the elephant. Indeed, to kill it would feel like murder. This rich quote conveys the depth of feeling and inner instinct that Orwell must deny and oppose in order perform on behalf of the empire.
Shooting an elephant
"But in falling he seemed for a moment to rise, for as his hind legs collapsed beneath him he seemed to tower upwards like a huge rock toppling, his trunk reaching skyward like a tree"
This image of the killing of the elephant marks a vital scene in the essay. As we see the elephant rising up before it falls, we witness the drama of the climactic moment in which a grand creature is sacrificed for the sake of imperial pride.
