Amalgam of Black and White: An Ambivalent Study of Shooting an Elephant

Abstract

Study Background: Shooting an Elephant is a story of an elephant who had gone wild and started destroying and engulfing the precious items of the locals in the town of Burma. Though it was not new for the Burmese as they have been stripped off and made powerless by the whites. They were worried about the situation and to test the dominating power of the whites they approached Orwell which resulted in the ambivalent nature of Orwell at multiple events.

Aim of the Study: The main aim of the study is to expose the ambivalent nature of Orwell when he is torn between what to do and what not to do so that he shouldn’t be laughed at. The researchers have also focused on Said model of Orientalism to determine the concept of self/other as experienced by Orwell and the Burmese population. Bhabhian theory of ambivalence along with the Said’s model of Orientalism is taken as groundwork of the study.

Methodology: Textual analysis is done to identify the concept of self/other. The text is read multiple times to decode the meaning of different words and finally it is established that Orwell does not want to kill the elephant but just to please the whites and to exhibit the dominance over the Burmese he had to kill the elephant just to manifest the idea that “if a person’s skin were light enough to “pass” as White then he or she was more than likely admitted into the society.” (Sanford, 2018, p.38).

Findings & Conclusion: It is clear by the thorough study of the text that when the elephant was destroying and demolishing the homes and surroundings, the colonized were not taking any interest which shows that the colonized were not interested in this oppression after getting used to it but when he was going to be shot, they were very glad because it represents that the butcherly British or the colonizers are declining and weakening and soon will be wiped off from Burma.