shooting an elephant synopsis

Cameron Cruise Mr. Nueburger Eng Comp 101 31 January 2013 Summary “Shooting an Elephant” In this Essay by George Orwell, the main character is a British officer currently stationed in Burma, India where he feels as though the people around him hated him as they shouted insults (especially the Buddhist priests). Then one day the sub-inspector called him up on the telephone and told him of an elephant that was ravaging the bazaar, and if he could do anything about it. So he went to see what he might be able to do about this animal that was wreaking terror in the marketplace. The owner of the elephant went the wrong direction to retrieve his animal. So he sent for a rifle thinking that it might scare the animal off until the owner came to retrieve him. Upon the request of the rifle he went to find the elephant, and realized that there was a large crowd behind him waiting to see him shoot the animal (although he didn’t want to until the recognition of the crowd). He shot the elephant a number of times, but it seemed as though it took forever to die (30 min.). The natives harvested it in a short time. The point of the story is the main character (George) had to prove himself to the natives. Did it work? I don’t know.