hant was enough to overcome Orwell’s own sense of right and wrong, leaving him to the will of the mob around him. Orwell could not test the elephant; if it charged him and trampled him to the ground he would be left open to laughter from the crowd. This was an unacceptable notion to Orwell, he was laughed at constantly by these people around him and he would do anything to avoid it, including shooting the elephant. “And if that happened it was quite probable that some of them would laugh. That would never do. There was only one alternative. I shoved the cartridges into the magazine and lay down on the road to get a better aim.” The mere threat of laughter was the only reason Orwell shot the elephant. Not for fear of his own life but the mere chance that he might lose face in the presence of the natives was all Orwell needed to shoot the animal. This power the natives had over Orwell was compounded as Orwell was forced to watch the mighty elephant die in agony. Orwell had not wanted to shoot the animal from the start but the threat of laughter from the people around him forced him into doing their bidding. Giving into the mob would alleviate the problem of looking the fool in front of the natives, but watching the animal die set Orwell in his place. Orwell was forced to shoot the animal repeatedly, until he ran out of ammunition, further adding to the animals suffering. Orwell watched the animal die, and was forced to hear elephant’s slow gasps as the animal lay in front of him. Orwell shot round after round into the animal, but with no effect and he was forced to listen to the elephant gasp for every breath. This proved too much for Orwell, and he walked away, “I sent back for my small rifle and poured shot after shot into his heart and down his throat. They seemed to make no impression. The tortured gasps continued as steadily as the ticking of a clock. In the end I could not stand it any longer and went a...
