”If you were in Orwell’s situation, would you shoot the elephant? Please explain why or why not.”

Assignment 2
Tamara Almeghari
June 2021


”If you were in Orwell’s situation, would you shoot the elephant?
Please explain why or why not.”

As can be understood, Orwell did not shoot the elephant because it was
destructive or dangerous. However, what motivated him to kill it, is to avoid
being laughed at by the natives. This illustrates that so much of humans’
behavior is not shaped by what they think is the right thing to do, nor by what
they want to do, but by what others would think about them. If I was in Orwell’s
situation, I definitely would never shoot the elephant. The only situation I would
think about the shooting is if the elephant was putting people’s lives at hazard
and if it was out of control. Nonetheless, as Orwell said, the elephant was
peacefully eating the grass and it stopped being destructive when they saw it.
Consequently, I would never do what Orwell did and shoot the elephant since
it is not a matter of what others think about me but most importantly what I
believe is the right thing to do.




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