In Orwell’s account of his experience as a police officer of the British empire in Burma, he uses the experience of shooting a rogue elephant terrorizing the village to highlight the often strange power dynamic between himself, the Burmese people, and the British empire. It is this last pillar of the power dynamic, the English system that has crafted the environment in which both he and the Burmese people reside, that is not explicitly discussed as a participant in Orwell’s account, but nonetheless holds the true power in Orwell’s story. Orwell mentions that “For at that time I had already made up my mind that imperialism was an evil thing and the sooner I chucked up my job and got out of it the better.” (1) While he is in Burma, Orwell is beholden to the British state just as much as the Burmese villagers he presides over, and it is this forced assumption of the role of ruler that pushes Orwell to shoot the elephant in order to not lose face in front of his “subjects.” Orwell himself would rather not be in the position of power that he is in, but his own autonomy is taken away by the empire he represents, just as the empire has taken away the autonomy of the Burmese people. The relationship between Orwell and the villagers is not at all the power dynamic that it seems to be; instead, Orwell is a subject of his empire too.
Introduction to Comparative Politics: Nationalism, Ideology, and State Power
Professor Shervin Malekzadeh
Thank you very much
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How do forced assumptions about the role of rulers in an imperialist environment influence Orwell’s actions in this story?
I agree with Cole that Orwell is stuck between two between two large sources of authority: the traditional British state, which he belongs to, and the power of the Burmese majority. While the first holds what Max Weber describes as both “traditional” and “legal authority,” the second holds the power of violence and numbers (Weber 40). Although the British are supposed to be in command, the Burmese dominate the daily lives of British colonists, strictly because of their greater numbers. The overarching power of the British is assumed, and yet in daily life that domination is absent. In the situation Orwell describes, the Burmese have effectively regained power and control; they not only recognize in their private selves that the foreign minority British rule over a majority is absurd, but they also act on it in small ways, as seen in the shooting of the elephant. They maintain the subtle, quiet revolution method as introduced by Scott in Weapons of the Weak and–as evidenced by the power confusion of the elephant shooting and Orwell’s narrative–they seem to succeeding in regaining their autonomy.