In “Shooting an Elephant,” Orwell claims that the Burmese people possess all the power. However, the Burmese people only have the power to control how they are dominated by the British. The real power lies in the system itself. The imperialist system is what forces Orwell to put on a mask to hide his real opinions and places him in a position of power as the only armed man in a large crowd of Burmese people. Because of the strength of the system it is never a question of whether or not the British have power over the Burmese; the only thing in question is how Orwell and the Burmese will act together to reinforce this power dynamic.
After shooting the elephant, Orwell remarks, “The owner was furious, but he was only an Indian and could do nothing.” Just as Orwell does not have the power to do anything but put on a show for the Burmese, the Burmese do not have the power to do anything but sit back and watch, both sides aware of and opposed to the system but forced to accept it. While Orwell’s day to day actions rely on him doing what the Burmese expect him to do, these habitual interactions demonstrate the prevalence of learned helplessness on both sides. The Burmese people expect to be dominated by the British, resulting in Orwell doing what his expected of him, further increasing the Burmese people’s expectation of being dominated and so on.
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This is a really interesting point to consider. In the piece we read, it was very obvious what roles the visible characters, Orwell, the other officers, the natives, etc., played. However, what you point out is that there are other, more invisible forces, working to determine what all the other actors will do. In particular, the British imperial machine confines the officers to a specific responsibilities that limits their actions and puts them in situations, like that of Orwell, where they feel trapped or helpless. Other invisible forces that we might not have even considered are invariably playing a role as well, like the role of natives within their own hierarchy. In general, this idea that unseen forces are weighing on an actors ability to act, think, or operate is a very astute observation, particularly in the context of this pieces.