In George Orwell's essay "Shooting an Elephant", he gave into the peer pressure. Orwell killed a beautiful healthy elephant because he was just doing what was expected of him. He felt obligated and pressured to impress the natives so he shot the poor defense less creature. If he didn't he would have been brutally attacked by the racist mob behind him. In Orwell's perspective imperialist nations who oppress other nations lose their own freedom and end up turning into a puppet government as they constantly try to please the nation in which they have taken over.
Finally Orwell shot the elephant and it died an agonizing death. The shooting is key to the essay because it is needed to emphasize how we sympathize with the elephant. You can see that he was trying to please the people of Burma and while doing so he was acting like a puppet for the native people.
English: Grave of Eric Arthur Blair (George Orwell...
Orwell's former home at 77 Parliament Hill, Hampst...
English: George Orwell in Hampstead On the corner ...Orwell describes the shooting and the pain of the elephant with such detail, because he wants you to know the significance of this unfortunate event." The thick blood welled out of him like red velvet." When he says red velvet it makes you think of nobility because royalty wears velvet. The elephant's blood being compared to royalty means that the elephant is higher than Orwell. Orwell just shot a beautiful noble creature This detailed quote gives you a sense of how terrible Orwell feels and how he truly didn't want to shoot the elephant but was under so much pressure that he gave up his freedom and ended up turning into a puppet; just like his nation, as he constantly tried to please the nation in witch he as an imperialist had taken over. Orwell wants to kill the elephant and wants it to die...