Narrator II

Given the narrator's feelings about and experience with the Burmans, why does he care about the shooting the elephant that he plainly does not want to kill?

I think he cares because he's torn between possibilities. on page 3, middle paragraph, he talks about becoming a tyrant and how the tyrant destroys his own freedom. He says how tyrants morph to fit a mask that will impress the natives, and now in this situation, the narrator is standing in the middle of a crowd of people who hate him, but want him to do what they want. I think the narrator hates the people and he cares about killing the elephant and making the tragic death into a show because then its like he's trying to fit a mold the people want, and if he fits the mold, its like he's giving in and once he gives in, he'll have to continue impressing the people, therefore giving up his freedom.

I think he cares about the shooting of elephant, because nearly 2000 Burmese people who followed him all the way were all expecting him to shoot the elephant. He didn't want burmans to laugh at him for not shooting an elephant. this quote is from Page.3, Second Paragraph.
"And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly."

I think the narrator cares about shooting the elephant because if he doesn't, then the burmese people will laugh at him and hate him even more. The Burmese people already hate him, spit on him, and trip him, so he feels that if he kills the elephant like they want him to, then he will get more respect.

I think he cares about shooting the elephant because around two thousand Burmese civillians are all around him waiting for him to shoot the elephant. If he didn't shoot the elephant the Burmese people would hate him even more than they already did. They might even try to kill him. There would be no way to escape if he chose not to kill the great beast. He was under a great deal of pressure and it must have been too strong for him to resist and gave in.

Obvisiously the narrator cares about killing the elephant or else it wouldn't be such a hard thing for him to do. He says many times that he doesn't want to hurt the elephant but he lead so many people to believe that he was going to shoot it that he had too.

I believe that he cares about shooting the elephant because it would be very embarassing if he just ran away without doing anything to the elephant. since the burman people hate him, he needed to show them that he isnt a very bad person by defending the people even though he feels it is unnecessary.

He is debating whether or not to kill the elephant on the basis of of heresay and the like or dislike of the Bermese people of himself. Will it make him popular with the Bermese or will it make white man more disliked in their eyes. His debate with himself will be ongoing for the rest of his life. The question is why has he been made the judge of the outcome.

I think that there are two reasons for why the narrator killed the elephant. The first reason was that he wanted the Indians to like him. He knew that they hated the Europeans and he was hoping that when he did what they wanted, they would like him more. The other reason is with in the first reason. The narrator was under pressure. There were so many people there who were pressuring him into shooting the elephant, and they would have been mad if he hadn't.

It seems to me that a little bit of human nature came out at this point in time. The narrator realized that he had control over the situation by holding the gun. That power corrupted him to the point where he had to shoot the elephant to make himself look more powerful even though it wasn't necesary. We tend to have a need for power and give into peer presure and instances where we feel that we have power. Because we can't stand to be wrong or feel like we are disliked, we do stupid things that we know are wrong.

I think that the narrator killed the elephant because he knew that if he had all of these people following him all the way to where the elephant was and he didn't kill it, then he would walk away looking a disgrace and he would be laughed at even more than he already is. He knew that he didn't want to, but he killed a momentarily peaceful beast just to save his ass.

Being that he is a european occupier, he has to look good, and live up to the expectations of those he is occupying.

I feel that the narrator must kill the elephant to gain his respect back from the burmese people. They already dont like him, so he finds that this is a chance to redeem himself, as much as he doesnt want to he must kill the elephant.

I think that the narrator has to kill the elephant because he is tired of the Burmans thinking so poorly of him and he would like to gain some respect from them. He also has a riot of 2000 or more people on his heals which would certanly put him on edge to do the thing that the majority would want. I think that he feels that if he does the right thing, such as letting the elephant be, then the people will think worse of him than they already do and this would make his job much worse. The Burmans, being inraged that one of their own was just killed by the elephant want to see justice carried out for the animal. This puts a lot of preasure on the narrator because not only would it make his job worse if he decides to leave the animal, but the people could take it as an offence, and think that he didn't care about their people. This would likely just lose him all of their respect or get him killed in one way or anouther.

I think he does it because he needs to gain some respect from the people, and if he doesn't they will single him out and hate him even more. He thinks that if he does he won't be spit on.

I think he killed the elephant because he thought if he didnt then the other people would make fun of him, and the rest of the Euopeans more than they already do. He felt the weight of his entire minority pressing down on his back, so he did what he felt forced to do. He shot the elephant.

I think that the narrorater shot the elephant because even though he didnt want to he felt like he had to because of the peer pressure that was put on him by the burmese people following him. Like punk skier said he had the entire weight of the minority on his shoulders so he shot the elephant.

I have to agree w/ everyone who said the narrator needs to gain respect from the Burmese people. We are all human and we feel the need to belong, for example in school we make friends b/c we fear being the outcast. I feel the narrator fears of being the outcast forever and he needs to gain the respect of the Burmese people in order to belong.

The narrarator obviously has a little dislike for the Burmese people because of the humiliation his faced because of them. However, he finds himself caving into peer pressure because of them. He caves into this pressure because he wants to fit in. He's sort of on the Burmese people's side because of the fact that he does oppose the British empire. Not only that, but he committed to killing the elephant once he sent for the rifle. He may not have wanted to kill the elephant but it was sort of "out of his hands" because people expected him to kill it and because, even though he says he didn't want to, a part of him wanted to kill the elephant to fit in.

The narrator knows that he must preform his job so he can remain in Burma. If he angered the local population, the British would of shipped him somewhere else in the British Empire. He needs any excuse he can get to look good fr the natives..

He feels that he must kill the elephant because if he didn't, it would come off as if he was afraid and was all show with nothing to back it up. When he is carrying the rifle he notices that the people follow him expecting him to shoot the elephant, while the actual reason he brought it was for protection. The fact that he let the pressure from the crowd effect him demonstrates the fact that he is not sure where he stands and doesn't know what he believes he should do.

He needs exceptence in his community, and his whole life he hasnt had it. He was willing to give up the life of another to move himself up higher in the social status. The Peer Pressure got to him.

The reason the narrator shoots the elephant even though he doesnt want to is because he does not want to appear cowardly to the people because is he appears cowardly to the poeple then they will not respect him and he needs respect if he is expected to govern and control the people.