Showing results for "Shooting an Elephant" in All Categories

Shooting an Elephant describes the experience of the English narrator, possibly Orwell himself, called upon to shoot an aggressive elephant while working as a police officer in Burma. Because the locals expect him to do the job, he does so against his better judgment, his anguish increased by the elephant's slow and painful death. The story is regarded as a metaphor for colonialism as a whole, and for Orwell's view that 'when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys'.

DCI Harry Grimm has a sneaking suspicion the bleak Yorkshire Dales are growing on him. Though shadows from his big-city past still loom, he’s finding his place among the quirky townsfolk and their eccentric eating habits. But his gruesome crime scene expertise takes center stage when a successful visiting author is found dead. Investigating the cantankerous writer’s entourage, Grimm lines up too many suspects with motives for murder. But with the evidence not adding up and the press piling on relentless pressure, the determined policeman could end up facing his own final chapter.

I det berømte titelessay Elefanten og i det efterfølgende essay En henrettelse leverer Orwell en svidende kritik af det britiske koloniale styre. Baseret på egne oplevelser som officer i det koloniale politi i Burma kaster han et undersøgende blik på magt, magtudøvelse og underkastelse. Herefter følger klassikeren Sådan dør de fattige samt en række af de mesterlige indlæg, Orwell skrev til sin ugentlige klumme i Tribune i årene 1943-47 under overskriften As I please.