Motive for Malevolence (Orwell's Shooting an Elephant) by Veronica Olson

In George Orwell’s “Shooting an Elephant”, a situation occurs when Orwell was working as a sub-divisional police officer in Moulmein, of the imperialized country of Burma. A tame elephant goes wild, breaks loose, and terrorizes the people of the city. Orwell is faced with the decision to shoot it or allow its owner to recapture it. The elephant is shot because Orwell sees it as a symbol of imperialism.
Throughout the short story there are many instances where the reader can perceive the elephant as being paralleled to imperialism. When “the elephant had come suddenly upon him round the corner of the hut, caught him with its trunk, put its foot on his back and ground him into the earth�...