George Orwell

Like many of George Orwell's other essays, "Shooting an Elephant" reads like a story, and so keep in mind that this is an essay-that is, this is based on actual events in Orwell's life. In "Notes on Dali," Orwell writes that "[a]utobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful. A man who gives a good account of himself is probably lying, since any life when viewed from the inside is simply a series of defeats." In his essay "Shooting an Elephant," Orwell definitely "reveals something disgraceful" about himself and about the system he was born into and worked as a policeman to uphold. What is Orwell's purpose in writing so honestly about his own disgrace? This essay is about...