Creative essay: the elephant's perspective in Shooting an Elephant

¶ … mouth of the elephant as he is being killed, from Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell

My ancestors were here before you and your people, but I felt that I needed to be loyal to you for all of my life. I simply wanted to feel free and I did not have the chance to put across my intentions when I was surrounded. These people know nothing about me and they are blood-thirsty because they consider me to be a dangerous beast. How could they consider me a beast especially after I worked so hard throughout my life with the purpose of satisfying my master? My master would surely understand my behavior is he was here, as he treats me like an equal and does not hesitate to provide me with the best resources that he possibly can.

I see that you are confused, you are not like them… Why do you want to shoot me? Is it because you consider that I am not worthy to live anymore? Is it because I am a beast that threatens entire of humanity? There are thousands of you and only one of me. I admit that I accidentally killed a human being, but this was only because I needed to escape: people all around me kept hurting me and I was scared. You should know better than to scare a wild animal and you should try and use cleverer strategies to capture me if you really wanted to.

Again, I see that there is something different about you. You do not have that sparkle characteristic to a criminal -- the sparkle I see in the eyes of most of the individuals present here. I know that my days are numbered, but this does not mean that yours should be too. I am not referring to your physical days…I am referring to your spiritual days. You now need to choose between being at peace with yourself and having the people present here appreciate your actions.

I have lived a long life and I am willing to risk my life if this means that I was free for even as little as a few minutes. On the other hand, I see clouds of terror in your eyes. You might not have the killer sparkle as all of these other people, but you have something even more horrifying. You have the look that one could only see in the eyes of a good person as he or she is breaking bad hoping that he or she would earn material values from the endeavor. Is this the best things that humanity could consider? Are material values worth wasting your self-esteem and acting on behalf of people that you do not actually feel close to?

Tell me frankly…do you actually see a big difference between me and these people? Your community considers these people to be savages and does not actually appreciate them. Here you are trying to be like them and actually succeeding. Do you actually see a big difference between me and yourself? We are all basically the same: we are frightened creatures that are in search of a white light that never comes and we finally end up fighting to find this life in spite of the fact that we risk everything we have. The difference between me and you is that you quit searching for the white light because you think that there are more important things in life.

I do not have the authority to tell you what is right and what is wrong for you. But one thing I can tell you is that I hope that you are happy with yourself when you go to sleep at night. There are many elephants like me and there are many people like you. However, we must not follow the masses in putting across particular attitudes regarding our lives. We actually need to focus on our personal identity and do things that benefit us directly in order for us to be happy with who we are.

I am going through great pain right now, but I feel that I deserve it. I deserve it because I was born in a world where values have already been established and where individuals need to subject to rules in order to be safe.

When I stand to think about it…I think that you are actually right in wanting to shoot me. You adapt perfectly and it would only be safe to say that you put across the perfect attitude required for a person in your position. Shooting me actually upgrades your social status and makes it possible for you to better integrate this community. You feel that you do not belong, but you still want to stay and be appreciated. I was not as courageous as you and I felt that the only solution left for me was to try to escape.