The juxtaposition of the policeman and the elephant in George Orwell's Shooting an Elephant is a clear representation of the impact of imperial rule on a country. The helplessness of the people of Burma against the imperialists is portrayed through the elephant's inevitable death as well as the moral dilemma the policeman faces. The event of the elephant's death is quite clearly enough to show the impact of imperial rule on the country as a whole however; Orwell goes to the extent to show how imperial rule affects the individual as well through the policeman's struggle to overcome the hatred of the people.
The necessity the policeman feels to be appreciated and not hated by the people is strictly so he can learn to over come the hatred he feels for himself. The policeman confesses, "I was hated by large numbers of people " the only time in my life that I have been important enough for this to happen to me. " For someone to only feel important when they are hated by large quantities of people proves that he has an abundance of self-loathing festering inside of him. His hate for the imperialists that he works under is the underlying cause for why the policeman feels so poorly about doing the job that he is entitled to do and him self. .
As the policeman stands before the elephant he proclaims, "As soon as I saw the elephant I knew with perfect certainty that I ought not to shoot him. " He is faced with the moral dilemma of whether to please the people of Burma and kill the elephant or to spare the elephant's life. To the policeman this event represents his everyday struggle that he faces in Burma. He is sided with the oppressed people of Burma however; he is a European officer working for the British, who is oppressing these people. The policeman knows these people are harmless when they are not being forced to act in such a way, just like he says about the elephant when he is deciding whether to shoot it or not.