Shooting an Elephant. An Essay by George Orwell | Audiobook

In the sweltering, stifling heart of colonial Burma, a young British officer is drawn into a situation he never wanted—and cannot escape. Before him stands a crowd of expectant onlookers, and in his hands, a weapon he does not wish to use. The decision he makes will not be about a single animal—it will become a brutal revelation of the true nature of power, coercion, and the illusion of control. In Shooting an Elephant, George Orwell tells a story filled with tension and bitter irony, exposing the machinery of imperialism and its impact on the human psyche. A brief yet powerful account of a moment when the line between ruler and captive proves painfully thin.

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*Created by:*
🎙️ Narrated by Arthur Lane
✂️ Edited by Martin Gold
🎨 Graphic by Martin Gold

🖋️ Author: George Orwell
📅 First publication: New Writing, 1946
🪶 Genre: Essay
🇺🇸 Language: English
🎧 Version: Unabridged, Full/Complete
📝 Subtitles included

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Tags: #audiobook #georgeorwell #orwell #essay #political #politics #audiobooksinenglish #audiobooksinenglish #audiobooksfree #burma #myanmar #colonial #colonialism

[johnpelosi]

This story makes me appreciate George Orwell even more, the pathos and inexorable tragedy mixed with the horror of knowing one's actions are determined beyond one's will by immense stupid forces, Orwell crafts this so movingly. My deep thanks to the narrator who performed this impeccably.

[kelleyrogers]

People talk about Nostradamus but Orwell is who really saw the future. This story brings tears to my eyes everytime I hear or read it. Being Orwell and experiencing it must have been gut wrenching. Nineteen Eighty Four might be he most talked about and well known work but this one is personal and is absolutely the truth of a battle we have all fought within ourselves

[WhiteSage]

Great read, I think that Orwell fellow knew somthing

[chrisbrown]

Very nice ! One of my faves from this man's works. Burmese days as well. I have a copy of "Keep The Apidistra Flying" I'm about to start finally.

[Zdollarsign]

i forget where i first heard this short story/essay, i want to say at FIU in professor ratnurs class around 2013. i vividly remembered the part about porring shots into the throat and heart. i did not remmeber the part about the killling basically being done out of emberassment. Sargon of akhad referenced it in a recent video, where a white police officer in great briton is aresting an immigrant, in a mostly immigrant area.

[michaelgarrow]

This is one of the saddest stories I have ever heard. 🙁

[spencerbookman]

This essay has important things to say in the abstract, but I wonder if it isn’t also a case of an older Orwell throwing his younger self under the bus for literary effect. To my knowledge, it is common practice to kill animals that have killed people. The opportunity cost of killing the animal is not usually given much consideration. Also, it is a daunting prospect to shoot an elephant as a practical matter, irrespective of any implications for imperialism, especially for an inexperienced shooter. Given the situation, my first instincts would likely be to reflect on the more visceral ramifications of shooting this animal, rather than any sociopolitical ones. I tend to think this isn’t the perfect indictment of imperialism the author may have hoped for, but it is serviceable.

[vortexunofficial]

Is this reverse racism? There was a white man image which he had to maintain and the racism justication was that white women and men were more superior than anyone else.
To justify his superiority he had to shoot the elephant. Now I didn't know racism also hurts white men because of obligation it created. Though I don't thing it affected white women much.