An Analysis of the Tendency of Orientalism in “Shooting an Elephant”

Abstract

Edward Said in his markedly innovative work Orientalism illustrates a prevalent Western tradition of prejudice against the Eastern world. There is an arbitrary and fictitious line between the Occident and the Orient in which the former has the privilege of defining and reconstructing the latter based on its stereotype and preconception. Orientalism is the source of the false cultural representations with which the Occident perceives the Orient. This thesis adopts Edward W. Said’s Orientalism to explain how the narrator exposes his tendency of Orientalism in the short story “Shooting an Elephant” through the analysis of the narrator’s perception of the Burmese, his view of the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized as well as his duplicity. Although he has got a clear understanding of the evil imperialist colonial rule, as a westerner, the narrator has strong tendency of Orientalism.