It is very important to read this quote from Orwell's
excellent essay in context and to read what he says in the rest of the paragraph. Orwell
uses a simile to describe how the massive crowd witnessing this situation is watching
Orwell:
They
were watching me as they would watch a conjurer about to perform a trick. They did not
like me, but with the magical rifle in my hands I was momentarily worth watching. And
suddenly I realised that I should have to shoot the elephant after all. The people
expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing
me forward,
irresistibly.
This comparison
to a conjurer shows that the narrator feels that people expect extraordinary
and powerful action from him. He has come to embody the myth of the all-powerful Empire
and cannot free himself from the role in which he has been cast. The comparison helps
Orwell show the effect of colonialism on those empowered to carry it
out.
This pressure sparks off an internal realisation in
Orwell - he sees that he is "seemingly the leading actor of the piece", but in reality
he is only "an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces
behind." This is when Orwell uses the quote you have highlighted - in making himself the
"Great White Man", or "turning tyrant", the white man only gains for himself the
illusion of freedom whilst secretly annihilating it as he is forced to play his role
before his subjects. Note what Orwell says after your
quote:
For it
is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the
"natives" and so in every crisis he has got to do what the "natives" expect of him. He
wears a mask, and his face grows to fit
it.
It is this mask of white
man's own making that restricts him so utterly, as Orwell found in his dilemma with the
elephant.
Hope this gives you a few ideas! Good
luck!
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