Shooting and Elephant

I enjoyed the essay “shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell mostly because of the writing style than the plot. George uses lots of imagery to describe the situation that he is in of being pressured into shooting an elephant. The police officer (the main character) was a unique character, he was a British police officer in Burma who was feeling the heat from British imperialism. He says he does not enjoy his job, because of there is a strong sense of hatred towards Europeans in Burma. Orwell uses great diction to describe the European imperialistic effects in Burma “The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups, the grey, cowed faces of the long-term convicts, the scarred buttocks of the men who had been Bogged with bamboos--all these oppressed me with an intolerable sense of guilt.” Between this description of British jails and by own personal imagination I am able to get a very clear image of what Orwell is trying to communicate. I really like the description of “cowed faces” in those two words I really clear image of what the long-term convicts look like is created, lacking sunlight and gloomy.
Another great quotation from this essay is “He was lying on his belly 
with arms crucified and head sharply twisted to one side. His face was 
coated with mud, the eyes wide open, the teeth bared and grinning with an 
expression of unendurable agony.” This description is used to describe the man that had been killed by the elephant. These words depict a great image, hopefully no one reading this essay has seen a person killed by and elephant so we rely on this description which is vivid and does not skip any of the dirty details.
Orwell has clearly done some research on Burma before writing this essay as he is able to on numerous occasions make explicit reference to things that are everyday life, the use of this is able to both add a realistic one to the essay as well as provide background information about Burma and life there. My favorite example of this is when he is describing himself going to see the elephant and says that he got on his pony and rode over there. Living in north America we would never get on our pony and got to work, but there that is common which is able to subtly remind us that we are in Burma and not Canada.
The plot of the essay was not a highlight for me, I felt that while it was unique it did not reach out and grab my attention that same way that other pieces of literature have; but then again I get that feeling about most famous works so perhaps the style of good writing is on the one I find entertaining.
George Orwell’s “Shooting and Elephant” is a well-crafted piece of literature