This is a strong statement made by Orwell here. On a daily basis he endures all the hate-bred actions and comments of people he is merely serving in the name of England. The many usages of the word "hate," coupled with both the Burmese and Orwell"s hatred for one another, shows ill feelings and uncooperativeness. There is so much hate that both factions refuse to agree on anything. How can a political system function when neither the people nor the government can agree on anything? When an order is issued and that same order s not obeyed the government is not functioning properly. When every order and law that is passed is ignored and violated something is wrong in Burma. Through this, Orwell shows how Imperialism has made him both hate the Burmese, yet perfectly understand why they despise him.

             When confronted with the decision of whether or not to shoot the elephant, Orwell further realizes the utter futility of an Imperialistic rule. Orwell realizes that it is not the ruling country that has the power, but rather the country that is being "ruled." This is a strange concept that upon taking over another country, the ruling country loses power through gaining it. A famous quote of Orwell"s sums this ironic situation up quite nicely. "When the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom he destroys."(NR 845) This is quite ironic in that you would expect that if a county has the power to assume control over another, than they would be the ones in control. This proves Orwell"s theory again in that in no way should the British lose their freedom when they took over Burma. In an idealistic imperialistic government, the governing should hold the power, not the governed. Here Orwell states another major fault of Imperialism, the simple fact that you cannot rule a country peacefully and happily when the oppressed people don"t wish to be ruled.