Shooting an Elephant Lesson Plan

What contradictions exist in Orwell's views of imperialism?

Orwell rejects imperialism as an abusive system, but he also plays a direct role in its enforcement and finds himself beholden to its patterns: he feels contempt for "the natives" and anger at them for making fun of him; he seems to wish that they had the courage for an uprising; he's willing to kill a large creature rather than risk feeling humiliated in front of a group of Burmese people. Orwell can't help being an instrument of imperialism and caught up in the system, even if it's a system he doesn't want to support.

Orwell explains his early conversations about the elephant as follows: "We began questioning...