Describe the petty ways in which the Burmans give vent to their feeling in Shooting an Elephant?

Orwell says that the bystanders would laugh at him if he were trampled to death by the elephant, and "that would never do" (34). In this way he is compelled to kill the (now peaceful) elephant. In the way that the elephant, in the essay, can represent the Burmese society, Orwell's fear of humiliation can represent the motive of the broader British colonial project. The imperial police officer is willing to sacrifice his sense of what is right, and to fulfill the role of oppressor and tyrant, in order to save face. The fear of humiliation is one of the most important motives in Orwell's essay.

In the end the sneering yellow faces of young men that met me everywhere, the insults hooted after me when I was at a safe distance, got badly on my nerves. The young Buddhist priests were the worst of all. There were several thousands of them in the town and none of them seemed to have anything to do except stand on street corners and jeer at Europeans.