Reaching Toward Heaven While Dying: The Terrible Truth About Taking a Life

Orwell's essay "Shooting An Elephant" contains a wealth of timeless ideas about the reality of violence against both humans and animals. 

Taking a life only causes suffering, terror, and trauma; it is not heroic. It's not a clean, dramatic moment when Orwell shoots the elephant. It's terrible. Without any of the Hollywood bullshit, he shows us what violence actually looks like.

The animal is not killed by the first bullet. Instead, a terrible thing occurs, the elephant appears diminished, defeated, and old all of a sudden. Its body appears to age centuries in a matter of seconds. Its mouth drips with saliva. It struggles heartbreakingly slowly to its feet in the second shot, and is finally brought down in the third. Its trunk extends upward toward the sky as it descends, "like a tree." An animal reaching up to heaven to beg for forgiveness and to explain why there is such violence is symbolic.

Orwell is left staring at his actions as the crowd lets out a wild cheer. It will take time for the elephant to die. He sees it gasp for air repeatedly, deep and rattling. It heaves up and down on its enormous side. Orwell can see all the way down its pale pink throat, and its mouth is open. Death takes half an hour. 

Orwell demonstrates what violence truly is through these ruthless, cruel details, it is not triumph or power, but rather something repulsive and eerie that lingers.

He was dying, very slowly and in great agony, but in some world remote from me where not even a bullet could damage him further. I felt that I had got to put an end to that dreadful noise.

There isn't any glory here in the end. Just pain, remorse, and a sound you will never forget.