İNGİLİZ DİLİ VE EDEBİYATI KULÜBÜ DERGİSİ (JELLC) CİLT (VOLUME) 2 SAYI (ISSUE) 2 2020 12 FROM GEORGE ORWELL'S SHOOTING AN ELEPHANT TO CIVILIZED EVIL OF LITERATURE: IMPERIALISM Volkan Sarı * Literature is a way of representing real life. With the help of many works and writings, we can experience various aspects of life. There are several themes in literature and one of them is evil. This subject can be found as either a direct meaning or sub-meaning in the artworks. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, evil means, as a noun, morally bad, cruel, or very unpleasant, and the condition of being immoral, cruel, or bad, or an act of this type. Violence, insult, discrimination, and pressure can be seen as examples of evil. Each of these terms can be either stand alone as a topic or all of them can be subdivisions of a different main title, such as imperialism. Even though the term imperialism is a subject alone, it consists of all the terms mentioned above, and being a colonialist act makes it a type of evil. This paper aims to clarify how imperialism is an important term to the subject of evil in literature, through the Shooting an Elephant, which is an essay written by George Orwell. Shooting an Elephant is an essay based on George Orwell's own experiences as imperial police in Burma, now known as Myanmar, situated in Southeast Asia. Story of an elephant which ran into a bazaar, destroyed some houses, and, finally, killed by Orwell, is told in the work. In Shooting an Elephant, Orwell represented how imperialism affects a country and its people. This work is cut out for telling the feelings of both the oppressor and the oppressed sides under British Imperialism. Yet, the evil beneath imperialism title is an indisputable truth, and we can call the term imperialism as the evil of civilized age because of the suffering and pressure it caused. The actions like violence, insult, discrimination, and pressure can be easily seen in that work. The evil we are going to talk about is neither oppressors nor oppressed people, they are just tools of imperialism. Because the system of imperialism affects both sides though it is not completely comprehended by large numbers of people. The essay begins with a confession about author's himself. "In Moulmein, in Lower Burma, I was hated by large numbers of people," (Orwell, 2003, p.23). This can be an example for the Burmese's attitudes towards Imperial Police. The keyword in this sentence is 'hate'. Like every other feeling, hate is a consequence of actions, too. Yet, it reflects ill-treatment. Orwell's being an imperial policeman can be the greatest reason for hate towards him because he is a * Dokuz Eylül Üniversitesi