Introduction:

 Eric Arthur Blair, better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English
novelist, essayist, journalist and critic, whose work is marked by lucid prose,
awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support
of democratic socialism.
 In addition to his literary career Orwell served as a police officer with the Indian
Imperial Police in Burma from 1922-1927 and fought with the Republicans in the
Spanish Civil War from 1936-1937
 Orwell thought that all political theories and ideologies - except socialism - are
hopeless and disillusioning.
 The short story is based on the author's first hand experiences as an imperial police
officer in Burma and explores and accentuates the trauma suffered by those who
participate in and witness the taking of a human life.

Themes:
 From the opening of the story the soldiers conditions are compared to that of
animals this exemplifies the theme of inequality and is seen by quotation the “row
of sheds fronted with double bars like small animal cages”. Orwell uses linguistic
devices such as simile to create a comparison between the conditions of the
prisoners to conditions of animals hence conveying the prisoners are small and
harmful.
