Compare and contrast the plight of native-born Burmans in "Shooting an Elephant" with the plight of American blacks in the same time period.

Clearly there are many parallels that we could draw
between these two different groups, separated by vast stretches of land and sea. The
principal way that these two groups can be related, however, is through their position
in society. Both groups are clearly placed beneath another social group that has power
over them, in the form of British colonial overseers in the case of the Burmese, and the
whites in the case of the African Americans. As a result, both groups suffer a severe
loss of power and prestige thanks to the supremacy of another social group over
them.

However, if we believe Orwell's account of this
snapshot of colonial life in Burma, at the same time, there appear to be massive
differences. Clearly, the Burmese, in their oppression, had a sought of power over the
British thanks to the myths surrounding colonialism, which meant that often officers
such as Orwell had to do things that they didn't want to do and were against their
better judgment:

readability="8">

And suddenly I realised that I should have to
shoot the elephant after all. The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I
could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward,
irresistibly.

No such power
was evident in the position of African Americans during the same time period. They had
no control over the whites, and any acts of opposition could be met with violence and
lynchings. Thus this interesting document suggests that there are more differences than
similarities between these two groups.