The elephant is the most powerful symbol in the story and there are various ways to interpret this symbol. How would you interpret the elephant to relate to Orwell’s view of the ‘wrongness’ of the situation? Orwell’s hopes that he can somehow reconcile his roles as a British officer with his conscience while living in a colonized land are dashed. With the slow, terrible death of the elephant, the readers can see the crash of Orwell’s ideals about himself, his nation, and the position of both in Burma

The elephant can represent Burma itself- a once strong and powerful country that is brutally and clumsily destroyed in the end because of its freedom endangers the colonial powers

The elephant thrashes through the marketplace and kills an innocent man who stands in its way. In this way, the elephant can represent British imperialism, which wreaks havoc on other nations regardless of who or what it might destroy in the process

All of the above relate to Orwell’s view of ‘wrongness’ of the situation- of his own position, his nation’s position, and the state of Burma under colonial rule