Shooting an Elephant Questions

1) How is this a story about two disparate major themes? How are these themes intertwined? (At least one paragraph)
The two major themes of "Shooting an Elephant" by George Orwell, are imperialism and the narrator’s weakness due to peer pressure. While these themes seem very different, they are intertwined throughout the story. The more obvious theme in this story is giving into peer pressure. The narrator was a European police officer in an anti-European town in Moulmein, in Lower Burma. While responding to a call of a loose elephant in the town he was serving in, one of the possible courses of action for the narrator to carry out was shooting the elephant. The narrator merely wanted to be protected if the elephant charged, but the narrator ended up killing the elephant, "And suddenly I realized that I should have to shoot the elephant after all: The people expected it of me and I had got to do it" (Orwell 224). The narrator gave in to one of his shortcomings, submitting to peer pressure and shooting the elephant because of the crowd of people behind him.
The other major theme tied in to the real reason behind the narrator’s submitting to peer pressure, is imperialism. The narrator killed the elephant "solely to avoid looking a fool" (227). He also killed the elephant because he did not want to look dumb in front of a huge crowd of natives, who already enjoyed watching him be humiliated. The narrator gave into peer pressure, but only because of imperialism, "A white man mustn’t be frightened in front of "natives"; and so, in general, he isn’t frightened" (225). Imperialism has driven the narrator into making sure that he does whatever it takes to remain superior above the "natives". This happened because of the imperialization of Burma, and the control England had over it. This control is also clearly transferred to the daily lives of the people affected by it.
2) What tactics does Orwell employ when revealing unflattering aspects of himself? (One paragraph max)
Through "Shooting an Elephant", Orwell is able to reveal unflattering aspects of himself. Through the narrator’s actions, the story reveals that there was an instance where Orwell gave in to peer pressure. This is revealed in the story by acknowledging that the actions were wrong. However, the actions are also explained along with the reasoning behind the actions. This way we see that the author has now realized the decisions made at the time were not the best course of action, but we are given insight into why the decisions were made.