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How are the Burmese people marginalized/silenced throughout George Orwell's "Shooting an Elephant"?

In "Shooting An Elephant," the Burmese people are marginalized and silenced by the British in a number of ways. We see this most clearly in the second paragraph when Orwell describes life in Burma under British control. Orwell himself describes the British as the "oppressors" and graphically describes the imprisonment of the locals:



The wretched prisoners huddling in the stinking cages of the lock-ups.



Furthermore, from his description, we learn that the British use extreme violence to discipline these prisoners, as Orwell has witnessed first-hand:



The scarred buttocks of the men who had been Bogged with bamboos.



Finally, through Orwell's response to the escaped elephant, we see another form of marginalization at play: Orwell patrols the town of Moulmein with his rifle, "an old .44 Winchester." That Orwell and other British officers are armed with such weapons demonstrates that the British are prepared to silence the Burmese using any means necessary.

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