The Burmese, though not an armed millitary force as defined in the dictionary, were against the British, who were seen as an opressive power that was only interested in extending dominion. The hatred could be sensed by the fact that they never let go a chance of irritating the speaker, who was a white officer. The speaker obviously disliked the Burmese since they had made his job miserable. On the other hand, he felt guilty being part of the tyrrant government's scheme, where he was made to see the dirty work in the close quarters. He also realised that apart from these, his greatest enemy was his "British"ego, which destroyed his freedom and made him kill the elephant so as to avoid looking like a fool infront of the natives.