Shooting an Elephant Questions

How is this a story about two disparate major themes? How are these themes intertwined?

In "Shooting an Elephant", a British officer is serving for the British Empire in Burma. The story brings about two themes:  imperialism and peer pressure. The imperialistic British empire has now reached Southeast Asia. Imperialism is the ruling of one country by another from afar. Britain has taken control of Burma, and the officer in the story serves there. He hates his job and believes imperialism is wrong. He is in support of the Burmese people, who were treated poorly by the British. Even though he was uneducated and young, he could tell that imperialism was wrong. The officer felt broken between his duty and hurting these innocent people. 

As the story continues, the officer talks about one day when an elephant went wild. The animal killed a man and damaged the village. The Burmese people looked to the officer to do something about it. The officer did not want to kill the elephant. He felt that it was murder and the fact that its owner would become angry for an elephant is worth a lot. His dilemma grew to peer pressure. The Burmese looked to him to finish off the elephant and they made a huge crowd around him and the elephant. There was also the other British officers who would make fun of him if he decided t not kill the elephant. THe peer pressure led him to kill the elephant and go against how he really felt.

What tactics does Orwell employ when revealing unflattering aspects of himself? 

One unflattering aspect he reveals is that he can give in easily to others. The officer falls for peer pressure and pride to please the native Burmese people. This is possibly a representation of Orwell himself. He even states at the end, "I often wondered whether any of the others grasped that i had done it solely to avoid looking a fool." The officer did not act true to his feelings but those of others.