Thoughts on "Shooting and Elephant"

So I'm a pretty big Orwell fan and was already kind of familiar with "Shooting and Elephant". It's very clear to see the political aspect of the short story (the whole ordeal with British Imperialism) but what I like the most is the idea of conformity. Is conformity the right word? I don't know but the point is that the narrator obviously has a problem over shooting the elephant. He knows he shouldn't shoot the elephant and that not shooting it will make him happy but if he doesn't he'll look like a coward or weak in front of the multitude. So should he kill it and feel bad to please the crowd or should he not kill it and look bad but still have some sense of happiness? Obviously he kills the elephant and then suffers by having to watch it slowly die in front of him. What this makes me think about is how much power and influence does the multitude have? And why does it have so much power? What I love the most is the animal Orwell decided to use. An elephant is gigantic and extremely strong but yet it's not as powerful as the crowd of people with judgement. The thought of judgement defeats a physically powerful beast.