starting with "Shooting an Elephant" is great - imminently readable and very good work controlling the tone of a tense scene. Speaks also to the pressure of a single person against the expectations of a larger group. Colonial subtext. really good.
Also has a great opening line:
pdf link:
https://hilo.hawaii.edu/~tbelt/Pols360-S08-Reading-ShootingAnElephant.pdf