“A Hanging” by George Orwell Essay Sample

put to death on clip and to pull off other captives. When it is about clip for the executing. the captive calls “his god” aloud: “Ram! Random-access memory! Random-access memory! Random-access memory! ” All who are present. every bit good as the storyteller.

desire to halt the sound by put to deathing the captive quickly because. non merely does the sound annoy them. but they besides want to complete the occupation. After the everyday executing. the officers chat. gag.

laugh and drink. even though the captive executed was human like them.Orwell uses a Canis familiaris as a device to show humanity towards capital penalty. The dog’s unexpected visual aspect at the hanging makes the officers think of themselves.

As the Canis familiaris runs up to the captive being executed. the hanging is interrupted. The Canis familiaris does non acknowledge adifference between the captive and the officers ; the Canis familiaris sees the captive as a human being who is able to love or be loved and play with the Canis familiaris. Even though one of the prison guards attempts to turn the Canis familiaris off. the Canis familiaris returns once more and once more. Orwell provinces:
A Canis familiaris.

come goodness knows whence. had appeared in the pace. It came jumping among us with a loud fusillade of barks. and leapt unit of ammunition us wagging its whole organic structure. wild with hilarity at happening so many human existences together. It was a big woolly dog.

half Airedale. half outcast. For a minute it pranced circular us. and so. before anyone could halt it. it had made a elan for the captive and.

leaping up. attempts

to cream his face. Everyone stood aghast. excessively taken aback even to catch at the Canis familiaris. ( Orwell “A Hanging” 1216 )The visual aspect of the Canis familiaris symbolizes humanity and empathy for the captive. The observation of the dog’s action makes people cognizant of the world of what is go oning.

The characters recognize what they are making as colonial officers. but they can non show what they think about their homicidal action. For illustration. the officers do non show how they feel as they wait for the captive to be put to decease. but when the tenseness gets high: “Everyone had changed color” ( Orwell “A Hanging” 1216 ) . Once the executing is carried out.

the officers experience an emotional katharsis as the tenseness. anxiousness. and hurt of the executing are alleviated. The storyteller describes this feeling by stating “An tremendous alleviation had come upon us now that the occupation was done” ( Orwell “A Hanging” 1217 ) .Throughout the narrative. the storyteller exposes the interior struggle between responsibility and humanity.

The executing is particularly hard for the storyteller because the captive being executed is a adult male like himself. During the process of the executing. the storyteller looks at the bantam motion of the captive who is traveling to be hanged shortly: “…In malice of the work forces who gripped him by each shoulder. he stepped somewhat aside to avoid a puddle on the path” ( Orwell “A Hanging” 1216 ) .

The storyteller had assumed that the captive would non care about the puddle because it seems to be of small significance as compared to his executing. From that

point on. the storyteller views the captive as a human like himself. The storyteller describes the captive and the officers as “He and we were a party of work forces walking together. seeing. hearing.

feeling. understanding the same world” ( Orwell “A Hanging” 1216 ) .The captive is “a healthy. witting man” who is being destroyed by other healthy work forces.

It is an epiphany for the storyteller to derive penetration into the value of human life ; he finds himself in a circumstance where he is making “the indefinable inappropriateness. ” This realisation is similar to what Orwell explains about the British Empire in his essay “Shooting an Elephant: ” “It was a bantam incident in itself. but it gave me a better glance than I had had before of the existent nature of imperialism” ( Orwell “Shooting an Elephant” ) . The storyteller is upset about what he is making.

but he has to acknowledge the world of imperialism.On the surface. all of the characters carry out their responsibilities and are presented as a corporate imperial force ; nevertheless. Orwell convinces his readers of the inappropriateness of capital penalty through the realisation of the characters in “A Hanging.

” This realisation is that the lives of human existences are every bit of import. and the officers should be human existences beyond their responsibilities as colonial officers.Plants Cited:Orwell. George. “A Hanging. ” Literature for Compostion.

Seventh Edition. Ed. Silvan Barnet. William Burto.

William E. Cain. New York: Pearson Longman. 2005. 1215-1218– – - . “Shooting an elephant.

” Online-Literature. The Literature Network. 27 Oct. 2005.