English 12

Name: Neeracha Lokunpai (Medkao)

Mr. Robert William
September 25, 2017

A Hanging

In A Hanging, George Orwell uses literary devices such as irony, symbolism, and simile

to show his belief in the sanctity of human life and to reveal his opposition to legal execution.

George Orwell, an English political writer in 20th century, served as a policeman in Burma. Even

though he acted as an execution witness, he had a contrary idea of death penalty. He was a socialist

who promoted equality and human rights, therefore his action is opposite to his ideal.

The use of irony states humans believe in god. In the fifth line of the third paragraph, the

doctor says, For Gods sake hurry up, Francis. The man ought to have been dead by this time.

From this line, Orwell satirises that God is happy to see death, and the execution is done to please

God. However, in reality, no one deserves death no matter what the crime was; God loves peace and

understanding. Besides, the speech itself directed to the tone of disrespect of the warder towards the

prisoner. The warder uses authority to treat the other in an inhumane way.

By showing his awareness to the surroundings, George Orwell uses a dog to symbolise his

conscience. At the beginning of the second page, he wrote, It was a large woolly dog, half

Airedale, half pariah. The author compares the dog to the policemans conscience showing the half

Airedale and half pariah dog as his right or wrong mindset. A policemans job is to witness an

execution, but he is also a human who has a sensitive aspect of human nature. He realised that

killing a person is morally wrong.

English 12
Name: Neeracha Lokunpai (Medkao)
Mr. Robert William
September 25, 2017

George Orwell uses simile to illustrate the reaction of the regulator after participating in an

execution of a prisoner. In the third paragraph of the third page, the author described, Everyone

had changed colour. The Indians had gone grey like a bad coffee, and one or two of the bayonets

were wavering. The author mention about the skin colour where everybodys face turns pale. The

author is comparing the face colour to a bad coffee as to emphasising how hanging drains the

feeling and discomfort people. Everybody was frightened about what had happened in front of

them, while some of the soldiers even show the action of frightened by shaking their hands. They

might possibly realise that it wasnt fair to judge people whether they should live or die.

A Hanging is a reflection of George Orwells perspective after witnessed in the Hindu

judicial execution. Through the use of irony, imagery, simile and word choice, Orwell brings out the

sense of sympathy in the reader and also shows his opposition to taking humans life. He has no

choice even though his conscience has told him its wrong to kill a conscious man. The intention to

exclude the prisoners crimes is for readers to come across the judgment of penalty. The main

purpose of this story are to convey the message of how cruel the human is to terminate others

without exception.