Analysis of George Orwell’s Essay, A Hanging - 671 Words.
First published in 1931, A Hanging is one of George Orwell's best-known essays. To test your understanding of Orwell's narrative, take this brief quiz, and then compare your responses with the answers on page two. 1. George Orwell’s “A Hanging” is set in which one of the following countries?The convicts, under the command of warders armed with lathis, were already receiving their breakfast. They squatted in long rows, each man holding a tin pannikin, while two warders with buckets marched round ladling out rice; it seemed quite a homely, jolly scene, after the hanging. An enormous relief had come upon us now that the job was done.A Hanging (1931) is a short essay written by George Orwell, first published in August 1931 in the British literary magazine The Adelphi. Set in Burma, where Orwell (under his real name of Eric Arthur Blair) had served in the British Imperial Police from 1922 to 1927, it describes the execution of a criminal.
George Orwell’s “A Hanging” is an essay that tells of the seemingly mundane events that occur on the day a prisoner is hanged. Orwell speaks of his experience of witnessing the delivery of a Hindu prisoner to the gallows, the execution itself, and a short time immediately after that.This decay of moral judgement and desensitization to the killing of other human beings is epitomized in George Orwell’s essay, “A Hanging”, which revolves around his time spent enforcing capital punishment in Burma under British rule.
Theme and message The main theme in George Orwell’s short story, “A Hanging”, is capital punishment. Through this essay-like story, the author argues against capital punishment, which he considers morally wrong, regardless of the crime the convict committed.
