Dark weather not only describes the physical setting of this story, but it also stands for inhumanity, which the author wants to convey throughout the story. This rainy, dark weather sets a very dreadful mood throughout the story. “A Hanging” takes place in a prison with “a sickly light” on “a sodden morning of the rains”. George Orwell uses gloomy setting in order to show the readers the inhumane conditions of the prison, arousing the reader’s sympathy towards the prisoner’s trouble. Especially, his overall use of dark setting and symbolism of a dog point out the apathetic human nature, ultimately leading the readers to accuse the injustice and loss of humanity taken place in the story. To effectively deliver his message in a short text, he uses various literary techniques. By describing the time around the execution scene, Orwell is making an indirect comment about the loss of humanity regarding racism and capital punishment. Isn’t this so ironic? The prisoner was trying to hold onto his life, but the executors called this basic human act “troublesome”.In George Orwell’s short story “A Hanging”, the author presents a prisoner’s 8 minute journey to his execution, at a prison in Burma during its colonial era. According to Francis, the warders told him, “think of all the pain and trouble you are causing to us!”.
A prisoner clung to the bars of his cage when he was about to be taken to the gallows to be executed. The head jailer also talked about another incident which I found was ironic. There could have been other ways to determine the death such as taking their pulse but no, and that’s why I found this ironic.
#THEME IN THE HANGING GEORGE ORWELL HOW TO#
I found this was ironic as a doctor, who should know how to determine the life or death of a person, had to pull on the prisoner’s legs to assure death. When the head jailer, Francis, starts talking about his past experiences, he begins to discuss an event where “the doctor had to go beneath the gallows and pull the prisoner’s legs to ensure decease”.
In addition to what u/46nxko said, I think there are even more moments where Orwell has used irony, especially in the scenes where the execution has just occurred. Hi there! After studying Orwell’s short stories for 2 years, I have a deep understanding of ‘A Hanging’ and this is what I think… Through this, I believe Orwell was trying to depict how cruel and wrong capital punishment is, which is essentially the purpose of this essay. But this remark shows how callous people are to death. ‘Why would a dead man be alright?’ was my first thought. However, I think the most ironic part of ‘A Hanging’ is when the superintendent says, “he’s all right”. I found this ironic, because why would a puddle matter to him when his life is about to be taken away? But this wasn’t necessary, as the prisoner was not resisting at all, making it ironic.Īnother moment in the essay where Orwell has used irony is when the prisoner avoids the puddle. Firstly, when the prisoner was being escorted to the gallows, the warders “stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the other handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts, and lashed his arms tight to his sides”. There are multiple incidents where I found Orwell has used irony, and often at these times he has depicted the immorality of the prison guards and dehumanisation of the convicts.