For the Tory DUP monstrosity.....‘A Hanging’, by George Orwell

‘A Hanging’, by George Orwell

Early 1900s was a period of colonialism. Powerful countries tried everything to take control of weaker countries and make them colonies. In the process, people had to live under repression, and many innocent lives were taken away. ‘A Hanging’, a short essay by George Orwell, displays his opinions of opposing to the idea of colonialism. The essay is based on Orwell’s experience as a police officer in Burma, a country ruled by British Empire.Orwell uses word choice, symbolism, and internal conflict in ‘A Hanging’ to emphasize the inhumane nature of the taking of a human’s life, ultimately criticizing social injustice.
Orwell’s word choice throughout ‘A Hanging’ is like a ‘decoration’; it has the effect of helping the readers better understand the gloomy setting of the essay, stimulating sympathetic feelings for the prisoner’s troubles. He sets the essay in a prison, and as a police officer, he and other warders had the responsibility of executing the prisoners every morning. To describe the dark atmosphere of the prison, words such as “sodden”, “condemned”, and “desolately” are chosen. By choosing these words, readers could assume the harsh environment of the prison cells, and how arduous it could be for prisoners to live.Orwell also uses pessimistic words to describe the condemned man who is about to get hanged. He selects words such as “puny”, “wisp”, and “vague” to describe the condemned man. Basically, he is indirectly trying to denounce the gloomy life in the prison, and foreshadow the prisoner’s troubles.Moreover, descriptive words are used by Orwell to illustrate the racial difference and social injustice between the colonists and the natives. For example, he states the condemned man as a “Hindu”.Likewise, Orwell describes Francis, an assistant of the superintendent as a “Dravidian”. By using these words, Orwell clearly differentiates the racial barrier between Europeans and Hindus. The usage of these words discursively criticizes the social injustice, that the minorities, which are the colonists, possess the power over the majorities, which are the natives.
Orwell uses symbolism to develop his essay and clarifying his argument that every life is important.  In the essay, Orwell uses a dog as a symbol of humanity. The dog appears when the condemned man and the warders were heading toward the gallows. Orwell himself writes that “the dog had made a dash for the prisoner, and jumping up tried to lick his face.” By noting that the dog goes directly to the condemned man instead of the warders, Orwell suggests that all people are equal regardless of their circumstances. The dog’s importance develops to its full potential when the condemned man gets hanged. After the execution had followed through, Orwell lets the dog go. The dog “galloped immediately to the back of the gallows”, but “retreated in fear” after seeing the dead man. The dog’s actions coincide with Orwell feeling sympathy towards the dead prisoner. However, unlike Orwell, who quickly forgot about the inhumane acts he and the warders did, the dog was “conscious of having misbehaved itself.” Through symbolizing the dog, Orwell stresses that it is against human nature to take another person’s life away.
The use of internal conflict throughout the essay also contributes to letting the readers understand Orwell’s purpose of writing, that social injustice must be criticized. Even though he was one of the warders who were taking the condemned man to the gallows, it is shown that he is inexperienced in taking the prisoner to the gallows. Unlike other warders, the lack of experience makes it easier for Orwell to feel guilt about the death of the condemned man. While the other warders were only contented that the man died quickly, Orwell had “realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man.” Nonetheless, after an internal struggle of whether to feel sympathy for the dead man, Orwell still followed the other warders. He even mentioned he started to “laugh along with everybody else about the dead prisoner”. By the internal conflict of Orwell himself, he tried to make the readers assume that he also showed the inhumane nature like the other warders, and as a colonist, he should also be criticized for social injustice.
Colonists tried everything to gain control of weaker nations during the period of colonialism. Killing people was just a single example of social injustice that they did habitually. By using word choice, symbolism, and internal conflict in ‘A Hanging’, Orwell not only wanted to talk about the inhumane nature of killing other people, but also wanted to censure the idea of colonialism.(756 words)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Orwell, pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair    (born 1903, Motīhāri, Bengal, India—died Jan. 21, 1950, London), English novelist, essayist, and critic famous for his novels Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949), the latter a profound anti-Utopian novel that examines the dangers of totalitarian rule.
Born Eric Arthur Blair, Orwell never entirely abandoned his original name, but his first book (Down and Out in Paris and London) appeared as the work of George Orwell (the surname he derived from the beautiful River Orwell in East Anglia). In time his nom de plume became so closely attached to him that few people but relatives knew his real name was Blair. The change in name corresponded to a profound shift in Orwell’s life-style, in which he changed from a pillar of the British imperial establishment into a literary and political rebel.