Essay about "A Hanging" by George Orwell

The thought provoking essay “A Hanging” by George Orwell informs the reader about Orwell’s own experiences in Imperial Burma in the 1930’s. The essay focuses on the ethical issue of Capital Punishment and through using effective techniques such as creation of setting, convincing characterisation and highlighting key incidents Orwell’s essay provokes the reader to contemplate the morality of taking a healthy human’s life.

When he talks about the wrongness of taking a man’s life, I get the sense that this was something that shook him to the core. This was a basic human reaction to death. Death is unpleasant and generally unwelcome, so why must we kill someone who is just as alive as we are? The condemned man feels, sees, and thinks like us, an equal. The condemned man was considered equal by the dog in the essay. I see the dog as symbolism for equality. It did not matter to the dog that the man was sentenced to death. He was another human being, a potential friend that was alive and well. After the execution, the dog seemed to know the wrongness of not only his misbehaving but that of taking a life as well. I think that everyone is an equal and that life is something special.

George Orwell was the pseudonym for Eric Arthur Blair, and he was famous for his personnel vendetta against totalitarian regimes and in particular the Stalinist brand of communism. In his novel, 1984, Orwell has produced a brilliant social critique on totalitarianism and a future dystopia, that has made the world pause and think about our past, present and future, as the situation of 1984 always remains menacingly possible. The story is set in a futuristic 1984 London, where a common man Winston Smith has turned against the totalitarian government. Orwell has portrayed the concepts of power, marginalization, and resistance through physical, psychological, sexual and political control. The way that Winston Smith, the central

George Orwell who wrote a narrative essay Shooting an Elephant” has a tense tone of literature towards his life. He is using a stressed tone due to peer pressure, and lack of confidence toward himself as he is an imperialist who came to protect uphold the laws. He's difficult attitude sets the scene for the story in his eyes. Throughout the story the concept of his decisions and action will be projected through the uses of diction; the write words to express his feelings.

Orwell uses Winston Smith, our main character, to exemplify the message he repeatedly tries to get across. Winston is a middle-aged man who is alone, or so it seems. It quickly becomes clear through his awkward behavior that he is constantly being

In "A Hanging," George Orwell utilizes the rhetorical appeals of pathos and ethos in historical context to convince the audience that the unjustifiable execution of a person is not only barbaric, but unethical. This is successful because of his sensitive word choice and sympathetic tone.

One of Orwell’s distinctive characteristics is his emphasis of his emotional response to life and death in every situation. Orwell engages readers in his pieces because they feel

reader of the “unspeakable wrongness” of capital punishment, it also gave a critical view of British

George Orwell, an experienced Assistant Superintendent in the British Imperial Police, composed “A Hanging” after his resignation in 1927. The narrative is a personal testimony set in the 1920’s in Burma. Orwell uses the classical techniques of formal argument to depict the death of an unknown prisoner, while taking a position against the death penalty. George Orwell’s Abolitionist message in “A Hanging” is conveyed through the prisoner, dog, functionaries, and their actions, words, and body language.

Orwell repeats the he does not want to kill it and the readers sympathize with

In this excerpt from 1984, by George Orwell, Winston Smith, a worker for the ministry of truth, has been caught for committing a thought crime and is being taken to room 101 for punishment. During the passage, Smith desperately tries to escape his punishment. Through the use of rhetorical devices such as repetition, imagery, and details, the tone of urgency is revealed

The animals of Orwell’s novels often represent a much less clear-cut purpose than those of his reflections in Burma. Here the animals are fully symbolic, and appear not initially for accuracy of events, but to specifically bring meaning and significance to human plight or human interaction. Although Orwell invokes this animal symbolism in his earlier novels including Burmese Days, Orwell’s use of the nature of animals for political understanding and motivation is best seen in his last two novels, 1984 and Animal Farm.

He demonstrates that this oppression perhaps goes deeper than the average man would imagine, noticeably hindering even the lives of the oppressors. The elephants controlling force over Orwell is compared to that of an imperialist.

Due to George Orwell’s many successful works, he has remained a recognizable and respected author from his first moments of fame until now. Orwell’s novels and essays touch on aspects of government and human nature that will always remain relevant. With America’s changing values and controversial times, Orwell’s warning seem more relevant than ever and prove that with strong ideas, a novel can remain current beyond lifetimes.

Orwell implies that capital punishment dehumanizes by illustrating the prisoner’s living conditions and treatment. George Orwell describes the prisoner’s cell as an “animal cage” (99). By giving the prisoner’s environment animalistic qualities, Orwell implies the condemned man is not treated in a humane manner. In doing this, Orwell insinuates that capital punishment dehumanizes the prisoner. Similarly, the author relates the treatment of the condemned man to a fish. He states, “It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water” (99). By explaining the treatment of the prisoner and the way the guards handle him, George Orwell implies capital punishment dehumanizes everyone involved.