George Orwell A Hanging

The essay “A Hanging” by George Orwell speaks to the reader about the author’s stance on capital punishment. I believe that Orwell was able to communicate his point, without actually saying I’m against capital punishment, through three steps. The first step is to set the mood and bring you into his perspective. From the dreary description of the morning to the slow procession of the condemned man to the gallows, Orwell puts the reader in a mood that conveys the experience of watching a man die. The second step is to compare himself to the condemned man, showing how we are all equal. A life is a life, whether you are a condemned man or not. The third step is to show how everyone tries to cope with the aftermath of the execution. This

Two of Orwell’s first literary works were his essays regarding his experiences as a policeman in Burma during imperialization from Europe. These essays include “A Hanging” and “Shooting an Elephant.” In these essays, he shows his clear disagreement of oppression, even while working for the oppressors. Orwell writes

Capital punishment is a subject full of controversy. When it comes to the topic of the death penalty, most of us will readily agree that it’s a grim subject. Where this agreement usually ends however, is on the question of how necessary it is. Whereas some are convinced that capital punishment is not only cruel its useless as well, others maintain that it is necessary for justice to be adequately served . In the article “The Penalty of Death” by H.L. Mencken the author addresses the objections against the death penalty as well as his stand on the whole issue while using several rhetorical strategies to not only get his viewpoint across but, make the reader really think about their own stand on the death penalty. Three of the most effective

Through his cleaver use of language techniques and word selection, Orwell evokes the reader's sympathy for the prisoner's struggles. He repeatedly shows that the prisoners are treated like animals. In the opening lines of the essay, the setting is described immediately highlights the inhumane conditions in which the prisoners are contained in. We notice this when the author is describing the cells, he states, "we are waiting outside the condemned cells, row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages" (Orwell 93). It is evident again when he is describing the way it took six guards to escort the prisoner. He says "it was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump out of the water" (Orwell 94). "The sprouting moustache, absurdly too big for his body" (Orwell 93), and "a puny wisp of a man" (Orwell 93) suggests malnourishment and neglect among this prisoner, but the reader can infer that this treatment is spread out amongst all the prisoners. In contrast with this sickly man, he describes the prison guards as "tall Indian warriors"(Orwell 93) and even describes one guard in particular as a "fat Dravidian" (Orwell 94). The details of these well-fed men in comparison to this ill man fuels a feeling of sympathy towards the prisoner. He provides these details to evoke sympathy for the prisoner to prove that killing a man is unethical.

The death penalty is a very controversial topic that has been the top of discussion for years around the world. It is a topic that many individuals feel very strongly about. Christopher Hitchens, a political journalist in Washington D.C., writes an essay entitled “Scenes from an Execution” in which it is clear that he is against it. To get his views across in the essay, he uses light humor rather than very serious scenarios directed toward it, although it is a very serious topic. Instead of ranting about opinions, Hitchens writes about his experiences and how others as well as himself were affected. He uses rhetorical devices such as ethos, logos, and pathos to attack capital punishment.

Orwell uses stereotyped animals to create the desired image of his characters. For example, pigs are used to represent the authority figures such as Snowball and Napoleon, and also the Communist Party Loyalists. Pigs have connotations with being disgusting and repulsive, and the term ‘pig’ is often used to describe a person who is heartily disliked.

This indicates the change in tone, as the prisoner is seen by Orwell as an actual human being, after he dehumanises the prisoner throughout the essay until this point. That the dog is a symbol of the life the prisoner is about to lose, all the freedom the prisoner once had has flitted, leaving no trace of its presence.

The death penalty is a very controversial topic that has been the top of discussion for years around the world. Christopher Hitchens, a political journalist in Washington D.C., writes an essay entitled “Scenes from an Execution” in which it is clear that he is against it. To get his views across in the essay, he uses light humor rather than very serious scenarios directed toward it, although it is a very serious topic. For example, he says, “it is quite easy to book an appointment with death, and see for yourself your tax dollars at work” (Hitchens96). Christopher Hitchens uses rhetorical diction such as ethos, logos, and pathos to attack capital punishment also known as the death penalty.

This essay describes the experience of an English narrator named Orwell, who was ordered to shoot an aggressive elephant while he was working as a policeman in Burma. As a consequence, the locals expected him to do the job (shooting the elephant), thus he did the job to please the people, but he wasn’t pleasing himself. Orwell’s pain increased by the elephant’s slow and painful death. He had a sense of guilt when he mentions seeing the elephant laying in the ground “powerless to move and yet powerless to die”. In fact, he made himself believe that he was right and it was legal to kill the elephant, by thinking to justify what he had done, stating “legally I did the right thing, a mad elephant has to be killed, like a mad dog, if its owner fails to control it”. On the contrary, Orwell knew that the elephant could have been saved without unnecessary harm, but he chose the latter. In my opinion, I’ve liked other essays more than Orwell’s essay because this one was very hard to read, thinking that it was hard to see an elephant die slowly and killing

Every writer has that one special quirk that keeps readers coming back for more. Whether it is the humor or the characters, most authors carry their quirks from story to story. In “Shooting an Elephant,” George Orwell describes his experience of shooting an elephant. In “A Hanging,” he describes the emotions that run through him as he watches the hanging of a prisoner. Both essays have similar key ideas that identify Orwell as a writer. The results of pride and power contribute to the themes that connect his essays and identify Orwell as a descriptive writer.

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.

The man’s neck is then clasped by the grotesque hands of the executioner and he is throttled

“A Hanging” was written in 1931 by George Orwell with the purpose being to persuade the

Have you ever been pressured into doing something you didn’t want to, but felt like you had no other option? The narrator in Orwell's, “Shooting an Elephant” had a very similar experience. He was pressed by the Burmese into committing a senseless killing that he did not deem necessary. This transformation of the main characters mentality and morals gives the audience a terrific example of characterization, which would not be possible without the effective use of point of view in Orwell's story.

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.