THE HANGING essay broken down

❓ What is The Hanging about and where is it set?

✅ George Orwell's A Hanging is his own perspective and experience of witnessing someone face the death penalty right in front of him. This takes place in Burma, pictured as a grim and oppressive British colony where their rule takes over the local population through violence and dehumanisation.

❓ What is moral conflict and how is it shown in The Hanging?

✅ Moral conflict is when a person must choose between two right things but you cannot do both. Moral conflict is presented through this prose by raising moral questions about capital punishment itself — does Orwell think the hanging is justified? Is it an act of justice? Or is it an act of violence and revenge? Orwell uses contrast, symbolism, metaphors, similies, and irony to show how he struggles with the reality of the execution and realises its cruelty. 

❓ What quote at the start shows dehumanisation and imagery?

✅At the start of the text, Orwell refuses to engage with the mortality of his actions by focusing more on the details of the prisoners and the executions rather than questioning the execution itself "a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages", using a similie to create an image of how the prisoners were kept, as a "shed" is normally used to keep tools and not humans, which shows the idea of dehumanisation, “animal cages” reinforces this idea . and "Double bars" show how confined the prisoners are

❓ How does Orwell start to realise the prisoner’s humanity?

✅ "The prisoner was a young man about 20." discusses the guilt that orwell has as he begins to take in how young the prisoner is, the word choice of "young man" has connotations of youth and pure, suggesting how the prisoner has a whole life ahead of him, but contrastingly, the prisoner's youth combined with the inhumane execution makes the whole situation more unjust.

❓ How do these two early quotes show Orwell’s moral conflict?

✅ thus, Orwell's moral conflict begins to fluctuate as he begins to realise the youth of the prisoner, questioning whatever the prisoner did and how it ended up putting himself in this situation. this makes the reader feel sympathy for the prisoner as it makes them see the death penalty as cruel and unfair, especially because of the prisoner’s young age.

 

❓ What moment marks a turning point in Orwell’s thinking?

✅ Proceeding further into the text, Orwell begins to understand the mortality of his actions, as he describes how the prisoner stepped around a puddle, showing how orwell has a sudden realisation of reality on how this man is alive and well. This is the main turning point of the text.

what quote shows orwell realising the humanity of the prisoner

"He stepped slightly aside to avoid the puddle on the path" using the puddle as symbolism shows how Orwell finally starts to realise the situation he's in. In context, he sees how the prisoner's natural instincts kick in, to make himself naturally avoid the puddle, demonstrating the humanity of the prisoner and the value of his life.

❓ What quote shows Orwell questioning the execution?

✅ "Cutting life short when it's still in full tide." uses contrast to show how Orwell begins to question whether it's actually right to take this man's life away. As this prisoner is in his prime age and life, Orwell realises the terror of taking a life at its pinnacle. It sits wrong within Orwell.

❓ How do these quotes show Orwell’s discomfort?

✅ thus showing how Orwell knows about the morality of his own actions as he is watching the process of murdering a man at his peak. Orwell's tone begins to shift as he is progressively becoming more uncomfortable throughout the prose. We share Orwell’s shock—realising this is a living person with instincts and a future.

❓ What quote shows Orwell trying to emotionally distance himself? (ending of the prose)

✅ In the ending of the prose, we see how not just Orwell but all the guards cope with the cruel death of the prisoner and the morality of their actions. the short/blunt sentance "The dead man was 100 yards away" shows how, even though he is distancing himself, not in sight of the aftermath of the event, he still cannot stop thinking about it as it left a permanent mark on him. This is a powerful moment that emphasises the separation between life and death as well as the detachment the guards feel.

❓ What quote shows irony and emotional detachment?

✅ "He's alright, said the superintendent. He’s dead" is an example of emotional detachment using irony to emphasise this. "He's alright" as it’s a way to cope. The dismissal of the fact that the prisoner is dead, which is normally the opposite of alright, highlights the cruelty of the situation.

❓ How does Orwell feel at the end of the prose?

✅ thus showing how Orwell is at his lowest trying to forget that the execution ever happened. But the imagery of the dead body won't leave him. His moral conflict is at an all-time high as he begins to regret it.: We feel disturbed by their denial and question how anyone can live with such cruelty. -

❓ What is the overall message in your conclusion?

✅ in conclusion Orwell's moral conflict is shown to progressively rise throughout the prose through uses of different language techniques to show signs of guilt and regret. The prose does well in conveying Orwell's feelings as he moves from a sense of detachment to a growing sense of unease.

❓ What does the reader learn from Orwell’s perspective?

✅ Highlighting the inhumane cruelty of the execution and the dehumanisation of the prisoners, Orwell's moral conflict is portrayed well as he reflects on death and loss. Through the shift of tones and contrasts he makes in the end, the whole point of the prose is to make the reader question capital punishment.We close the text feeling unsettled and more critical of state-sanctioned killing