The essay “A Hanging” by George Orwell explores the central idea of people just being useless observers to life. The title tells us exactly what the plot is, which is the hanging of a prisoner, but more than that the essay is about seeing the human and the value of life and how this hanging is taking that away. While those are the ideas written in the essay I interpreted the words and writing style to reflect on the idea of people just being observers of life and just watching things happen (like a hanging) and not always doing the right thing.
Orwell has chosen specific words to descried the events and the diction used really creates a mental image that stimulates all our senses. He talks about the gallows as “a brick erection” “overgrown with tall prickly weeds.” This sensory description for me conjured a very clear images of these gallows way off in the middle of no where up in the hills of the Burma countryside. Orwell talks uses a slimily to describe how the prisoner was treated “It was like men handling a fish which is still alive and may jump back into the water.” Diction and imagery are used to paint clear mental images that become the set for a philosophical realization.
The voice of the essay was a home run for me, the voice really depicts exactly what the essay is trying to communicate. The voice of the poem is I think Orwell and while he is the narrator and is in the story he is not the star. Orwell follows along the pack of people going to the hanging and describes to the reader no only the events that are happening but his interpretation. At one point that prisoner is waling to the gallows and “[stepped] slightly aside to avoid a puddle on the path.” The narrator of the story offers the reader what he thinks of this simple move “It is curious, but till that moment I had never realized what it means to destroy a healthy, conscious man. When I saw the prisoner step aside to avoid the puddle, I saw the mystery, the unspeakable wrongness, of cutting a life short when it is in full tide”. This analogy happens in his head, and it is at this point that we learn the he knows what is happening is wrong but still he does not do anything about it. The voice of the essay really reveals to the reader the meaning of the essay which is that people are just useless observers.
Personally I really like the theme of this essay, I think that there is a lot of truth to it. Almost everyday we as people are faced with challenging situations where we know that something is wrong (maybe bullying, breaking the law, being disrespectful…) and hardly ever are we good enough to do something about it and just watch it happen. Orwell has obviously picked up on this human emotion and has drawn our attention to it. Something that I thought was unique about this essay is that the central idea was presented really obviously, unlike most literature where the author has berried the idea deep with metaphors and fancy language Orwell has very clearly presented the idea making it hard to miss even with just a single read through. I figure that by putting the idea so front and center Orwell really wants people to be aware of this characteristic.
Overall this essay is really well written and clearly communicates its central idea of people just being useless observers very effectively through descriptive language and an ironic voice.
The essay “A Hanging” by George Orwell portrays the central idea that people are just onlookers in an individual's life. The title itself clearly identifies the plot of the essay, which is the hanging of a prisoner, but more importantly is showing the value of human life and how the hanging is taking that away. What I found interesting about this essay is that we can see the difference between a man who is facing the penalty of being hanged, compared to the dog that is so joyful just because the presence of a companion is abundant. In the essay, “the prisoner, in the grasp of the two warders, looked on incuriously, as though this was another formality of the hanging.” We can see that the prisoner has lost the value of human life and is just waiting to be hanged, no sudden urge for freedom building within him. The dog however, “danced” and was “wild with glee” just because he was surrounded by people, whether they were observing or dealing with the execution of the prisoner. We can see in the dog that these are characteristics that a human being should have so that they may be able to enjoy and understand the value of life, where as the prisoner shows the value of human life non-existent, due to the fact of the hanging.
ReplyDeleteThe commentary describes the use of diction, imagery, and voice and how it helps further enhance the understanding of the essay. I would have to agree with Harry's commentary based on George Orwell's “A Hanging”. The essay does express the idea that people are just observers of life and just watch things pass them by and not always doing the right thing.
This Essay show a duality found in human nature; while someone may realize that wrong is being done, and acknowledge it, sometimes they will proceed with the group's actions rather then being guided by their own thoughts. Orwell also comments on the fragility of humans, in that while someone may be perfectly fine one moment, in a second they can be dead and gone, and interestingly the others who are near by have little reaction to this. This could either show that they have become desensitized to death and will continue on with their lives as long as they are not effected, or that they have become less then human, and/or have developed a new sense of morality, one in which if there is one less person they might get a small portion more to eat. In this story, I believe the dog acts like what a regular person might act like, being excited before they know what is happening, slowly coming to a realization and then being shocked by the outcome. If this is the case, the human characters would become less then human, and seem like emotionless beasts compared to the dog. However, as you say, it does seem like this story expresses the idea that humans cannot always control life and are sometimes subject to simply watching what happens. This could be portrayed through the convict who is hanged, as his reaction to discovering he was going to die "he pissed on the floor of his cell. From fright", (said by a boy to the narrator) show that the man obviously did not want to die, but he seems to have come to terms with his sentence as "He walked clumsily with his bound arms, but quite steadily, with that bobbing gait of the Indian who never straightens his knees" and goes to his death, though a most curious thing happens, which make one wonder why it did, and if the previous were true would it have still happened. The convict yells "Ram! Ram!" over and over, and it is described as "not urgent and fearful like a prayer or a cry for help, but steady, rhythmical, almost like the tolling of a bell." This action is confusing, certainly, and makes one wonder what the point of it had been.
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