A HANGING BY GEORGE ORWELL

SUBMITTED BY:
ASHUTOSH SINGH (2218)
BBA LLB ,2ND SEMESTER

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. PRATYUSH KAUSHIK
FACULTY OF LAW AND LITERATURE

This rough draft is submitted in partial fulfilment in law and literature

for the completion of BBA LLB course.
INTRODUCTION

A Hanging (1931) is a short essay written by George Orwell, first published in

August 1931 in the British literary magazine The Adelphi. Set in Burma, where
Orwell (under his real name of Eric Arthur Blair) had served in the British Imperial
Police from 1922 to 1927, it describes the execution of a criminal.

The condemned man is given no name, nor is it explained what crime he has
committed. For the British police who supervise his execution, the hanging is an
unpleasant but routine piece of business. The narrator takes no active part in the
hanging , and appears to be less experienced than his colleagues. As the prisoner is
marched and handcuffed to the gallows he steps slightly aside to avoid treading in
a puddle of rainwater; the narrator sees this, and reflects:

“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 man was not dying, he was alive just as we are alive. All the organs
of his body were working—bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails
growing, tissues forming—all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still
be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a
tenth of a second to live. His eyes saw the yellow gravel and the grey walls, and his
brain still remembered, foresaw, reasoned—even about puddles. He and we were a
party of men walking together, seeing, hearing, feeling, understanding the same
world; and in two minutes, with a sudden snap, one of us would be gone—one
mind less, one world less.”
The sentence is carried out, and all concerned feel a sudden relief as they leave the
scene where the dead man still hangs.

RESEARCH MYTHODOLOGY
The researcher will do doctrinal type of research in which he will go through the
primary as well secondary sources.
The researcher through this methodology will be able to get an exact picture of the
project. To satisfy the need of the project, the researcher will go through section by
section and clause by clause of each section in question.
Then, the researcher will cross check the commentary of those provisions. This
methodology will be the most effective way in preparing the project.
The doctrinal method helps in doing a comparative study of the topic. This
methodology helps in going through not only the work of one eminent person but
of many other too. This helps in getting the bird’s eye view of the subject.

AIM AND OBJECTIVE OF STUDY

1.TO STUDY ABOUT THE NOVEL THE HANGING.
2.TO STUDY ABOUT THE MENTAL CONDITION OF A PERSON
WHO IS GOING TO BE HANGED.
3.TO STUDY ABOUT HOW SOCIETY FEELS ABOUT THOSE
PERSON WHO IS GOING TO BE HANGED.

RESEARCH QUESTION
1.HOW IS SOCIETY INDIFFERENT TOWARDS THE LOSS OF A
LIFE?
2.HOW IN JAIL HANGING IS CARRIED?
3.WHAT IS THE MENTAL STATE OF A PERSON TO BE
HANGED?
HYPOTHESIS
THE RESEARCHER BELIEVES THAT THE STORY OUTPOURS
THE EMOTION OF THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE PERSON WHO’S
LIFE IS GOING TO BE TAKEN AND THE UNSYMPATHETIC
ATTITUDE OF PEOPLE TOWARD IT.

CHAPTERISATION
1. INTRODUCTION
2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
3. STORY
4. AUTHOR’S VIEW
5. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT AS A CONTROVERSIAL TOPIC
6. CONCLUSION
7. BIBLIOGRAPHY