George Orwell: A Hanging

1. What are the two main descriptive colours utilized throughout the story? Why Those? The two main colours are yellow and grey. Everything inside the prison except for the white uniform, is described with a grey tone. Its easily to imagine how the whole place with the walls, the gravel with its puddles reflecting the yellow sunlight: the entire situation with the hanging is a sad place to be. Only the yellow light in the horizon seem to be a comfort. The colors is used to make the story even more sad. 2. Account for the attitude of the superintendent on the first page. The superintendent seem to be very impatient, he is a doctor which only job properly is to state the death of the prisoners. He doesnt seem to have any compassion for the prisoners, at all. His comment to Francis clearly shows how cold hearted this man is. Its just another delayed job for this man; the prisoner is not even a human to him. Otherwise he would have this attitude, but show a little respect. 3. Why does Orwell describe the episode with the dog in such detail? The dog is glad with no sense of the situation, it jumps up and starts licking the prisoner in the face, its like a neutral view of the situation; the dog sees everyone as equal. Maybe Orwell details this situation because he wants to bring some happiness into the story, or maybe show that everyone is somehow equal. 4. Explain how and why the prisoner avoiding the small puddle strikes Orwell the way it does? The way the prisoner avoids the puddle is all humane, it shows that he is still capable of thinking rational. He is not careless, he is still thinking like anyone else. Its not only an animal they are hanging, its a human being. 5. Explain the camps reaction after the hanging. The doctors reaction after the hanging is quite remarkable, he simply couldnt care less. Saying he is all right, pointing out that, he is dead, is a very strange expression. His job has totally taken away his personal feelings, now he is only a cold hearted doctor, doing his job. After the check on the dead body he is glad that he is done working and walks away. 6. What are Orwells intentions with this essay, and what are the strategies he uses to achieve them? In this connection, you may consider the dominant tone in the text, and you may consider why we are not told what the man is hanged for.

I think that Orwells intentions with the essay is to show how cold hearted some people can be. No one is sad about the hanging, far from, except for the dog. The way Orwell achieve this attention is simply to make the most fearful happing a trivial thing, a thing no one really care about. Maybe thats why we are not told what his crimes are, no one really care. And why should they, they are just doing their job.