A Hanging By George Orwell Essay

How aware are we of our own actions? By examining George Orwell’s story A Hanging, one can see that the author uses the symbol of the dog and its appearance in the gallows, and the colour description of the prisoners and guards, to represent the importance of every individual life. Firstly, the symbol of the dog, which represents innocence and purity, is used to illustrate the difference on how the prisoners lives were viewed in the eyes of the dog and the eyes of the prisoner workers. At the beginning of the story, the guards are pushing and holding the prisoner around and making him walk to the gallows. When the dog appears in the gallows, the guards are getting ready to execute one of the prisoners and the mood of the story is eerie, and every prisoner and guard is waiting for the hanging to be done. Unlike the guards. the dog comes in “bounding among us [the

Secondly, Orwell uses colours to describe the prisoners and guards to show whose lives matter inside the prison. Colours are significant when described as they hold meaning to different people and in a hanging, the author uses colour to describe and show the difference in whose lives matter inside the prison. The prisoners are only known as the “brown silent men.. who live in cells in a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages” (Orwell 1). This event shows a side of racism, but also shows how no one cared about the prisoners, as they are not given names or any identity description, and they made them live in inhumane conditions, therefore showing how the prisoners have no power and do not matter inside the prison. The prisoners were being pushed around all the time and denied basic human rights. On the other hand, the author describes the guards fully from what they were wearing, their white uniforms, which the colour white is a symbol for power and confidence, to how they were feeling throughout the execution process, which shows how the