Evaluations on how the story appeal to us and Orwell's awakening at Puddle

Essay by sweet_karenCollege, Undergraduate February 2005

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In Orwell's A Hanging, the foremost thing he accomplished with the reader was the mood of the story. By his detailed descriptions of the setting, it bought out a gravely connotation; this was what Orwell awakened from, death, and sadness.

"A sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard."

The descriptions showed the atmosphere and how it is isolated from everyone.

This story spoke of the final trip of Hindu prisoner through the medium of hanging and Orwell's awakening at the puddle. This story basically divided itself into four parts; the walk, the puddle, the hanging, and the joy. It factually went from a very melancholy/death mood, to a cheerful/happy mood throughout the course of the story.

The walk was the saddest part of the story, and Orwell probably had felt the same. By his descriptions of the Hindu prisoner accompanied by many guards, I am sure he felt the chill.

"six tall Indian warders were guarding him and getting him ready for the gallows. Two of them stood by with rifles and fixed bayonets, while the other handcuffed him, passed a chain through his handcuffs and fixed it to their belts, and lashed his arms tight to his sides"

From his detailed descriptions of everything around the prisoner, it seems as those he was recording his own account of the story as if he was the prisoner; in terms, this led him to step into the Prisoner's shoes and think of how the prisoner felt. The walk roughly ended when they met the dog on the path, this dog was some sort of comic relief used by Orwell. Orwell wanted the reader to understand the next part would be something to think about and not...