The Hanging Abstract:During the time of George Orwell's service in Burma as a British policeman he had witnessed firsthand the hanging of a prisoner. He describes how he, the prison guards, his boss, and a foreign kid felt before, during, and after the hanging. He tells how watching aperfectly healthy and alive person walking to his death is sobering and that right after they all go drink, not mattering if they are natives or not. Contextual:This text kind of gave me some mixed feelings. Before reading the actual text I read the excerpt about George Orwell and it mentioned that he was strongly against capital punishment. I find myself agreeing with him but there are cases in which I believe capital punishment should be allowed such in the case of anyone being convicted of a serious crime that has the possibility of a lifetime sentence and they have done it enough times to be called a serial offender, which hints that they won't learn their lesson. Though he is so against capital punishment his reflection back onto the time he witnessed a hanging makes him almost seem like a hypocrite. In the text he walks with the hanging procession and comments on its strangeness to see a healthy alive person walk to their death, but if he was so against it he why didn't he show it, why did he not demand to be assigned somewhere else, or why didn't he resist in some way. If he was so against it why did he go out to drink with everyone, that's what you do when you’re celebrating, because it can't be to drink away the pain because they all shared laughs? Especially with people who could have cared less that they had just escorted a man to his death. With all that I wonder if this story was shared by George to tell us what made him against capital punishment. If it was then he is not very good at choosing stories as supporting facts. Discussion Questions for a Hanging Content:A: With just a glance you wouldn't think George Orwell was telling a story with any real message behind it, unless you know background information about him. If you did have that information you would then know he is a very politically motivated writer who in this story is hinting his disapproval of capital punishment. D.The story's details seem to contain more efforts in them to describe the man whom is to be hung, in an attempt to get us the reader more attached to the man to in turn persuade us that we also hate capital punishment. Suggestions for Sustained Writing:I feel that one of the most dangerous and evil thing that all people should avoid at all costs is hypocrisy, gossip.People make mistakes, its human nature. Some people feel that it is their duty to let the public know of others mistakes. This leads to causing anger in others because of the mistakes, acting if they themselves have never made a mistake. When someone criticizes the mistakes of other publicly it tells me that they don't believe in second chances or better yet they don't believe in forgiveness. That in my opinion is a part of hypocrisy as is judging someone poorly for something they did after they have done everything they could to make up for it or if you've done the same but you didn't receive any grief for it.
The Hanging
Abstract: During the time of George Orwell's service in Burma as a British policeman he had witnessed firsthand the hanging of a prisoner. He describes how he, the prison guards, his boss, and a foreign kid felt before, during, and after the hanging. He tells how watching a perfectly healthy and alive person walking to his death is sobering and that right after they all go drink, not mattering if they are natives or not.
Contextual: This text kind of gave me some mixed feelings. Before reading the actual text I read the excerpt about George Orwell and it mentioned that he was strongly against capital punishment. I find myself agreeing with him but there are cases in which I believe capital punishment should be allowed such in the case of anyone being convicted of a serious crime that has the possibility of a lifetime sentence and they have done it enough times to be called a serial offender, which hints that they won't learn their lesson.
Though he is so against capital punishment his reflection back onto the time he witnessed a hanging makes him almost seem like a hypocrite. In the text he walks with the hanging procession and comments on its strangeness to see a healthy alive person walk to their death, but if he was so against it he why didn't he show it, why did he not demand to be assigned somewhere else, or why didn't he resist in some way. If he was so against it why did he go out to drink with everyone, that's what you do when you’re celebrating, because it can't be to drink away the pain because they all shared laughs? Especially with people who could have cared less that they had just escorted a man to his death.
With all that I wonder if this story was shared by George to tell us what made him against capital punishment. If it was then he is not very good at choosing stories as supporting facts.
Discussion Questions for a Hanging
Content: A: With just a glance you wouldn't think George Orwell was telling a story with any real message behind it, unless you know background information about him. If you did have that information you would then know he is a very politically motivated writer who in this story is hinting his disapproval of capital punishment.
D. The story's details seem to contain more efforts in them to describe the man whom is to be hung, in an attempt to get us the reader more attached to the man to in turn persuade us that we also hate capital punishment.
Suggestions for Sustained Writing: I feel that one of the most dangerous and evil thing that all people should avoid at all costs is hypocrisy, gossip. People make mistakes, its human nature. Some people feel that it is their duty to let the public know of others mistakes. This leads to causing anger in others because of the mistakes, acting if they themselves have never made a mistake. When someone criticizes the mistakes of other publicly it tells me that they don't believe in second chances or better yet they don't believe in forgiveness. That in my opinion is a part of hypocrisy as is judging someone poorly for something they did after they have done everything they could to make up for it or if you've done the same but you didn't receive any grief for it.