George Orwell A Hanging Analysis

In A Hanging by George Orwell, the topic of social injustice and capital punishment are brought to attention. Capital punishment, in Orwell’s eyes, is wrong and unfair. Orwell believes that the living conditions and their routine way of living are socially unjust. Imagery is what Orwell uses in his essay to create sympathy for the way he sees prisoners being treated in Burma. The living conditions that the prisoners are forced to live in are described as miserable. “Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare”, this creates an image in the readers' mind that they live in cages as though they were animals. The prisoners were only given a “plank bed and a pot of drinking water” in their room. When the reader visualizes how uninteresting that lifestyle would be, they start to feel sympathetic towards the prisoners because they can compare the image they create to how they live.
The prisoners “squatted in long rows” and stayed in double barred cells.
Most readers, when they read this, think of an animal. Animals squat down to eat, drink, sit, and go to the bathroom. People that read this know that in their own life, they don’t have to squat to eat or do other tasks. If people did have to squat, there would be no sympathy for the prisoners. Orwell uses these type of visualization lines so the reader can compare to their living conditions and way of life. If people could not shave or take care of themselves as much as they would like to, they would look homeless or unhealthy. Orwell says the prisoner had a “thick, sprouting mustache, absurdly too big for his body,” once the audience reads this they know that the prisoners are neglected. The reader can imply that he has become skinny from malnourishment by the description “puny wisp of a man”. The prisoners are lonely, bored, and have a lack of motivation, which creates a feeling of them being depressed daily with no
hope. The main situation Orwell uses imagery to create sympathy in is the prisoners walk to be hung. During the prisoner's walk, he must step to the side to avoid a puddle. The image the reader creates in their mind is a scruffy, depressed man walking to turn over his life, but still has enough reason to avoid a puddle. Orwell says “- bowels still digesting, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming-” When it comes down to it, the prisoner is a healthy man and they were about to kill him like it was not a major deal. When a reader pictures a healthy human about to be hung they feel sad, they think about what it would be like if it was them in that situation.