Language

The language of “A Hanging” by George Orwell is easy to follow, although the author occasionally uses some local words like: “boxwallah” (l. 145), “pannikin” (l. 135), or “lathis” (l. 133). The choice of words reflects the prison environment. The narrator talks of cells, bayonets, hangman, superintendent, head jailer, warders, and so on.

The text is mostly written in the discursive narrative mode, but there are also a few dialogue lines included, used to render what the narrator hears. Note that neither the narrator nor the convict is quoted speaking.

Sometimes the dialogue creates black humour due to the funny way in which Francis (the head jailer) speaks about the death of another prisoner:

‘Well, sir, all hass passed off with the utmost satisfactoriness. It wass all finished - flick! like that. It iss not always so - oah, no! I have known cases where the doctor wass obliged to go beneath the gallows and pull the prisoner's legs to ensure decease. Most disagreeable!’ (ll. 147-151)

Imagery

Imagery is used to vividly depict parts of the setting, the convict, and parts of the action. Here is one example in which imagery helps us form a mental image of what the prison looks like:

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Similes and metaphors

The dominant figure of speech in the short story is the simile (brief, creative comparison). The story begins by comparing daylight with tinfoil—“A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil” (ll. 1-2) – and prison cells with cages for animals—“like small animal cages” (l. 4). The inhumanity of this is emphasised even more when the dog comes in: dogs are not kept in cages, but people are.

Then, the narrator compares the convict with a comedian, because of the man’s oversized moustache, “like the moustache of a comic man on the films.” (ll. 11-12).

To suggest that the warders did not know how to handle the convict, the author associates the prisoner with a fish: “It was like men handling a fish which is still alive” (ll. 18-19).

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Repetition and irony

Repetition is used in the moments announcing the climax, and it helps to suggest an increasing tension:

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Symbols

“A Hanging” includes multiple symbols that relate to the theme of the story.

The cells which are compared to animal cages are a symbol of confinement and degradation. People who are confined, either physically like the jail prisoners, or metaphorically, by life’s circumstances, lose their humanity and return to an animal-like state. Notably, when the dog appears, it becomes clear that animals are allowed freedom while human beings aren’t, confirming the dehumanising conditions of the prison.

The dog and the animal’s actions are symbolic for Orwell’s message.

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