A Hanging - Summary Essay Example

“As I lay under the moon, and thank God, I am breathing. And I pray don’t take me soon because I am here for a reason, as I’m singing a song for freedom.” Matisyahu sang this song called “One Day.” The song is about freedom with no more war o violence. In George Orwell’s short story “A Hanging,” he is trying to show us his experience of imperialism between the British and Burma. Innocent people were hanged for being Hindu. They were not free. The setting of the story is in Burma, in a jail cell. “We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of shreds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages.” As the narrator describes the cell is very small. It is only ten feet by ten feet, and only had a plank bed and a pot of drinking water. Inside these cells were “brown” people waiting to be hanged in a week or two. This dark, sorrow setting creates a sad mood for the reader. The setting for the hanging sight was a small yard with overgrown with tall weeds. “It was a brick erection like three sides of a shed, with planking on top, and above that two beams and a crossbar with the rope dangling.” When one reads the story we feel creped out that innocent men were hung. “We all had a drink together, native and European alike, quite amicably. The dead man was a hundred yards away.” The setting shows us how cruel the people were. They showed no remorse for the hostages. When looking at a story, does every story have a superhero? Not in this story. The prisoner (condemned man) was a Hindu. “He had a thick, sprouting moustache, absurdly too big for his body, rather like the moustache of a comic man on the films.” The prisoner even though he was weak he never backed down. Mentally he was strong. “He stood quite unresisting, yielding his arms limply to the ropes as though he hardly noticed what was happening.” The prisoner walked with confidence. “At each step his muscles slid neatly into place, the lock of hair on his scalp danced up and