A Hanging

George Orwell’s use of a first-person narrative charts the emotional development of the narrator. Initially, the narrator conforms to the colonialist vision, seeing the condemned natives as impersonal caged animals. Then the combination of the dog’s unprejudiced friendliness and the sight of the prisoner, who has only minutes to live, still making an effort to keep his feet dry, dramatically alter his point of view. He outwardly appears to return to complicity with his imperialist colleagues at the end of the narrative, although his continued awareness of the proximity of the corpse suggests his moral discomfort. The first-person narrative also serves to obscure the perspectives of the other characters in the narrative. The condemned man remains an enigma, and little insight is provided into his thoughts and psychological state, as the narrator is unaware of the meaning of his repeated pleas to his god.

Direct discourse, or dialogue, is used repeatedly in the text and has several functions. It primarily serves to draw the reader’s attention to the ethnic diversity of the group present at the hanging. The standard British English used by the superintendent and the narrator contrasts with the varieties of Indian English spoken by the Dravidian head guard and the “Eurasian boy.