The Value of Life - George Orwell

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The value of life The subject of taking life is a reoccurring theme in the literature written by George Orwell. In ‘Shooting an Elephant’ and ‘A Hanging’, Orwell criticizes the disregard for life that he experiences. In the two pieces there are a few crucial points that show Orwell’s criticism on the taking of life: the killing of the elephant and the dead man in ‘Shooting an Elephant’, the insensitivity of the superintendent and the killing party in ‘A Hanging’, and the thoughts and actions of the narrators in both works. In both of these pieces we are shown the human disregard for the value of life. In ‘A Hanging’ a man is executed for a crime he committed. In the beginning of the story we are introduced to the condemned through a description of his physical characteristics. We are not given his name or his crime, and the description of the man sets a detached tone to the story. Even the simple title, “A Hanging,” gives off a solemn, matter-of-fact tone and lack of emotion to the descriptions. The title itself implies no judgment, just as Orwell in this essay makes none explicit. This lack of emotions is unnatural because humans are social creatures whose everyday lives run on emotive societal interactions. Further into the narrative Orwell begins to show us his opinion on the inhumane act of killing a person. The narrator, a warden, has an epiphany on the value of human life when the convicts side-steps a puddle of water on the way to the gallows. Orwell portrays the convict as being a conscious and rational man who is capable of reform. Through this symbolic portrayal, Orwell highlights the inhumanity of killing a man in his prime. The man, whose body was striving to survive and whose conscious was determined to defy even death, as can be seen in the repetitive and unwavering invocation by the convict, before the death sentence, of his god.
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