English 101

Dolores Galaz summarized our class discussion on the use of details to support a point in the essay "A Hanging" by George Orwell.

Basically, the whole class felt the theme of the story was to SHOW how capital punishment shows the barbarism and inhumanity humans contain. Orwell accomplishes this by using specific examples in the story. For instance, a boy who is trying to sell cigarrettes to the narrator tells him how the prisoner wet himself of how scared he was when he found out his sentencing. Right after saying this, the boy continues trying to sell his cigarrettes without mentioning the prisonaer again, minutes after his execution. Another instance is when the narrarator realizes the prisoner is just as human as he, and his life is about to be taken from him by another human being, as the prisoner avoids walking into a puddle.

Orwell uses other tactics to get his thesis across, an important one being that it is not he whom is telling the story as an author, but he is telling his stroy through the narrator. By using a marrator, Orwell expresses more feeling into his work, instead of straight out telling what his point is, as he would writing it at an author's point of view.

"A Hanging" is a great example of the effect having specific examples does to a story. These examples show the reader what is going on and what the feelings of the author are on the subject, along with probably being touched by the story. The whole class agreed that that this was the most effective way of personalizing an essay.

If you have comments or would like to add anything to Dolores' summary, please e-mail your instructor!