Commentary on George Orwell’s “A Hanging”

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…would prove more difficult. The laughter that the group shared was the way the narrator distanced himself mentally and emotionally. Whether or not George Orwell drew from his own experiences as a police officer is inconsequential. Orwell was able to create a dynamic character who experiences an evolution in understanding and emotion that begins with ignorant indifference which is startlingly transformed into horrific understanding, that, in turn, is spurned for the more comfortable, distant relief.