Bullying In George Orwell's A Hanging

Bullying is a relevant issue in schools today, and the solution remains unknown. However, if you’re a bystander, it’s possible to reduce bullying significantly by speaking up. 88% of the time, bullying takes place in front of other kids. However, it’s been reported that of these bystanders, only 20% intervene. Often times when kids see bullying take place, they know it’s wrong, but keep to themselves. The reasons why kids don’t stick up for eachother is varied, but if more kids stood up for each other the issue would decrease significantly. The emotional effect groups bring have can be connected to the group of officers in George Orwell’s A Hanging. Burma was a southeastern country in Asia that was a part of the British Empire in the 1920’s

After the hanging, Orwell reveals how the guards feel “An enormous relief had come upon us now that the job was done.” This is ironic because the guards are acting like they have it worse than the man that was just hung. The guards even act like hanging him as an annoyance and a relief to get over with. Orwell uses this irony because this statement proves how insensitive and selfish the guards are because they’re in a group. Orwell eventually notices that “I found that I was laughing quite loudly. Everyone was laughing. Even the superintendent grinned in a tolerant way.” This is Ironic because one wouldn’t expect such a happy mood to be on a large group of people that just witnessed death. The power of mob mentality is so strong that it has the ability to consume people’s emotions. It can be inferred that Orwell’s purpose for including this irony is to make the guards, and even himself, appear inhumane. Orwell describes the lighthearted aftermath, “We all had a drink together, native and European alike, quite amicably. The dead man was a hundred yards away.” The description of the guards’ casual manner while a dead body lays nearby deeper furthers the point that to the guards adopt the emotions of the group of people they’re surrounded by, whether it’s logical or not. Orwell uses this contrast to show the vast differences that being an individual and going along with a group can have. It can be interpreted that Orwell’s purpose behind displaying the effects mob mentality has on the group of is furthered during the epiphany and the hanging through the treatment of