It Doesn't Matter Anymore

It Doesn't Matter Anymore

  • Submitted By: Wrinks
  • Date Submitted: 12/03/2008 5:27 PM
  • Category: Social Issues
  • Words: 1086
  • Page: 5
  • Views: 722

It doesn’t matter. The year or the time is irrelevant; but it happened. It left a cold, dark shadow on the world that is still hovering over everybody today. There is not a soul in the universe that can deny it. What is “it?” Where did it come from? “It” can’t really be put into one name, it’s a combination of having bad morals, being racist, and watching someone suffer when you know it’s wrong, but still choosing not to do anything about it. The two stories “A Hanging,” and “Who shot Johnny” are two very different stories, but also very alike. They both have the same question: What has the world come to? However the question may not be answered for awhile.
“A Hanging” is a story about a Hindu man, who’s taking his last steps, and his last breaths before his life comes to an end. What’s interesting about this story is that everybody’s watching what is about to happen to this poor man, including the author himself. Just by reading it, you can tell how they’re all feeling. The next quote summarizes how the crowd of people feels. “Everyone had changed color, the Indians had gone grey like bad coffee”(Orwell,142). The quote is describing how they’re all watching in sorrow and knowing in their hearts that this is wrong. Yet somehow, nobody dares to say a word.
To add another interesting symbol to the story, a dog is introduced and it’s important because the dog likes the prisoner, and gaily starts licking his face and jumping all over him, giving the prisoner a flicker of hope before he’s sent to the gallows. This dog is a symbol of what all those people know they should do, but not one of them steps up and tries to delay what’s about to happen. Ignorantly hiding their feelings and watching in fear in the corners, the man is hung, and each one of their hearts drops into their stomachs.
In the short story “Who Shot Johnny,” it’s a very different circumstance, and again, a terrible situation that could have been avoided. The narrator tells her...

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