Early in the morning, Orwell, the narrator, waits outside of a few prison cells in Burma (present-day Myanmar). A group of guards are preparing the prisoner, a Hindu man, for his hanging. They are careful with him, though he doesn’t seem inclined to resist. The superintendent of the prison, a British man, urges Francis, an indigenous man, to hurry the execution.
As the guards and Orwell march the prisoner to the gallows, a stray dog breaks into the prison yard and jumps on both the guards and the prisoner. After a brief chase, Orwell uses his handkerchief to restrain the dog, and he holds it as the group continues its march. A few feet later, the prisoner side-steps a puddle, and Orwell is struck by the man’s small display of agency. He examines the cruelty of the hanging about to take place and reflects on the active life, growth, and reasoning of the prisoner, becoming upset by the idea that the healthy man’s life is about to be forcibly ended.
The prisoner is led to the gallows, where a fellow prisoner serves as hangman. When the noose is tightened, the condemned prisoner begins to chant “Ram,” a call to his god. Orwell notes that it is not a prayer or a nervous action, but a steady rhythm. The prisoner continues chanting and the small crowd grows uncomfortable, but the superintendent waits for a while before ordering the execution. The chant is cut short, and Orwell releases the dog, which runs around the gallows and seems shocked by the hanging body.
The execution group moves to breakfast with the rest of the guards and prisoners, and together they feel immensely relieved. A young boy shares with Orwell the story of the late prisoner hearing his sentence and details how the man peed himself. Francis and the superintendent join the meal and men laugh freely, despite what has just occurred. Francis shares a story of a man who clung to the bars of his cell to delay his hanging, and the men find this hilarious. Finally, the superintendent invites the entire group, indigenous and colonial alike, to his car for a drink. They laugh at Francis’s story while they drink whisky, mere feet from the hanging body of the prisoner.