A Hanging

In my opinion, I believe the message in "A Hanging", is that, no matter how cruel something may seem, there can be two sides of it, one comical and one very solemn. I believe there are two epiphanies for the narrator in this story; the first is, taking life from a healthy human-being, the second epiphany is, no matter how horrible something may seem, it can turn around to be very comical.
The first epiphany, dealing with the horror of taking life, is demonstrated (triggered) by the author when he is in shock of the humanness of the prisoner, when he is walking to be hanged by evading the puddle of water in his path.
The second epiphany, dealing with the comical side of taking life, is not much of an epiphany, but, it is a realization to a degree of magnitude. The story of one of the fellow guard members is an example of this "epiphany". He makes the story of a prisoner who was to be hanged who was very trouble-some, that had to be taken by 6 men to be hanged, and the narrator, surprisingly, laughed out loud. And the story ends, with a very relaxed everyday-chore kind of tone.