George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London

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George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London Days without food, nights without shelter and clothes without buttons are reality for homeless people around the world. Many are incapable of escaping their poverty and can not seem to find a way out of their bleak oppression. The few that do escape often help each other find a way to make their lives better and do not forget how to maintain friendships. George Orwell’s novel, Down and Out in Paris and London, displays the ability of those in poverty to escape their horrific lot in life through friendships and connections. The common goal of shelter and freedom from oppression bonds many of the lower class. Many in poverty work together to find the best means to achieve their common goal through locating employment and safe places to sleep. Orwell tries to display the lower classes sense of friendship and commitment though his interactions with the people he meets while in poverty. The individuals he describes have the same dismal prospects and must try to find a way to overcome poverty. It is the common goal of freedom from oppression that bonds many of the lower class to work together to break free. Orwell’s experience in poverty helps him gain a strong understanding of class structure and the separation of the classes. The realization that many in poverty do not deserve to be oppressed causes Orwell to take political action and to search for a way to help those in oppression. With Orwell’s strong examples of the lower class working together, he tries to display his belief that a socialistic society can solve the separation of classes. Many of the lower class band together to survive in an inhospitable world. While in poverty, Orwell experiences first hand the b... ... middle of paper ... ...truly progress. This realization helps Orwell develop many of his socialist views. Orwell wants to demonstrate that those in poverty are often forced to lead that lifestyle and can not better their societal position because of the government. The need to change the governmental system is critical to truly change society and to work towards a brighter and more equal future. Orwell’s experience in poverty opened his eyes to the disparities in classes, but more importantly, the ability of those in poverty to bond together to overcome oppression set an example that awakened an individual’s desire for governmental change. Works Cited - Beadle, Gordon B. “George Orwell’s Literary Studies of Poverty in England.” Twentieth Century Literature 24.2 (1978): 188-202. - Kazin, Alfred. “Not One of Us.” The New York Review of Books 21.10 (1984): 13-18.

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