Down and Out in Paris and London - By George Orwell

I’ve read an excerpt from George Orwell’s book “Down and Out in Paris and London”. The book was written in 1993, after the crash on Wall Street in 1929 and the international economic crisis that followed it. In class, we read an article about the book from The New Yorker and we watched some documentaries about George Orwell’s life.

George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blair on June 25 1903. He went to Eton, but lost his scholarship there due to bad grades, therefore he moved to Burma. In 1928 he moved to Paris, and he wanted to become a writer. The lack of success of a writer forced him into a lot of menial jobs, and this turned out to be the key to his success. Orwell pretended to be a homeless poor, and lived like them for a period to experience their reality. In the book “Down and Out in Paris and London” Orwell gives an account of the lives of the homeless poor.

In the article about Orwell’s novel in the New Yorker, the author of the article revealed the background for this book and the process of publishing it. He writes about how the book turned out very differently from how Orwell probably planed it in the beginning. He also criticize Orwell for acting like he know exactly how the poor and homeless feel, but the fact that Orwell knew that he really wasn’t poor of course made the situation different for him than for the people who really were poor. On the other hand, he thinks that Orwell’s novel is a well written story and he says: “Orwell ventures out into the world, and is changed by it.” I think this show that he believes that Orwell got something important out of his experience with the homeless poor.

“I shall never again think that all tramps are drunken scoundrels, nor expect a beggar to be grateful when I give him a penny, nor be surprised if men out of work lack energy, nor subscribe to the Salvation Army, nor pawn my clothes, nor refuse a handbill, nor enjoy a meal at a smart restaurant. That is a beginning.”

This is the end of the article, and I think that many people think some of these thoughts after reading the novel. Orwell made them see the homeless poor’s horrible situation, which makes people look differently at their own life and be more grateful.