Down and Out in Paris and London

Down and Out in Paris and London is the first full-length work by the English author George Orwell, published in 1933. It is a memoir in two parts on the theme of poverty in the two cities, which was written deliberately in a non-academic tone. Its target audience was the middle and upper class members of society—those who were more likely to be well educated—and exposes the poverty existing in two prosperous cities: Paris and London. The first part is an account of living in near-destitution in Paris and the experience of casual labor in restaurant kitchens. The second part is a travelogue of life on the road in and around London from the tramp's perspective, with descriptions of the types of hostel accommodation available and some of the characters to be found living on the margins.

Even though Orwell’s most popular novels are deservingly Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, his voice rings true on other subjects besides totalitarianism and political freedoms. What I find most comforting and disturbing about Orwell’s work is his ability to make the reader feel extremely entertained and “above” the concepts and situations in his novels when depicting fairly-possible, real-life scenarios. We read his work with the perception we would never be fooled on such a grand scale, we would recognize such managements  or exploitations and fight against them, rally the masses, while at the same time instilling the fear of the futility of resistance to such manipulations.

    And when he writes more openly and less figuratively, although maintaining his masterful social commentary, as he does in the above novel, we experience similar feelings as we read, being entertained all the while. If you have not been touched, affected, or changed after reading an Orwell novel, you have not actually read it…or you are a perfect example of what Orwell himself most likely feared the most.