Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell

Another Orwell book read by your boy!

In this, George Orwell documents his time living in Paris and London. He describes his experience of being destitute, having to work terrible jobs in Paris and being unemployed and homeless in London. This book is different to 1984 and Animal Farm in that it’s a biography, but like with all of Orwell’s books it teaches you some important lessons.

Orwell can literally write about anything and I’d enjoy it. He describes every little aspect of his time with such detail. The writing style in this is similar to Man’s Search for Meaning. Both books are biographies with observations of their time made in the ending chapters. Down and Out in Paris is split into two parts, Orwell’s time in Paris and Orwell’s time in London, the ending chapters of both parts are the best bits, they really complete the book.

Orwell observes how the poor and homeless are treated in society. He touches on how they have been dehumanised, how homeless men become emasculated and how the ruling class use poverty as a way to control the mob. We look at homeless people and assume the worst, when really they are no different. Most want a job but they’ve been put in a situation where they have no options. We should all do better.

The themes in this book are especially interesting when you take into account the current political debates in America about Universal Basic Income. The aim of UBI is to give everyone access to basic needs. I was skeptical about this, reading this has made me think differently.

What did you think of this? Reading this also means I’ve conquered my ‘author’s other body of work’ phobia!

Shoutout out to @garlic_bredrin for the loan!