Down and Out in Paris and London Notes

Chapter 1

He gets away with profanity because it is in French, it doesnt seem as bad, makes the
book seem more authentic
Vinaigrettes
Eclectic mix of people that make up a vibrant world
This area of Paris that George Orwell was in was very fashionable for writers in this time to
live, it wasnt just George Orwell
Experiencing a much more vibrant world, much more vibrant kind of life
We understand a whole range of people, they all live there for different reasons
Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behaviour"
Hes trying to let the rich understand the poor and let them sympathise for them so they will
help
Very clear subject matter throughout the book, we as the readers already know exactly
what he is saying, there are no hidden messages
He changes some things in the book to make it more dramatic, such as changing the order
of the events but they are still all true
Narrator seems as though he is upper-middle class, the reader doesnt have to travel so
much to see it from another persons point of view, he is in both worlds and so we
understand it much better
If someone who was always poor wrote the book, it would be harder for us to understand,
we dont have the same viewpoints

Chapter 2

Charlie, like Orwell, came from a good background, not in poverty

Very shocking
Lets us see the extremes of life in this quarter, what the people are like
Not a good description, quite a negative description of Charlie by Orwell. A little bit
repulsive, theres something not quite right about him, we see Charlie in quite a negative
light
Orwell never judges Charlie though, he leaves it up to the readers to make their own
judgements
Basically rape
Women are very minor characters in the book, they are prostitutes, victims, more of a male
world

Chapter 3

He has lived and experienced poverty for quite a while, about a year and a half, he is
familiar with this stuff, he knows what he is talking about
A memoir, mainly the truth but sometimes it has been changed
For example the book describes that a young Italian stole money from him, it is likely that
he was actually stolen from, but not by a young Italian

He changes the facts a little bit, he keeps some things to himself, what actually happened
according to his friend was that a girl who had a fling with him stole from him and he
wanted to keep this private, to hide embarrassment
Makes it more relatable for the reader, he uses personal pronouns, directly involves the
reader of the text
Theres a need for him to make people think he is not in poverty, he wants to appear
ordinary because he used to be, he has friends who knew him when he had money, doesnt
want to admit that he is poor
Present tense - makes it seem as though it is happening, draws the readers into the reality
that people are out there living life like this
You can tell Orwell is middle class, he cares about hygiene, he wont drink milk that has
had a bug in it, he is new to poverty, there is a gradual slide into real poverty, it just gets
worse and worse, relatable for us
Universality

Chapter 4

The poor are dehumanised by the clerks, they are called by numbers, they are treated very
badly
The French motto, slogan of a French revolution, the detail is mentioned for the irony,
liberty, egalite, fraternite, they say they want equality but they arent doing anything about
them. Satirical
Its his first time in a pawnshop, he has never had to sell his belongings in order to not
starve, just for food he had to sell his clothes
There is a lot of order, just as there is in a classroom
The outside is contrasted with the inside of the pawnshop
The number of people in the pawnshop is mentioned because it takes away their
individuality, it takes away their identities, there are so many people there just called by
their numbers, also shows us that poor people are forced to use pawnshops
Pledge is the thing that is going to be pawned
Shows the powerlessness of the poor
The decreasing value of the products, 15, 10, 5 emphasises how little the poor is offered,
and its completely normal

Chapter 5

He is full of hope, expects a lot from Boris, so when he actually sees Boris and how he is,
he is let down because he is in a much worse situation than Orwell
Real extremes of Boris
Boris uses military expressions
He loves the army, loved being a soldier, keeps metals and photographs from the war
But he also keeps all of his love letters from women
There is a constant need to seem not desperate, they have to present themselves as
people who they are not, Boris stuffed his shoes with newspapers so they wouldnt see the
holes and he pretended to not have a limp although he did
The rich just always assume that the poor are lazy and that they could easily get a job they
just dont want to work, but Orwell makes it clear how hard it is

Boris is covered in bugs

Chapter 6

The love letter Boris receives is quite funny

Archaic language
Very sentimental in a funny way
They really descend into poverty
Hygiene is a big issue, Boris hasnt had a bath in months

Chapter 7

The communists are con men, they just take money from the poor, thats how they get all of
their money
Boris and the narrator had very different views, Orwell had his own strong views on how he
thought things should be but Boris just went with whatever, whatever was big and popular,
even though they were the reasons for his death
Shows how vulnerable the poor are

Chapter 9

Hes going for a job interview, saying that people are very superficial
What you look like is more important than how well you work
What the food looks like is more important than how it was cooked and just how clean it
really is in general, its not clean
The waiters are all very smart, good looking, well-mannered, they appear to be very
sophisticated but in reality they are just as poor as the people who work in the hotel
The first place they work in is the Auberge de Jehan Cottard
Very superficial, the historical facts are all lies
Everything that the owner is telling the people about the restaurant is not true, its trying to
be something its not - how it appears it not what it is, representative of many of the
restaurants and hotels in this text, they all appear grand on the surface but Orwell exposes
them for what they really are, unpleasant places to be
Run by an incompetent cheat
Orwell shows us what this world is really like, what the people in this world are really like
The real names of the hotels are not used, e.g. Hotel X - saying it could be any of the
expensive hotels in Paris, saying it could apply to all of them, or to protect him from sued or
something

Chapter 10

Hotel X
A vast grandiose place with a classical facade and at one side a little dark doorway like a
rat-hole, which was the service entrance - completely opposite for the guests and the
workers, its just for show
An Italian, with a round, pale face, haggard from overwork

He led me down a winding staircase into a narrow passage deep underground, and so low
that I had to stoop in places. - The way the building is structured as well could emphasise
the hierarchy of the them, the workers are lower
It was stiflingly hot and very dark, with only dim yellow bulbs several yards apart
And if theres any trouble, theyll believe me, not you. So be careful - the hierarchy of the
restaurant and society in general
The jobs theyre given consume them during the day, it prevents them from being human
being to one another, they dont value each other for what they are, they are nicer outside
of work to the others, they treat them like humans
As soon as they get just a little better, they treat the people really badly, for example the
waiter treated Orwell very badly, pretended he was very high up, at the end go page 57 but
really waiters arent even that high up
Judgement is very much on women
Very diverse range of people, old women, boys
Conditions are terrible, the temperature was perhaps 110 degrees Fahrenheit, extreme hot
but also sometimes extremely cold

Chapter 11

Very hectic job, and also very physically demanding on the worker
Walks and runs about fifteen miles a day
In order to do the job well you have to practice, you have to be at it for about a year before
you really get good, you need good memory and remember to do this, not burn this etc. Its
very taxing on a person, it needs more brains than people think
The reader will assume that the jobs that people are doing as poor people are very easy,
but in actual fact they would be very difficult for the readers, Orwell is a well educated man
yet he finds this difficult, it doesnt matter what you know
Listing - fast paced, energy
The number of things that happen simultaneously
Long sentences

Chapter 12

Valenti was nice waiter, he was nice to Orwell, treated him well when they were alone but
when people were around he had to act rough because it did not do well for a waiter to be
friends with plongeurs, very patriarchal system, very present hierarchy system
Valenti was a good waiter because he knew how to carry himself, he made himself look like
more than what he was, handsome, good-looking, just like an eton boy
Valenti is a success story amongst the poor because he had been carrying himself since he
was 12, all to do with his external, how he appeared to others
Important for waiters to APPEAR attractive, well-educated, not being true
Orwell likes him
Being made love to by a rich old woman - he alludes to prostitution, it doesnt directly state
that that he was, but perhaps in the 30s this is what it meant. The fact that he was accused
of stealing the diamond ring shows his powerlessness
Old fashioned labour, saving materials, they would rather spend money on the people,
making things look nice, then having a real nice place i.e. clean

The beautiful dining room on show for the guests is contrasted to the conditions inside the
kitchen, because it was not on show to the guests it didnt matter, it was filthy

Chapter 13

He understands why people might steal from the restaurant

Knows how desperate people can be, he is really one of them and he is trying to reveal
what life is like for them
If the division between the rich and the poor is so big, and the poor try and make the gap
between them smaller, he does not really criticise the corruption that goes on, the hotel is
an extreme example, if the poor are working so hard they should be allowed to take a little
bit back
The customs are ridiculous
Having a moustache, it is a visible representation of the hierarchy
Waiters have the power to no let plongeurs have moustaches because they cant have
them either

Chapter 26

The setting of the plan, the praying place is just a small tin roofed shed, it seems very
makeshift, temporary and not sacred like how you would think a church would be
Details he gives certain characters really give the readers into adopting a certain stance
about the tramps
The tramps still have a certain sense of pride, they dont feel right without their caps, most
tramps are decent looking fellows who are just out of jobs
He humanises the tramps, they are lads, they are just unlucky, they are not lazy they are
just very desperate for food so they are here
Description of the lady makes her seem wealthy, silk, gold, shows power very early on just
by what she is wearing
Is also a critique of religion because religion is supposed to be about the religion, they are
supposed to be modest, care more about the religion than what they are wearing, her
religious allegiance doesnt seem right
Criticises them when they embarrass men for prayers
Tin shed on the outside, uncomfortable inside, gory lithograph, its not really a place to
welcome people, it wasnt built with much care, they are uncomfortable, they dont make
the tramps welcome
She patronises them, even though shes pretending to be nice
She has no understanding of what it is like to be a tramp, yet she thinks that she can teach
them how to be one, she tells them to pray

Chapter 27

Readers stereotypes of tramps are wrong

Society has allowed them to get into this condition
Details are quite negative, not a very nice place
Details are important because the reader, people who can afford book, do not know what a
spike is like, they have no idea what food would be served

Prison-like
Has to share dirty bath water - it is particularly gross and horrible
Homosexual attempts on him, he says it very calmly, it is not dramatised at all it is what you
would except to happen to you, it is normal and is understated
If he doesnt dramatise everything in the book, it is authentic, if he doesnt dramatise what
would shock readers it makes it seem authentic, narrator is easy-going. But also by only
dramatising certain things, it focuses more attention on that
He overcomes these experiences and becomes friends with the guy
Chosen a very male world as his focus, most men are tramps, as homosexuality usually
comes about when men have been tramps for a long time, suggests most men are tramps
All-Male world
Orwell very much criticises these all male world, society being too uncaring for these
people which leads them to live this way of life, this way of life is unnatural, in the 1930s
being homosexual was seen as unnatural, and so he is suggesting that it is forcing them to
do unnatural things

Chapter 28

He admires people who take care of their appearance, pride and self-respect
Paddy doesnt steal, he cant bring himself to do it
Paddy is very much like the polar opposite of Orwell - who is very educated
Paddy wouldnt even go into the library because all of that bloody print makes him sick
Paddy offers insight into his love life, how he is lonely, he doesnt have enough self respect
to go after real pretty women, he only goes after prostitutes, doesnt think he is good
enough
He is a good man who has been destroyed by poverty
By ignoring the problems of these men is forcing them to be physically pitiful but also
intellectually quite pitiful, quite a sad character study

Chapter 29

To be a tramp, you have no freedom no power and you have no choice, you have no power
to do anything or change anything
If you get into trouble thats it, even if it is unreasonable
Harsh way Orwell and Paddy are spoken to by others
The Salvation army - despite them being much cleaner than the other places, they are
more boring, they are not allowed to amuse themselves, no playing cards, they cant really
do anything for fun otherwise they will be expelled
Very small details about the people there makes the audience sympathise with them, they
cant even afford a chess board
Blasphemy is speaking out against religion
Doesnt believe in god because he hasnt given him anything, he let him suffer whilst there
are people out there who have more than they need
Sad at the end when it is said that by a sad look on his face he saw that he was starving
Orwell has these views, use the text to see how his views are expressed in the book

Chapter 30

Orwell is fascinated by Bozo

He is interested in street art, he likes it, where some people might not like it, seen as graffiti

Chapter 33

Continues to talk about poverty

Negative view of religion

Chapter 35

When the Tramp major finds out that Orwell used to be a journalist, or so he says, he gets
special treatment from him
He gets a clean towel, even in the lowest of the classes, there is still a sense of hierarchy,
there should be equality, they are all the same yet he gets special treatment
He is quite grateful for having food, but he thinks that it is very unfair, there was so much
food wasted when there were people next door, they deliberately throw the food away
instead of giving it to the tramps. Shows their dominance, makes them not beg
Seems as though they are deliberately underfed, so that they can keep their power, so the
tramps keep on being powerless, not being able to work, being malnourished so that they
cant take the power away

Chapter 36

Rotted by malnutrition
Cut off from women, unnatural
Being a tramp is a mans world
He is very good at criticising and giving the tramps a voice, but he isnt very good at coming
up with solutions, he can recognise problems but doesnt know how to fix them

Chapter 37

He lets you know how to sleep, not that the reader would ever need to know these things
probably

Chapter 38

Last chapter