A PENNILESS BRITISH’S POV

“If a book is well-written, I always find it too short.”

This quoted statement voiced out what I wanted to speak out. This best stated what I
wanted to say and what I am thinking of about the first full-length book of the famously known
novelist or writer, George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London. Orwell, born as Eric Blair,
wrote this book and had published on 1933. The speaker was unnamed but is probably the author
itself, George Orwell, which narrated, on his own point-of-view, his experiences about poverty in
Paris and London. But a question may draw in our minds; “Is this worth reading?”
The author opened the first chapter of the book introducing the place, the atmosphere, and
the people living in Paris. The book began at the Rue du Coq d’Or, Paris, 7 in the morning. The
narrator described the scene happening at that moment in the street, outside where he resides. He
lived at the hotel called Hotel des Trois Moineaux which he described as “dark, rickety warren of five
storeys cut up by wooden partitions into forty rooms” and also dirty since there’s no maid and no
time to do sweeping. There are also other characters who were introduced on the first chapter such
as the Bulgarian student who makes dozen pairs of shoes, a Russian woman and his son, a couple,
Henri, Monsieur Jules, and many more. They are just some of the narrator’s neighbors. Then
eventually, he started to get tasted poverty with the reason that someone stole his savings and his
income vanished when he stopped tutoring in English. The first idea came into his mind was to
pawn some of his clothes to get money enough for him to survive for a day or two. With nothing left
but to pawn all of his remaining clothes, he just then remembered his friend, Boris, which told him
back then that if he will ever be in difficulties, just look for him so he could give some help. So, he
went to Boris but unfortunately, he saw Boris’s situation which was even worse than his situation.
They decided to seek for a job. Boris got a job at the Hotel X with 500 francs a month and foods,
while he remained nothing. So, they decided to be in a situation where Boris will steal foods from
the cafeteria (since Boris worked in the cafeteria of the hotel) and will meet the narrator in a safe
place to give the food. But, this situation ended cause one of the dishwashers left the Hotel X and
Boris took the opportunity to recommend him as a replacement. He (speaker) worked there to
fetch meals for the higher hotel employees and wash their crockery. His experience there didn’t
went that well and easy. He was called “Maquereau” not just one time but 39 times on his first day
because he always did mistakes.
He and Boris left their work at the Hotel X for they were expecting that the restaurant,
Auberge de Jehan Cottard, will open but the patron of the Auberge has financial difficulties. So they
didn’t get paid for ten days and slept only on a bench. Due to stress working for seventeen and a
half hours a day and almost without a break, he sent a mail to his friend, B, in London and asked if
he could get him a job that will satisfy him with enough sleeping hours. So, the speaker left his work
and went to London. Far from what he’s expecting, he arrived in London without a job waiting for
him. So he slept as a tramp to different places. There, the narrator described his journey, his
experiences while earning for a living, and how he spent his time with the people he met who were
also experiencing poverty, like beggars, and also the accommodation of those living around London.
The Irish tramp, Paddy, which was “a good fellow” with limitless ignorance and appalling, and Bozo,
the pavement artist, were just some of the people he met throughout his journey in London. In the
last part, he learned something about being hard up and concluded about something he’d learned:
“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…”
 Orwell made his work a well-written one. Imagery; he painted pictures in my mind and
perhaps to other readers effectively. He made us feel whatever he describes. It was so perfect. It felt
like I really am witnessing the scenes he described. “Quarrels, and the desolate cries of street
hawkers, and the shouts of children chasing orange-peel over the cobbles…”, “It was a very narrow
street – a ravine of tall, leprous houses, lurching towards one another in queer attitudes, as though
they had been frozen in the act of collapse.” and so much more.
Every time I read this book, different questions went bothering me:
“How will I able to handle my life if ever I’ll be into this situation?”
“How does it feel not to eat for few days or even just for a day?”
“Can I handle this challenge, if ever it’ll happen to me?”
Therefore, Orwell effectively wrote this book (although there are some problems or
something I’m criticizing). In some cases, this book is somewhat boring. But the good thing is that
the author’s purpose was given to us clearly. He made me ask and ask and ask everytime, every
single hour I’m reading his book. But although I have lots of questions in my mind, I could also get
the answers to my questions in his book, itself, and of course to the lessons and realizations I made
from his book. Although he did not directly teach something, but through understanding his work,
I’d surely learned from his book… a lot. It made me realized that I am so much blessed and lucky for
not experiencing poverty, and for having enough to continue living and survive every day without
working that hard and experiencing difficulties the same as the author’s.
The only problems I’d encountered through reading this book were the language or the
words that are not in English language, and what I’ve already mentioned, it’s somewhat boring
since there were no part where I could laugh even just for a while. I understand why the words
choice was like that and why I didn’t laugh. It’s because although the story is interesting, what the
author revealed was his sad past experiences and the sad reality. So, who am I to laugh at those not-
so-good experiences?
The Down and Out in Paris and London, as for someone who do not like the theme of this
book, might be saying that this is not worthy to be read. Frankly speaking, really, this is not as
interesting as any other books, such as romance novels/books, travel books, or whatsoever. But this
book, honestly, gave and shared something about how it feels to be living in a world while you’re
penniless, without nothing to eat, and nothing to do in order for you to survive. This is not just
merely a book, but it shared a person’s experience about how he dealt with poverty and how he
survived his life being in a difficult situation. There were so many things and situations happened in
this book which we can apply in reality (but only the good ones). The author revealed common
challenges we may face or might be already facing in our journey or life. He did make us realize and
aware of the struggles experienced in poverty; that being in poverty is never easy, it is a challenge
that must be faced and overcame in order to continue living and survive, and being unto this
challenge always means that there are solutions to conquer such difficulties.
This book must be appreciated. This may not be the best book we could ever read, nor the
most successful book ever published, but this is one of a kind, one of those which we could consider
as good books. Because good books are not just those which will entertain and make you laugh so
hard, but those which can make your heart melt, enable you to reflect, and make you feel like you’re
the one acting in the story.