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Reading the road to wigan pier was really an interesting insight to the struggle of poverty and class struggles in 1930's England and it meant much more to me because what he said was also very personal to me in a way. Orwell doesn't just describe the conditions he understands them. :)
He writes about more than just dirty houses and mines. He writes about what it feels like to live under conditions like these with extreme economic pressure, humiliation of unemployment, and to carry the dull and disparity that drains their spirit; and they aren't just written as social issues, he tells about the emotional truths.
"The real ugliness of industrialism – an ugliness so frightful and so arresting that you are obliged, as it were, to come to terms with it."
It's so true. It’s not just about ugly factories or polluted air. it’s about the way people are forced to accept bleakness as normal. Especially now, for me, I see buildings around town and I think back to the time when those depressing buildings were not built yet. It was a sea of greenery. It frights me too, the pace of things. It's not something I can control so I too feel that I have to come to terms with it. :(
"Unemployment is an endless misery that has got to be constantly palliated, and especially with tea, the Englishman's opium."
This made me think about how we all cope. Or I cope. It's not always healthy, most times it isn't anyway but I'm glad Orwell sees it for how it is: survival and the need for comfort.
"When you are unemployed, which is to say when you are underfed, harassed, bored, and miserable, you don't want to eat dull wholesome food. You want something tasty."
I especially related to this one personally. I grew up poor when I moved to a new country, I remember the times my mother only fed us 'unhealthy' foods to keep us happy. In other circumstances in a poor persons perspective, I would see it like this: You feel absolutely miserable everyday living an unpleasing life, I think you'd find much more happiness in some unhealthy food choice, it's just how it is. You need to feel something. Or it could be that it seems easier than making wholesome bland food. It's Human, a natural instinct to make a move such as that.
"They have all the leisure in the world; why don't they sit down and write books? Because to write books you need not only comfort and solitude — and solitude is never easy to attain in a working class home — you also need peace of mind... You can't command the spirit of hope in which anything has got to be created, with that dull evil cloud of unemployment hanging over you."
This one hurt a bit. The myth that poverty equals free time, or that it somehow creates better art, is completely shattered here! He sees and really understands how hopelessness kills the creative spirit, and how poverty isn’t just a lack of money...it’s a lack of comfort space to dream. Without the feel of comfort and ability to express yourself in some artistic way completely destroys the creative mind. All of the time in the world doesn't equal to fantastic books or art pieces for people in certain unpleasant circumstances environmentally.
"In times of stress educated people tend to come to the front; they are no more gifted than the others and their 'education' is generally quite useless in itself, but they are accustomed to a certain amount of difference and consequently have the check necessary to a commander."
He’s not romanticizing the working class or demonizing the educated.. he’s showing how unfair the system is. Power and authority default to powerful, privileged, wealthy people. And power gravitates to the most presentable, and not the most capable, especially in todays society.
Final thoughts!!!:
The road to wigan pier definitely forces you not just to read about the poverty, it makes you feel it. The honesty is sharp and it helped me to understand the experiences of poverty in in a different perspective. This book isn’t just about 1930s England. It’s about every place where people are forgotten, where suffering becomes normal, and where basic human needs are ignored. That’s why it still matters today. I recommend this book to everyone.
Thank you for reading my little blog review. :)
Till next time!
-Hellokittydestroyer9000 (Katie)
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