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arrianne 's review for:
The Road to Wigan Pier
by George Orwell
If I were a miner faced by posh boy Orwell coming into my house and then writing about me and my family as if we were animals to be pitied for we knew no better and were poorly treated by our betters, I might have punched him.
Who knows.
This book is oft-cited as a grounding in socialist principles, and it is that. But it’s also written in a really irritating style by Orwell who is trying hard to bring people of his class on board, and acknowledge the differences between the middle and lower classes, but I’m not sure that normalising a shuddering distaste for the lower classes is A Good Look. It’s a good grounding in why the poor remain poor and how the system is designed so that they remain so, some good All Landlords Are Bastards content, but I struggled with the
lumping together of ‘lower classes’ and speaking of them as if they’re a herd of cattle and the superior tone taken by the author.
One of the strongest sections for me is the start, where Orwell documents exactly what being a miner is like. The actual nature of the job, and some interesting insights I just didn’t have before of the physicality of the work. Obviously I knew it was tough, dangerous work but didn’t realise just how far from the shaft the coalface could be, the truly cramped conditions and that they were expected to walk the whole way rather than using a carriage or something? And the documentation of the living conditions is fascinating but a bit like he’s documenting how some rare birds live on a cliff face. And the furthest north he makes it is Yorkshire.
Who knows.
This book is oft-cited as a grounding in socialist principles, and it is that. But it’s also written in a really irritating style by Orwell who is trying hard to bring people of his class on board, and acknowledge the differences between the middle and lower classes, but I’m not sure that normalising a shuddering distaste for the lower classes is A Good Look. It’s a good grounding in why the poor remain poor and how the system is designed so that they remain so, some good All Landlords Are Bastards content, but I struggled with the
lumping together of ‘lower classes’ and speaking of them as if they’re a herd of cattle and the superior tone taken by the author.
One of the strongest sections for me is the start, where Orwell documents exactly what being a miner is like. The actual nature of the job, and some interesting insights I just didn’t have before of the physicality of the work. Obviously I knew it was tough, dangerous work but didn’t realise just how far from the shaft the coalface could be, the truly cramped conditions and that they were expected to walk the whole way rather than using a carriage or something? And the documentation of the living conditions is fascinating but a bit like he’s documenting how some rare birds live on a cliff face. And the furthest north he makes it is Yorkshire.