George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London

1. George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London

2. Intro Task Reflecting on your holiday homework: 1. List at least 7 things that influenced Orwell’s writing in regards to political, social and economic context. 2. What are the main ideas he upholds about human nature and society?

3. What do you think of when you contemplate Paris??? Discuss and list your ideas! Want to see some photos?? So what was Orwell trying to do?

4. Chapters 1-3 Lesson Objective: Considering Authorial voice After group discussions, take notes on the following: • How is the concept of poverty introduced? • How would you describe the role of the narrator and their voice? Consider their lack of introduction and identity, the focus on observations of others, how is it shown that they are not trying to gain readers’ sympathy for themselves?

5. Descriptive observations Contrasts with innocence Poverty – link to human spirit Bleak tone I sketch this scene, just to convey something of the spirit of the Rue du Coq d’Or…Quarrels, and the desolate cries of street hawkers, and the shouts of children chasing orange peel over the cobbles, and at night loud singing and the sour reek of the refuse-carts, made up the atmosphere of the street. It was a very narrow street – a ravine of tall leprous houses, lurching towards one another in queer attitudes, as though they had all been frozen in the act of collapse. Emphasis of harsh sounds Adjectives develop feeling of entrapment Human quality, use of senses Alliteration develops flow. Represents negativity of the people; connotations Lives of people crumbling; stuck in their poverty

6. Why are they transitory? Can’t be sure of anything Impacted wide variety of people Interesting word choice The lodgers were a floating population, largely foreigners…They were of every trade…Some of them were fantastically poor…Bulgarian… Russian…p. 3 The Englishman…the Romanina… It would be fun to write some of their biographies, if one had time. I am trying to describe the people in our quarter, not for the mere curiosity, but because they are all part of the story. P. 5 What does this reveal about the people he is going to write about? What authorial comment does the reader gain? Tone, perceptions? Humanising the people – not just subjects They are all important – not simply grouped together Key word – not just an interesting story, but real people

7. What do the observations about the following reveal: • the people selling/buying the fake postcards • Charlie • The Jewish man in the pawn shop

8. Narrator’s sense of surprise at what he observed There were the Rougiers…an old ragged, dwarfish couple who plied an extraordinary trade. They used to sell postcards on the Boulevard St Michael. The curious thing was that the post cards were sold in sealed packets as pornographic ones, but were actually photographs of chateaux on the Loire; the buyers did not discover this until too late, and of course never complained. The Rougiers earned about a hundred francs a week, and by strict economy managed to be always half starved and half drunk.p. 4 Base level of society Contrast of settings - irony Sense of shame Irony/ humour Choices of the poverty stricken

10. The shopman was a red haired Jew, an extraordinarily disagreeable man, who used to fall into furious rages at the sight of a client…it would have been a pleasure to flatten the Jew’s nose, if only one could have afforded it. P. 17 What tone is used in this description? Why is this an interesting quote, considering Orwell’s key ideas and vales?

11. There were eccentric characters in the hotel. The Paris slums are a gathering place for eccentric people – people who have fallen into solitary, half mad grooves of life and given up on trying to be normal or decent. Poverty frees them from ordinary standards of behaviour, just as money frees people from work. P. 3 What does this reveal about how these people fit into society? What does it reveal about the narrator? What does his language use reveal about him and his position in society?

12. Chapter 3 What is revealed about poverty in chapter 3?

13. Idea of Man against Society You discover…the secrecy attaching to poverty…But of course you dare not admit it – you have got to pretend that you are living quite as usual. From the start it tangles you in a net of lies, and even with the lies you can hardly manage it. P. 14 p. 16 One could multiply these disasters by the hundred. They are part of the process of being hard up. You discover the boredom which is inseparable from poverty. Thousands of people in Paris live it…out of work people of all kinds. It is the suburbs, as it were, of poverty.

14. Narrator’s perception Second person narrative voice His perception, but second person removes him from it It is altogether curious, your first contact with poverty. You have thought so much about poverty – it is the thing you have feared all your life, the thing you knew would happen to you sooner or later; and it is all so utterly and prosaically different. You thought it would be quite simple; it is extraordinarily complicated. You thought it would be terrible; it is merely squalid and boring. It is the peculiar lowness of poverty that you discover first; the shifts that it puts you to, the complicated meanness, the crust wiping. P. 14 Language use and construction of writing – how does it develop Orwell’s voice, position and purpose? What ideas about poverty are conveyed?

15. Links between Down and Out and modern context • What connections can we make between George Orwell’s text and our modern world? • How is it still relevant?