DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON

From Paris to interwar London. George Orwell experiences absolute poverty and misery. He starves for days; he works in basements in squalid conditions for pennies; he learns to live, sleep and smoke for half a crown a day; he picks cigarette butts off the pavement; he survives on “tea and two slices of bread”; he sleeps on the floor with just his shoes as a pillow, on benches and in dormitories for the homeless. Together with Paddy, the tramp, and Bozo, a pavement artist, he wanders from dormitory to dormitory in the alleys of London. Along with Boris, a former Russian captain, they roam around Paris looking for work and even pawning their clothes to get some food. In this book, published in 1933, Orwell describes and experiences the world of the outcasts, whose worries and concerns take a back seat as their only goal is to secure food and shelter. The author brings to light a hitherto unrecognized social group and for the first time gives poverty a face and a voice. This book, marking Orwell’s first appearance, is written with humor and poignancy, while staying relevant and offering food for thought.