Down and out in Paris and London” and “how the Poor Die
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George Orwell is a very flamboyant writer and has written several inspirational pieces, such as “Down and out in Paris and London” and “How the poor die”.
Both pieces of work has specific characters and themes that aid the flow of the piece. Even though “How the poor die” is shorter than “Down and out in Paris and London” there is still a theme that is portrayed through out the “How the poor die”.
Down and out in Paris and London was written by the author George Orwell and published in 1933. Down and out in Paris is a memoir that is broken into two parts. The first part is a picaresque account of living in Paris on small staple food such as bread. It also states the experiences of casual labour in restaurant kitchens.The second part is picture of life on the road in and around London from Orwells perspective. The themes in “Down and out in Paris and London” are: man vs society and the main theme poverty.
Man vs society is when a character is victimized by society. In “Down and out in Paris and London” Orwell and his friends face many difficulties made by society, such as the government, their employers, religion, and their landlords. This theme is developed by the use of different techniques. One of the techniques that are used are similes. Orwell uses similes to help us comprehend how harsh the employers treat a man if he is of a certain class.
Another theme that is presented in Down in out in Paris and London is the main theme and that is poverty. Orwell develops this theme by the use of first person narration. This is showed to us when Orwell uses “I” for example on page. 68 Orwell states, “I felt like a new man after a days solid food.” Orwell also uses humor to develop the theme of poverty. He does this when he says, “Within certain limits, it is actually true that the less money you have, the less you have to worry” another example of humor used in Down and out in Paris to aid in the development of the theme poverty would be ” It is fatal to look hungry. It makes people want to kick you.” In reality this is not a joke instead it is the honest truth. However Orwell mixes humor in with the truth this helps us to understand that even though Orwell is faced with the harsh life of poverty he still sees the humorous side.
Like “Down and out in Paris and London”,”How the poor die” also has themes that are portrayed in Orwells writing.