A review of George Orwell's book The Road to Wigan Pier, which explores the working class in Yorkshire and Lancashire before World War 2 and discusses the author's views on socialism.
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Book Review of The road to Wigan pier The Road to Wigan Pieris a book written by the renowned writer George Orwell. It was published for the first time in the year 1937. The first part of the respective book details the sociological investigation conducted by Orwell upon the miserable livelihood circumstances of the individuals pertaining to the working section of society within the confines of Yorkshire and Lancashire within the industrial north side of England prior to the occurrence of World War 2. Besides this, the second part of the book has been portrayed as a prolonged essay talking about the upbringing of the middle class Orwell and the evolution of political conscience within the author, thereby putting questions over the attitude of British people in response to socialism (Amundsen, 2016). The author subtly put forth the premise that he also favours socialism, however considers it essential to lay down the reasons behind a large number of individuals who gain from the concept of socialism are most likely to emerge as effective opponent. The Road to Wigan Pier tends to deal with the historic as well as social reality of suffering as a result of Depression, within the north of England. Hereby, the author has not just enumerated the different kinds of injustice as well as evil but has also pointed out the need to break through the middle class oblivion. What is Socialism? It is exceptionally prominent that Orwell has not presented or discussed the policies associated with actual political parties neither the British Liberals, Conservatives nor the Labour Party. Instead of that, the total debate has been framed from the point of view of personal experiences of Orwell, or through paraphrasing the ideologies of other modern or old authors. He constantly speaks to his reader that the sole choice available to a modern individual is Socialism (Williams, 2013). It is required that the differences are set aside and socialism is adopted. The need to promote socialism has emerged. The real definition of socialism varies in accordance with the contexts in which they have been used in the different chapters of The Road to Wigan Pier. In this relation, the definitions within different chapters are presented below:- Socialism is referred to as justice as well as common decency as per Chapter 11. The important aims of this concept are acknowledged to be justice as well as liberty as shown in Chapter 12.
In the Chapter 14, it has been shown that the real Socialist is the individual that intends to see tyranny overthrown. Socialism can be referred to as the overthrow of tyranny as shown in the Chapter 14. As per Chapter 14, everything that is required is hammering 2 facts home into public consciousness. One is that the interests of all the exploited individuals are acknowledged to be same and another is that socialism is determined to be sharing compatibility with common decency. The book named as Road to Wigan Pier is mainly divided into two sections that is part 1 and 2. The part 1 section of this book basically provides detailed knowledge to the readers about the several conditions through which poor and unemployed people go through. Here, in the first chapterOrwellprovidesdetaileddescriptionontheBrookerfamilywhosimplycalled themselves as the wealthy people as compared to poor one. According to the authors description Brooker mainly installed cheap lodging house as well as the small shop. Also, later he has expressed that both Mr. and Mrs. Brooker were not working and they were living their life on the pensions and the rent which is received by them for their rooms. The total amount or monetary value that is gained by them from both the sources is highly satisfactory for them even for living their basic life that is food related cost(Lia Rahmadani, 2015). In addition to this, this author has later expressed that they individual who lives in lodging house are mainly dependent pensions. The respective author has himself also spent some time in the lodging house while conducting research. The second chapter of part clearly expresses about the lifestyle of miner, their working pattern and other related facts with which common people are not at all aware. Orwell has expressed that miners basically works in the non healthy environment, the working conditions which have been provided to them are very dirty, hot, dusty as they works under the ground where actual space to execute the work is very limited. In order to develop detailed knowledge on the miner Orwell has also went underground in order to check out the actual working conditions of the individuals who work in mines(Schansberg, 2018). Later author has expressed in very thoughtful manner that along with the none effectively working environment miners also have to show their hard work in the working pattern too. Along with the hardest working conditions miners also have to travel a lot in order to bring things to the desired place. This travelling time is basically mentioned for around half an hour. Apart from this, it has also been
seen that if the person who is travelling the mining area like Orwell and does not have adequate level of training towards the same then he/ she would definitely take around one hour to cover the same distance as compared to the experienced miners. In the third chapter of Part 1, Orwell has clearly described social situation of miner. This has been explained briefly by looking at their hygiene level. The author has also said that many people also believes that minor does not values hygiene condition as they do not wash their hands or take bath regular. Also while emphasising on the same sector, it has been seen thatare very few mine which bathing or shower facilities(Chaabane, 2014). Also, further it explains about the situation of houses of the miners are even more worsen as they do not have adequate levelof facilities. In addition to this, it can be further said that there are only few houses in the mines where there is availability of the bathroom facilities. The remaining individuals who do not have bathroom facilities have to manage with the small basins only. Also, miners basically works for only 7 hours which includes 3 hours of travelling and 4 hours of the remaining work within which washing, eating and dressing are included(Hollis, 2017). Overall all in one it can be said that miners are well paid as compared to other individual working in another stream or field. These people are almost getting eleven shillings in a week that is satisfactory for living better lifestyle. In addition to this, it has also been expressed in the book that miners commonly working six days a week. Away with this, the next chapter provides description over the housing situation of the overall districts. Normally, the main issue that have been determined is the limited houses within the region which simply creates situation of the increasing number of blackmailing agents, dirty holes, non appropriate behaviour of the landlords. The people who want shelter simply tolerates all sort of issues only receive roof on their heads(Rizvanbegovic, 2018). Here, it has been further analysed that people also faces problems related to the non effective formulation of the houses that means these houses are not constructed in appropriate manner that does not includes appropriate space for the ventilation in the form of windows over other open areas. Also, miners live in Britain are not able live better lifestyle as they are not saving money due to paying much proportionate of their earning in the housing rent. Even though, investing this much amount these miners are not even getting better hygienic houses to live in which has appropriate facilities of bathroom and other washing areas.
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The fifth chapter of the specified book Road to Wigan Pier mainly covers the area of unemployment. An investigation has been conducted in the year 1937 which simply reveals the overall unemployed number of people that is 2 million people. But the shown figure does not reveal overall information related to the same as these numbers are actually 3 times more as shown in the figures. Orwell has revealed that Wigan itself has every third person who is highly dependent over social help. NationalUnemployedWorkersMovement simply provides support to the unemployed people in spending their time. The last chapter of this book simply provides information on the overall food of the family living on dole and gets very low wages. Also, the respective chapter clearly reveals actual priorities of these poor people or workers as they give more preferences to the low cost nutritious food rather than the tasty food which is being consumed by the rich or upper class people. In the part two of the books Orwell has shared his own views and ideas towards the socialism as well as how socialism seen in England. Here, it has been explored that it is not at all easier for the individual to identify the class of the person by only analysing their own income but it also includes several other areas like behaviour, profession and birth. Also, it has been seen that profession tradition plays huge role in England through which is can be easily determined that class of the people(Chaabane, 2015). Also, people of England explores the class of the person by analysing their behaviour in terms of various section such as how to ride a horse, how to give a servant a tip, decent dinner etc. It has also been seen that these people are not able to have good food or afford servant. Along with this, this chapter also reveals that well established people are not providing desired value to the low class people or provide them equivalent value within the society. Also, middle class people do not even prefers to visitsslum area or the children belonging to the upper class believes that children belonging to the other group do not smell good at all. However, Orwell has criticised that middle class socialist also speaks against to their respective class which depicts the quality of their behaviour. Review and Criticism The Road to Wigan Pier was reviewed for the first time on the date 14thMarch 1937 for The Sunday Times by Edward Shanks. Also, it was reviewed for The Observer by Hugh Massingham on the same data (Chaabane, 2015). Besides this, one of the leaders of the Communist Party of Great Britain named Harry Polliitt did the review of the book in concern
with the 17thMar, 1937 issue associated with The Daily Worker. He was forcefully made to grant some extent of appreciation for the first part of the book. In the usual sense, the early reviews of the respective novel showed that people highly appreciated and applauded the way the writer of the book, George Orwell, depicted the plight of the working class individuals within the first part of the novel. The poet Edith Sitwell said that the “the horror of the beginning is unsurpassable (Babb, 2017). The author can be seen to be doing for the modern world what the Engels did for the world belonging to the period between 1840 and 1850. However, the primary difference underlying between Orwell who was a child prodigy in writing and Engels who was a fiery as well as tremendous spirit is that the latter was not even a writer.” The responses that have been given to Part 2 as the transformation of the book took place from the reportage to the integration of polemics, politics and selective autobiography, have been acknowledged to be quite diverse. Some of the readers have praised the second part of the book while others have displayed their resentment as well as fury. In addition to this, the review written up by Arthur Calder Marshall in Time and Table on the date 20thMarch 1937 exhibited a sense of celebration for the achievement of the writer George Orwell (Crawley, 2016). The review contained a statement which conforms to the same. The statement goes like this “Of writer George Orwell’s book The Road to Wigan Pier, there is very little to speak rather than praise.” Apart from this, Harmish Miles reviewed the book on the date 1stMay 1937 for New Statesman and Nation. In the review, Harmish pointed out that The Road to Wigan Pier can be seen as a lively book from the beginning to the end which can be enjoyed by the readers for the subtlety with which the author has presented the plight of the working class in the first part as well as politics and polemics in the second part. During April of the year 1937, Douglas Goldring wrote in the Fortnightly that The Road to Wigan Pier is both beautiful as well as disturbing. He greatly recommended to both the socialist as well as conservative individuals to go through this book and make a read. Apart from this, on the 12thof March in 1937, Walter Greenwood in Tribune referred to Part 1 as authentic as well as first rate. He was seen to be reflecting more of the ambivalency for Part 2. He pointed out that the author keeps the reader with himself in one moment and provokes the reader beyond the limit of endurance in the next
moment. Walter said that he did not remember him being so infuriated at anything for a long period time than by the things written by George Orwell in The Road to Wigan Pier. One of the co founders of the Left Book Club named HJ Laski wrote a review in Left News within March of 1973. He stated that the first part of the book exhibited admirable propaganda for their ideas. However, the second part tends to fall short of that.
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REFERENCES Books and Journals Williams, G., 2013. The road to Wigan Pier revisited: The migration of Welsh rugby talent since 1918.The Global Sports Arena: Athletic Migration in an Interdependent World, ed. John Bale and Joseph Maquire (London, 1994), pp.25-38. Amundsen, M., 2016. George Orwell’s Ethnographies of Experience: The Road to Wigan Pier andDownandOutinParisandLondon.AnthropologicalJournalofEuropean Cultures,25(1), pp.9-25. Babb, J., 2017. Literature: The Road to Wigan Pier and the roads beyond.News Weekly, (2999), p.15. Chaabane, B., 2015. Focalization and Narrative Voice in George Orwell’s Novel: The Road to Wigan Pier.International Journal of Art and Literature,2(3), p.17. Crawley, K. L., 2016. George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier: an experimental ethnographic study with a novelist’s touch.Prose Studies,38(2), pp.137-151. Chaabane, B., 2014. George Orwell’s Non-linear Narrative in The Road To Wigan Pier.Journal of Literature and Art Studies,4(11), pp.872-890. Rizvanbegovic, H., 2018.Translating George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and the Case for its Retranslation(Master's thesis). Lia Rahmadani, L., 2015.The Reflection of Social and Political Background on George Orwell’s The Road To Wigan Pier(Doctoral dissertation, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung). Schansberg, D. E., 2018. Coal Miners, Class Differences, and the Unpopularity of Isms: A ReviewEssayonGeorgeOrwell's"TheRoadtoWiganPier".TheIndependent Review,23(1), pp.131-143. Hollis, C., 2017.A study of George Orwell: the man and his works. Skyhorse.