Reading Modern Society: A Review of George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier

This report reviews George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier, a book that examines the lives of working-class people in northern England during the Great Depression. The report provides information on the author's background, the book's context, methodology, and themes. The book is divided into two parts, with the first part describing the living conditions of the working class and the second part examining the author's political views on socialism.

READING MODERN
SOCIETY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Context of the book......................................................................................................................3
About the author..........................................................................................................................3
The background and perspective.................................................................................................4
Methodology and methods...........................................................................................................5
The book itself.............................................................................................................................6
Legacy of the book.......................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION –

1-make sure you use either Calibri light or ariel.
2- make sure you use double (2.0)
Also make sure you use medium size paragraphs ( 4-7lines)
Review where you do the following: 1- Start by explaining the purpose of the reportwhich is to
review the book you chose 2- Briefly explain what is the book about 3- Explain the structure of
the report (which means what step you will be taking) 4-Explain how did you collect the data to
complete the report
Report examines the context of the book, provides information on the basis of history of
writer. It also shows when the book was commissioned and what the book aims towards. Also,
it shows the methods that were used by author to do his social research and identify th
problems faced by the people.
In 1930's George Orwell was sent by a socialist book club to investigate the problem of
mass unemployment in the industrial area of northern England. He went to investigate the
most typical section of British working class in Yorkshire and Lancashire (Rizvanbegovic, 2018).
Road to Wigan Pier is a book which is divided in two parts; the first part is about the
working class people living in the industrial areas of North England, and the second part
examines the author's political view point on socialism. The book is a powerful and an insightful
account of lives living in meagre government support and low wages and poverty. And also,
vivid description of the dignity and courage of the people.
MAIN BODY
Context of the book In this section you need to explain what was happening at the time the
book was written and that by looking at the political, social and cultural factors
The Road to Wigan Pier is book written by George Orwell, it was first published in 1937,
the book is divided into two parts (Orwell, 2021). The first part shows the living style of people
who belong to working class in Yorkshire and in England some industrial area before world war
II. The second part is an essay on the upbringing of the middles class with development of
political conscience and questioning attitude of British towards socialism.

Book describes about social background and depression which was prevailing in the
England that is the hideous accents and gross manner and coarse faced of people living in
unsafe quarters before the great war.
At the time when the book was written UK was experiencing a great period of
depression , a period of national economic downturn. The value of british exports had beed
halved, which resulted in plunging the industrial ares into poverty. Public spending were cutt off
and taxes were raised and umenmployement was doubled.
About the author
Author- reduce by focusing on personal life (date and place of birth- family- education) and
professional life (jobs, publication)
George Orwell was born on June 25, 1903 in Bengal, India into the class of sahibs. His
mother belongs to Burma, daughter of merchant who was not successful and his father was an
official in the Indian civil services. He was brought up in an impoverishes snobbery atmosphere
(Hollis, 2017). After returning to England in 1911 he was sent to a boarding school where he
was discriminated among the other boys on the basis of his poverty.
He grew upto be a withdrawn, morose, eccentric boy who later on published an
autobiographical essay, Such Were The Joys. Orwell also won two scholarship of England's
leading schools, eton and wellington.
After, completing his education instead of enrolling as a member in university he
decided to follow his family tradition, and come to Burma in year 1922 and join Indian Imperial
Police as an assistant superintend. He served many stations and a imperial servant.
But from the boyhood he wanted to become a writer, and after seeing how Burmese
were treated by the British against their will, he wrote his experience in his novel Burmese
Days.
In 1927, he decided to return to England and never set back to Burma. He went to East
End of London where he lived in poor area with beggars and labourers and working in French
hotel as a dishwater. Those experience gave Orwell material for his next book which was Down
and Out in Paris and London, 1934.

Then he wrote Clergyman's daughter (1935) which shows an unhappy spinster who
achieves some accidental liberation among agricultural labourers. After that he wrote Keep the
Aspidistra Flying (1936) is about life of middle class and bookseller assistant.
And then he wrote his First socialist book that is The Road to Wigan Pier (1937) which
describes his experiences when he went to live among the unemployed miners of England. It
ends in a sharp criticism of existing socialist. It combined the mordant report with the tone of
anger and it was reflected in Orwell’s writing.
After this he wrote other books such as Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty four. Animal
Farm was based on a political fable of Russian revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin. At
first, it was difficult for Orwell to find publisher but when it was published in 1945, it made him
famous and prosperous for the first time. It was one of the finest work presented by Orwell.
Last pages of Ninteen eighty four was written in a remote house of Jura. With the suffering of
tuberculosis, he died in the London hospital in 1950.
The background and perspective
You need to follow the point mentioned in the brief/guide- where you need to explain the
background of the book and its perspective and that by explaining
The background of the book is based on the impact of the depression perios that lead to
unemployment and poverty amongs the industrial area of the northern England. Its perspective
was to aware about the situation that were faced by the poor workers of industrial area to the
society.
In January 1936, the publisher of the book Victor Gollancz commissioned Orwell to
make a study about the unemployment issues faced in the depressed areas of northern
England. Orwell accepted the commission and embarked on the tour of Lancashire, and
Yorkshire.
The Road to Wigan Pier was a commissioned book by publisher Gollancz, as a study of
poverty among the working class living in the north of England, and was publishes by the Left
Book Club. The implication of the commission was that the author's motivation increased as his

book was commissioned. He could sell more copies of the book and the book came out to be
very authentic as the author himself had done the field work.
From this point, it goes to the section of the Book Itself -This book is divided in two parts, the
part 1 takes into account the living condition of the northern England that Orwell lived himself.
Orwell wanted to identify the lack of facilities, privacy, everyday problem and dignity of the
British working people who were suffering from unemployment, homelessness and
abandonment (Babb, 2017). By this book he wanted to explain the society about suffering of
the working class, how they are living. The book covers the men's lives and work as they were
the main dominant wage earners in the 1930's. According to Orwell, the British government
unemployment statistic are not accurate that is he estimated that there two million people who
are out of work instead of one and a half million. And it does not include wife and childrens
who are dependent on their husbands for their living. Therefore, there are at least 5 million
people who are suffering from unemployment and poverty in the country. The book aims
towards the poor living standards of the working class and the unemployment which is affecting
the living standards of the workers and miner's.
The second is based on British class system and it is essay. The author favours socialism
and points out reason why people should support socialism and how it will benefit them
(Schansberg, 2018 ). As an ardent socialist, he believes that the British class structure should be
dismantled. He believes that socialism has declined in recent years.
Overall Orwell focus on life of men’s, their work rather than women and children. There
was a single room for 8 people and they have to live in that room. Therefore, the Wigan Pier is
an one sided account, and not completely reliable, in many ways. Orwell visited only the areas
that interest him leaving in distress fishing communities and agricultural poverty. Also, in his
part 2 he talked about agitators and writers but not one of them were women. This book is easy
and has single perspective, it is not like magisterial book.
Methodology and methods
The author has used a primary approach for his social research. Primary research is a
research where researcher takes data from the original source- what is it? It is a methodiology used
for coolllecting data directly rather than depending on any previously found data. . In His field work he

used methods of classic ethnography which included participative observation, The work is social
science research
the author did an ethnographic research (explain, where you state the he used qualitative
research methodology- explain)
Data was collected using participant- observation (explain)
field notes and semi structured interviews. He live three months in the northern England to
understand the lives of the workers and miners (Dinçer, 2018). To make his research more
accurate the author stayed within one of the cramped house sharing his space with the miners,
salesman, tradesmen etc. so that he can closely look into the life of the working class. Also, he
visited nearby mines, to understand in what conditions are the miners working and how
dangerous it is to work in these mines. The data produced using this approach was accurate
and provide an insightful view to the author in understanding the situation prevailing in that
era. As the data collected was primary data, there were no chances that the data could be
misleading which could affect the reliability of the research (Bangkit, 2021). based on what?
He used various methods of research such as surveys, observation and interview. With
the use of various primary research methods the author was able to target the issue that he
wanted to address that identification of the working conditions of the north England. With
using survey as a research method it helped the author in examining the attitudes, opinions,
impressions of the workers. And the information attained has been ethically taken from various
sources where sentiments of workers has been taken care off by keeping their information
private and maintaining the confidentiality so that there is no harm caused to the workers and
the miner's (Sabin, 2017) . Also, he used interviews as a medium of collecting data and with the
direct interaction with the workers led to better understanding of the conditions that were
prevailing in the northern England. And this help in supporting the findings of the author that
approximately 5 million people were suffering from poverty and low and unhygienic standard
of living (Amundsen, 2016). where did you get this from? add the source
However, using of primary approach for social research opted out to be a very time
consuming process that is took three months for the author to analyse the situation which were
prevailing in northern England at that time. Also, it focuses on only particular topic that is here
the major focus was on the men's and their life as at that time men were only considered wage
earners, leaving aside the women and children. Also, it was hard to gain volunteers to

participate in primary data collection. Make sure that 1- You evaluate the methodology
approach and that by looking into the advantages and disadvantages of ethnographic research,
qualitative methodology and participant observation 2- Look into the ethical issues of the book
The book itself
This book is divided into two parts that are further explained:
PART ONE
The book sets out a report on the working class lives of the unemployed miners living in
the industrial area of Yorkshire and West Midlands. The author spent time living among the
1- You did not discuss the themes of the book 2-Make sure you explain the main issues and
arguments and support with quotes
people as reported his experience in the various chapters of the book. The book begins
with a small lodging house in the north of England . impoverished house rents crowded
rooms to workers who work in the nearby industries and mines. Orwell stayed in the
one of the house sharing his space with the miners and tradesmen. Describing the
British structure in his book he said, “as a child he felt lower-class people were almost
subhuman, with coarse faces, gross manner and hideous accents; feeling forged at least
very dangerous for a well-dressed person to go through a slum street”. He also exposes
the myth by calculating miner's expenses and explaining that they were exploited and
were underpaid.
With the low pay, it also demonstrated the awful living conditions of the miners, as the
author travelled through the northern England, the houses were damped, in danger of
collapsing and infected with bugs (Carroll, 2020). Even though the houses being filthy, owner
would charge an extortionating rent, which diminished the miner's to save money. It also
showed the miners living in the worst condition continue to suffer, as attempt to built new
houses were very slow to take effect. How many chapters? what is the focus of each chapter?
There are seven chapters in the book. Chapter one and two describes about the life of miners
and there poor working conditions.chapter three and four describes about the living and

housing coonditions of the miners. And the rest of the chapetrs focuuses on the ugliness of the
industrial towns.
Another misconception which was propagated was about the working class that they
spend all their money on tasty unhealthy food. But, Orwell identified that such food was the
only pleasure which was available to the people who were trapped in poverty.
PART TWO
In contrast with the first section of the book, the second part discuss the relevance of
socialism for improving living conditions of the people. According to Orwell socialism is good
and give reason for why people are not socialist. Orwell also said that in section 1 some terrible
conditions are reported which is not tolerable and it can be good solution in improving these
condition (Pearce, 2017). He also further argues that opponents of socialism do not reject it
because they are afraid or selfish but they have different emotional reaction to the idea of
socialism. The book identified the following main problems:
1. Class prejudice: this is visceral and real. By glorifying the manual workers, the middle
class socialist pretend it does not exist and isolated covers most of the part of
population which is not middle class culturally.
2. Crankiness: Among various types of people Orwell identified people wear sandals and
have beards and nudists are contributing to socialism negatively among many
conventional people.
3. Machine worship: Orwell finds many socialist who are guilty of this. He himself did not
know about technical progress, and he thinks inevitability leads to decadence and
softness (Rae, 2019). He also points out that the socialist utopia's fictional technical
advancement are deadly dull.
4. Failure of basics: It fail to focus on point that socialism is related to fair share for all
rather than political belief. Socialism is beneficial and it is about common decency.
Legacy of the book
The Road to Wigan Pier is a book by the left book club. It left a legacy on the society, it
was one of the most citied books in the Britain where unemployment in 1930's was discussed. It
is a perfect abbreviation of the author's early approach to the political writing. Underpinning all

the observations of Orwell, whether one agrees or not, is a powerful urge regarding the social
truth and justice (Dell, 2018). One gets a true sense of this after reading The Road to Wigan
Pier. It sold more than 44000 copies than all his combined previous works.
It has left a significant impact on the mindset of readers that is book has highlighted
core issues that were faced by northern people in a very detailed manner. That has helped the
readers in understanding problem in a very detailed manner which made readers more curious
and anxious to read about the problems faced by the people. In the next part it also provided
the solution to problem that were faced that is socialism and also highlighted that socialism is
important. The book has left positive legacy on readers attitude, where historical
representation of civilisation has explored diverse cultural persona variedly.
CONCLUSION--Here make sure you sum up the main points previously discussed
From the report it can be concluded that book which shows about the bleak living
conditions of the working class and identifies the problem of mass unemployment. It also
shows the political view point on socialism. It can also be analysed that the book was
commissioned and sold more than 44000 copies. The book left a positive legacy on the society
and was one of the most citied books of that era. Also, it can be concluded that the author
used a primary approach to research his work. He lived with the people of north England so
that he can closely understand their living conditions and lifestyle. He used various methods
such as surveying, interviewing, and observing which proved useful in identifying the problems
of the people. However, it can be concluded that using of these methods were time consuming
but it resulted in providing an insightful knowledge about the lives of the working class.

REFERENCES-----Make sure you follow Harvard referencing effectively-
using the correct format
Books and journals
Babb, J., 2017. Literature: The Road to Wigan Pier and the roads beyond.
Carroll, J., 2020. Reconsidering Orwell’s Depiction of the Working Class in The Road to Wigan
Pier.
Dell, S., 2018. ‘Forward from Wigan Pier’: Remaking Documentary Photography in the
1930s. Visual Culture in Britain. 19(2). pp.168-188.
Dinçer, F., 2018. The Road to Wigan Pier and the Jungle: The conditions and the troubles of the
working class and the writers’ suggestion of socialism.
Hollis, C., 2017. A study of George Orwell: The man and his works. Skyhorse.
Orwell, G., 2021. The road to Wigan pier. Oxford University Press.
Pearce, R., 2017. Revisiting Orwell's Wigan Pier. History. 82(267). pp.410-428.
Rae, P., 2019. Orwell's heart of darkness: The road to Wigan pier as modernist
anthropology. Prose Studies. 22(1). pp.71-102.
Rizvanbegovic, H., 2018. Translating George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, and the Case
for its Retranslation (Master's thesis).
Sabin, M., 2017. Outside/Inside: Searching for Wigan Pier. George Orwell: Into the Twenty-
First Century. pp.243-251.
Schansberg, D.E., 2018. Coal Miners, Class Differences, and the Unpopularity of Isms: A
Review Essay on George Orwell's" The Road to Wigan Pier". The Independent
Review. 23(1). pp.131-143.
Amundsen, M., 2016. George Orwell’s Ethnographies of Experience: The Road to Wigan Pier
and Down and Out in Paris and London. Anthropological Journal of European
Cultures. 25(1). pp.9-25.
Bangkit, A.A. and Jamaludin, Y., 2021. INDUSTRIALITATION EFFECTS IN GEORGE
ORWELL’S THE ROAD TO WIGAN PIER (1937).
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