"The Road to Wigan Pier"

Paper Summary:

This paper reviews George Orwell's 1937 book, "The Road to Wigan Pier". The paper claims that the book clearly demonstrates Orwell's own beliefs about the political and economic situation in England. In a journalistic fashion, along with photographs, Orwell describes the working class life in the poor mining towns. He then offers his approach to helping this dismal situation. The paper contends that, despite Orwell's personal prejudices, the book remains an important document about English life in the 1930s.

From the Paper:

"In the second part of Wigan Pier, Orwell goes into considerable depth about the need for socialism to resolve the labor issues. His discussions are in part based on his direct experiences of people suffering under the effects of industrialized capitalism. However, they are also based on his own background. He first provides an overview of what he considers to be wrong about the British class system. In Britain it is not possible to determine the class of a person by simply looking at income, which can range considerably. Rather, one has to look at behavior and needs: The colonies (India and Africa) are very attractive to those in England, for the people would earn as much as in their native country (if they had a job in the administration or army), and could afford a servant and many things more and, what was most important, they could act like big gentleman (Part Two, Chapter Eight)."

More papers on "The Road to Wigan Pier":

• Analytical Essay # 1277 : "Britain's Response to Orwell's "The Road to Wigan Pier"
• Book Review # 118007 : "The Road to Whatever"
• Book Review # 116640 : "The Road to Serfdom"

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