Down and Out in Paris and London

Down and Out in Paris and London was George Orwell’s first full-length work published in 1933. Detailing what Orwell terms his 'tramping' exploits in London and his time as a dishwasher in Paris, the book explores some of the harsh realities faced by the working poor.

Down and Out in Paris and London: George Orwell

George Orwell was born Eric Arthur Blaire in Bengal, India, in 1903. His English father was a lower-level civil servant, and his French mother was the daughter of a teak merchant who had operated out of what was then Burma (Myanmar). As was typical for English children born to civil-service families based in India, he was sent to study in England from a young age.

His family were not wealthy, but Orwell’s intelligence earned him scholarships to Eton and Wellington. He attended Eton from 1917 to 1921, leaving without finishing 6^th form. From there, he applied to join the Indian Imperial Police in Burma, where he spent five years. Not much is known about his life during this time in the police force, but the stay ruined his health, causing lifelong repercussions. He composed two essays 'A hanging' (1931) and 'Shooting an Elephant' (1936) as well as his novel, Burmese Days (1934), based on his experiences in what is now Myanmar.

Orwell resigned from the police force in 1927 and began a nomadic five-year stint, moving between his parent's home in Suffolk, teaching posts at private schools, living on the streets in London and being a dishwasher in Paris. This experience led to the publication of his book, Down and Out in Paris and London (1933).

After ill health led him to quit teaching for a job in a Hampstead bookshop, he married Eileen O’Shaughnessy in 1936. They moved to Hertfordshire, and over the next decade Orwell wrote many of his most famous works while struggling with worsening health issues. Orwell and O’Shaughnessy remained married until her early death at 39. They were both unfaithful.

Shortly before his death, he married his assistant, Sonia Brownell, and finished a final draft of 1984 (1949). He died at age 46 of tuberculosis.

Fig. 1 - An image of George Orwell's statue at the BBC.

Down and Out in Paris and London: Genre

Down and Out in Paris and London is considered a memoir. The book is a fictionalised depiction of Orwell’s experiences as a plongeur in Paris and his time spent as a homeless person in London. Although dealing with the controversial subject matter in a serious way, Orwell also uses humour and irony throughout the book.

Down and Out in Paris and London: Summary

The novel is set over two sections, split between the cities of Paris and London.

Chapters 1 – 23: Paris

Beginning in Paris, the protagonist and unnamed narrator has his savings stolen. As a result, he works as a dishwasher in the high-end Hotel X and then in the kitchen of a chic Parisian restaurant, Auberge de Jehan Cottard. Through his and his friend Boris’s experiences, Orwell depicts the working conditions and some realities of life for the working poor of Paris.

After several weeks of long hours and squalid working conditions with infrequent pay, the narrator mails a friend for financial help and a job. His friend sends him some money and offers him a job in England as a tutor.

Chapters 24 – 48: London

Moving to London, the narrator finds that his new employer has gone abroad for a while. He is forced to live as a transient, termed ‘tramp’ in the text until they return. He describes his experiences of life as a homeless person in the capital city. Through him, Orwell depicts the realities of the charitable organisations and workhouses, the only shelter available to the homeless. Colloquially referred to as ‘spikes’, the workhouses were temporary and dehumanising experiences. He also details the social exclusion and exploitation he suffered and the characters he meets on the margins of society, like Paddy Jaques and Bozo. He also addresses the social and economic inequalities of both cities.

At the end of the book, Orwell is upfront about the obvious limits of his lived experience of being transient and a member of the working poor. In chapter 38, he admits that he has not seen ‘more than the fringe of poverty’. He could always have gone home to his parents, which was not an option for most people he met. It was however enough to inspire the book and change his views on poverty. He concludes by saying:

Down and Out in Paris and London: Themes

Orwell explores several themes in his memoir, Down and Out in Paris and London, but it is worth looking at a few key ones in a little more detail.

Oppression and exploitation

In the age that Orwell wrote this book, the prevailing view was that poverty was caused by internal factors such as laziness, boorishness, or a character flaw rather than a combination of external and internal factors. Orwell depicted a situation where oppressive external forces were also determining factors, creating and maintaining conditions of poverty or even homelessness.

For example, his representation of the Parisian hotel and restaurant industry caused controversy, as the elegant façade was revealed to conceal harsh working conditions and squalor. The strict hierarchy starting at managers and ending with dishwashers was just the beginning of the inequality portrayed. Orwell described a life where he was paid just enough to survive with zero to limited opportunity for progression, and where he worked inhuman hours in filthy conditions.

After the publication of Down and Out in Paris and London, a Parisian restaurant industry leader made a complaint of unfair representation to The Times. A book reviewer mentioned that Americans who had eaten in chic Parisian restaurants or hotels would experience a 'retrospective retch'¹ – presumably over the conditions that existed behind closed kitchen doors.

Orwell depicts the British government as another oppressor of the poor in examples such as the law that no tramp can spend more than one consecutive night in one spike, forcing the homeless to be permanently on the move. Even the restaurants where the tramps take their food vouchers give them less food than what the voucher was worth, as the staff knew that the tramps would have no recourse to justice.

Social inequality and cycles of poverty

Linked to Orwell’s theme of oppression is the theme of social inequality. In the era that the book was written, a person’s economic status was often closely tied to their social standing.

In Paris, Orwell highlighted the cycle of poverty, where it was near to impossible to get a good job without the proper clothes or to break out of the low pay, long hour rut. The strict social hierarchy of the hotel and restaurant industry was depicted as a way to establish and maintain social inequality.

In the London chapters, Orwell mentioned the odd situation were beggars who became too dishevelled or poverty-stricken faced more limited charity opportunities, as other people felt disgust rather than pity.

Down and Out in Paris and London: Characters

There are several key characters referenced in George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, apart from the narrator himself. A few of the more significant include:

The narrator

The unnamed narrator is a British man in his early twenties who relays his personal experiences of poverty and homelessness in Paris and London. He is considered to be Orwell’s fictionalised version of himself.

Boris

Boris is the narrator’s roommate and friend in Paris. An optimistic, arthritic Russian, he secures their jobs at the Hotel X and the restaurant, Auberge de Jehan Cottard. He eventually achieves his dream of being a waiter and living with a woman who 'never smells of garlic'.

Paddy Jaques

The narrator’s travel companion and guide in London, Paddy Jaques, is an Irishman who knows the ins and outs of the city’s charitable organisations. He is an expert beggar who freely shares his limited supply of food and money.

Bozo

The narrator meets Bozo in London, along with his friend, Paddy Jaques. An artist who was crippled as a house painter, Bozo paints murals in exchange for handouts. An atheist and former amateur astronomer, he refuses all religious donations and frequently expresses his views on religion, politics, and art.

¹ Bruegel, 'The infernal underside of the restaurant industry,' 1933.