by Eric Durso

Created on: May 27, 2008   Last Updated: May 28, 2008

Right now there is a homeless man sitting on the street corner and begging for some spare change. All he wants is a small amount of money so he can get a bite to eat or maybe even a night's lodging. There is a countless number of strangers who are doing this right now. There is a question, however, as to why they are there. In every vagabond on the street there is an answer to that question. I think it's interesting that George Orwell never explains the reason why he was down and out. When the book begins, Orwell is already living off the last of his money and we are never told of anything before that point. We don't know how he came to be in that condition. Today, if we were to come upon a homeless man we could easily come up with an assumption as to why he was on the street. We would assume drugs. There was a time when drugs were not the primary cause of homeless.

From reading Orwell's autobiography we get the idea that drugs were not an issue in that era. It's obvious that drugs are not the reason that Orwell and his friends are on the street. It's not even that they are unwilling to work. They are on the streets for other reasons. They are constantly on the lookout for jobsthey'll do anything for an opportunity to work. They even will pawn the clothes off their backs for an extra few francs. Even with all their efforts to get work, work escapes them. I even found it interesting how cruel most of the people that Orwell crossed paths with in Paris. Orwell has not eaten for three days, and he does not even think about sitting on the curb and asking for some spare change. I think the reason for this is because he knows that even if people saw him sitting on the curb, they would not help him. The world Orwell portrays in his account is a dog-eat-dog world. Every man is for himself. The people Orwell pawns his clothes to rip him off. People all around him are stealing money and food. He doesn't trust anyone except his friend, optimistic Boris, who remains loyal to him throughout the hard times.

But the question remains: Why is Orwell on the street? He obviously is an articulate man. It's apparent that he knows how to work hard. The answer must be in the fact that the story takes place during the depression. Getting a job was much harder than it is todaynot everyone could get a job. We get the idea that before Orwell went to the street he was an English tutor. I imagine that he probably started out doing well teaching English to people, but eventually, as the

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