George Orwell: Down and Out Paris and London

Down and Out reflects the author’s preoccupation with social inequality and the conditions that create homelessness. The book begins by describing the protagonist’s stay in Paris, where he works as a dishwasher, before he moves back to England to explore life on the margins in London. In this fragment, the author, who has just arrived in London, is forced to sell his clothes to be able to pay for a place to stay the night. When he puts on the shabby clothes he’s just obtained, he feels he is instantly transformed into a tramp, so much so that he does not even recognise his own reflection. This episode enables Orwell to explore the dehumanizing consequences of poverty: people immediately look at him with disgust, and his worn outfit seems to attract even more filth. As he puts it: ‘Dirt is a great respecter of persons; it lets you alone when you are well dressed, but as soon as your collar is gone it flies towards you from all directions’.