Introduction
George Orwell’s book, Road to Wigan Pier, depicts the struggles of the British underclass, unemployed, and poverty-stricken nationals in the post-World War 1 period. The authors’ target audience was the wealthy and affluent people seeking to understand the lifestyle of the poor beyond formal reports. The author uses a semi-documentary literature technique to depict the state of poverty among the working class people in Britain.
Reality of Poverty
Orwells’ investigation leads him to live among the poor for some time. He documents his experiences and those of the working class. Orwell watches as families without any income struggle to find scraps of coals from dumping grounds (Mcdonald 2016). Additionally, the author sympathetically analyses the living conditions of women and children loitering in shacks and hurdling in tiny rooms. The author identifies the difficulty encountered in trying to maintain hygiene without water or even a toilet. Additionally, Orwell considered himself is an ethnographer seeking truth through experiencing afflictions with other people, in this case, the coal miners. Due to the nature of his research, Orwell presented a clear understanding of his subject matter by relating his observations with experiences (Amundsen 2016). His narration illustrates the reality of poverty in the country, laying the ground for intervention.
Writing Effectiveness
Orwell uses language effectively to illustrate the abject poverty in northern England. His ethnographic account seems to shift the readers’ attention to the specific deplorable instances (Crawley 2016). He elicits varied emotions by exaggerating conversations while using his experiences for readers to share in his observations. The grim reality of the poor’s economic hardships is exposed through touching stories to trigger social support.
Conclusion
The book is set in the intervening period between World War I and II. The author narrates the experiences and deplorable living conditions of the poor working class in northern England. His semi-documentary technique helps depict the unhygienic suffering of women and children living in small rooms with no water or toilets. Through his mastery of writing, Orwell manages to draw the reader into experiencing his subject’s lives and elicits an emotional reaction.
Reference List
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, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 9-25.
Crawley, K 2016, ‘George Orwell’s the road to Wigan pier: an experimental ethnographic study with a novelist’s touch’, Prose Studies, vol. 38, no. 2, pp. 137-151.
Mcdonald, K 2016, George Orwell’s road to Wigan pier, Web.