Long before George Orwell was warning us about Big Brother, he was writing about a much more mundane, yet equally suffocating, tyrant: .
The story follows , a struggling poet who has declared a one-man war on the "Money-God". Gordon quits a promising career in advertising—a field he views as the "dirtiest ramp" of capitalism—to take a low-paying job in a second-hand bookshop. He lives in squalid, freezing rooms, convinced that by embracing poverty, he can remain an "authentic" artist. Keep the Aspidistra Flying
Originally published in 1936, Keep the Aspidistra Flying is a bitingly satirical, often bleak, but deeply human look at the struggle to maintain one’s principles in a world that only respects the bottom line. The Plot: War on the Middle Class Long before George Orwell was warning us about
However, Gordon quickly learns that poverty isn't romantic; it's just exhausting. It makes him bitter, self-centered, and often cruel to his long-suffering girlfriend, Rosemary. What is an Aspidistra, Anyway? He lives in squalid, freezing rooms, convinced that
Surviving the "Money-God": A Look at Orwell’s Keep the Aspidistra Flying