The Road to Wigan Pier
Orwell goes underground - literally and figuratively - and what he finds will make you question everything about class, comfort, and conviction.
Two Books in One
The book has two parts. The first part is a sociological investigation where Orwell lives a 'fly on the wall'-existence among the miners of an industrial town in northern England. He wants to experience life of the real working-class first hand. A class whom he and his fellow half-bourgeois socialists claim to fight and care for.
The second part is an argument for how and why socialism is failing and what to do to get it back on track again.
What Stays With You
What stays with me is the account of the former - the unemployment, the poverty, the filth, the self-limiting mindset of the deprived, and the horrible working conditions of the mines. But also Orwell's honest, sober and often beautiful worded observations.
"...the place is like hell, or at any rate like my own mental picture of hell. Most of the things one imagines in hell are there - heat, noise, confusion, darkness, foul air, and, above all, unbearably cramped space."
The working conditions in the mines made me feel sick.
📺 Video Review
The Uncomfortable Truth About Class
How disconnected isn't my work life from the miner of the Industrial era? Me with my Xbox ONE Dev-kit on my adjustable standing desk and my free lattes at the touch of a button? Not to mention the free massage? You know, we NEED them, because office work is HARD on your body! Right?!
Why can't the bourgeois see themselves as the equals of the working class?
"The lower classes smell." Orwell concludes. "It is queer how seldom this is admitted."
A physical feeling like smell is harder to overcome than the other dislikes, he argues.
💡 Key Takeaway
We would be wise to attempt to isolate the qualities in people we look up to and cultivate them in ourselves. I admire Orwell's willingness to immerse himself in the working-class life and his willingness to change his mind. I want to adopt this trait further in my own life, but I'm not sure how to go about it... yet.
⚖️ Verdict
When I close the books for 2020, one of the images that will linger in my mind is the image of a miner walking for miles in the dark cramped space of the mine to his designated spot for the day.
I found this book so powerful and humbling. A catalyst for personal reflection. A remarkably bold and honest book.
📚 Featured on the Great Books List
This book is on BookLab's curated Great Books List - a collection of the most powerful nonfiction books I've read over the past decade. If this review resonated with you, the list is where you'll find more like it.
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