Down and Out in Paris and London Summary
George Orwell

Down and Out in Paris and London Summary

In Down and Out in Paris and London, Orwell follows a penniless British writer through two great European cities as he works seventeen-hour workdays in the squalid kitchens of trendy Parisian restaurants. After working himself ragged and never getting ahead, he tries his luck in London where he lives the life of a vagrant, sleeping in lodging houses and taking charity tea at the Salvation Army. Through these scenes, Orwell explores one of the classic themes in most of his writing, that of man vs. society.

At the beginning of the novel, the narrator is living in Paris, teaching English to pay his bills, but he slowly loses his students and then gets robbed, leaving him enough money to survive for only a week or two. He makes drastic changes in his budget and finds that living in poverty is a complicated ordeal.

The narrator's Russian friend, Boris, is in... View more of the Down and Out in Paris and London Summary