In three points, George Orwell’s 1939 fiction novel Coming Up for Air is about war, hating your wife and children, and fishing. And yet, the way in which Orwell comments on the worsening socio-economic conditions of the United Kingdom by setting his narrative in the context of an impending Second World War is exceptionally effective. The plot centres the protagonists’ reflections on his long-forgotten memories from a time before the Great War, which he is suddenly reminded of amid these accumulating tensions.
Told through a first-person narration of a comically-pathetic protagonist whose whole adult life has been defined by his experiences in the First World War and its subsequent repercussions, his nostalgic reminiscences of a simpler, rural existence are deeply touching. Though the tone and language used in the re-tellings of his life are frequently comedic, a pitiful melancholy presides in the underlying sentiments of his story, developing the reader’s sympathy for the protagonist despite his thoroughly unlikeable character.
Acting as a thematic prequel to his final work, 1984, Orwell juxtaposes the growing individualism in post-war societies with the silently brewing tensions within communities across Europe, issuing how these circumstances build a sense of alienation, insecurity, and resentment within his protagonist—a representation of the average white, British man. This point, I would argue, is painstakingly relevant in today’s extremely turbulent political landscape, increasingly defined by ideologies compellingly using these individual dissatisfactions to foster hate.
Similarly, much of Orwell’s commentary throughout the book on skyrocketing prices and the battle to find an adequately-paying job in a supposedly “progressing” society reflects people’s ongoing complaints about our systemically flawed political systems. The result: a growing disconnect with our humanity as we embrace flawed, harmful ideas in a desperate effort to “go back to a simpler, better time.”
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash