The Road to Wigan Pier. George Orwell

In 1936, George Orwell went on an editorial assignment to Lancashire and Yorkshire to see for himself the regions suffering from mass unemployment. Thus, in 1937, The Road to Wigan Pier appeared. However, this book is much more than just a striking description of the poverty and unemployment he saw in the industrial North of England in the thirties. With his characteristic observation, humor, anger, sadness and insight, Orwell creates a large-scale literary portrait of the life of English mining families of that time, while at the same time expanding the theme of the book to the traditions of English society in general. The writer reflects on the insurmountable divisions and differences between the English lower, middle and upper classes of that time. Ultimately, in the pages of this book, Orwell expresses concern about the inevitable prospect of another great world war, reflects on the future of human civilization with the rapid development of mechanization and automation of labor, and how all this will change society and each person in particular.

“The Road to Wigan Pier” is a talented description of English society in the 1930s on the eve of the war, with all its contradictions and disagreements, nostalgia for the good old days and fear and distrust of the future.