![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Gordon Comstock comes from a middle-class family that has been falling into poverty since the end of the 19th century. Like Gordon, Orwell’s education took place at boarding schools his family could barely afford. Finally, Orwell too came from a family that had become wealthy during the Victorian era but had since lost much of its wealth. There are additional parallels between Orwell’s relationship with his future wife Eileen and Gordon’s relationship with Rosemary. Also like Gordon, Orwell had to get a job at a used bookstore. Like Gordon Comstock, the protagonist of Keep the Aspidistra Flying, Orwell was supported by a wealthy leftist-in Orwell’s case, Sir Richard Rees, who published a literary journal called The Adelphi. In the early 1930s, he was a struggling writer living in London. In writing the novel, George Orwell drew on many of his personal experiences. “Keep the aspidistra flying” is a play on “keep the red flag flying”-a lyric from the official song of the British Labour Party-that replaces the socialist red flag with a symbol of English middle-class culture. As a result, aspidistra was associated with the English middle class. Owning aspidistras became common during the Victorian era because they could thrive indoors with little sunlight. The novel’s title is a reference to the aspidistra, a popular household plant in England. ![]()
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